cAdvisor vs Zabbix

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted monitoring & status options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
FeaturecAdvisorZabbix
CategoryMonitoring & StatusMonitoring & Status
LicenseApache-2.0AGPL-3.0
LanguageGoGo Template
Setup difficultyEasyHard
Min. RAM64 MB1,024 MB
Deploymentdocker, kubernetes, binarydocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 19,342★ 6,228
First released20142001
ReplacesDatadogDatadog, Nagios

Why pick each one

Choose cAdvisor if…

  • Zero configuration
  • Lightweight
cAdvisor details

Choose Zabbix if…

  • Comprehensive and mature
  • Scales to large estates
  • Fully free
Zabbix details

Frequently asked questions

Is cAdvisor or Zabbix better?

cAdvisor is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Zabbix if its specific feature set fits your needs better.

Are cAdvisor and Zabbix free and open-source?

Yes. cAdvisor is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Zabbix under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run cAdvisor and Zabbix with Docker?

cAdvisor: yes. Zabbix: yes.

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