Glances 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?
FeatureGlancesZabbix
CategoryMonitoring & StatusMonitoring & Status
LicenseLGPL-3.0AGPL-3.0
LanguagePythonGo Template
Setup difficultyEasyHard
Min. RAM128 MB1,024 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, binarydocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 33,269★ 6,228
First released20122001
ReplacesDatadogDatadog, Nagios

Why pick each one

Choose Glances if…

  • Very easy to run
  • Lightweight
  • Good single-host overview
Glances details

Choose Zabbix if…

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

Frequently asked questions

Is Glances or Zabbix better?

Glances 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 Glances and Zabbix free and open-source?

Yes. Glances is licensed under LGPL-3.0 and Zabbix under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Glances and Zabbix with Docker?

Glances: yes. Zabbix: yes.

Related comparisons