Naemon vs SNMP Exporter
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted monitoring & status options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Naemon | SNMP Exporter |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 73 · Good | 81 · Excellent |
| Category | Monitoring & Status | Monitoring & Status |
| License | GPL-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | C | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 173 | ★ 2,176 |
| First released | 2014 | 2016 |
| Replaces | SolarWinds, PRTG | SolarWinds |
What are Naemon and SNMP Exporter?
Naemon
Naemon is a host and service monitoring tool based on the Nagios core, designed for improved performance and modern features. It checks the availability of resources and alerts on outages.
- Nagios-compatible checks
- Improved performance
- Livestatus query interface
- Large plugin compatibility
SNMP Exporter
The SNMP Exporter scrapes SNMP-enabled devices such as switches, routers, and printers and exposes their metrics for Prometheus. A generator builds configurations from MIBs for specific devices.
- Scrapes SNMP devices
- MIB-driven config generator
- Network hardware monitoring
- Prometheus integration
Naemon vs SNMP Exporter: key differences
Naemon is written in C, while SNMP Exporter is built with Go. Licensing differs — GPL-2.0 for Naemon versus Apache-2.0 for SNMP Exporter. SNMP Exporter is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Naemon. Naemon is the more established project (first released 2014), while SNMP Exporter arrived in 2016. SNMP Exporter has the considerably larger community, at 2,176 GitHub stars versus 173. SNMP Exporter lists first-class Docker deployment; Naemon does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Naemon if…
- Faster than classic Nagios
- Reuses Nagios plugins
Watch out for
- Text-file configuration
- Needs add-ons for a modern UI
Choose SNMP Exporter if…
- Brings network gear into Prometheus
- Flexible config
Watch out for
- MIB configuration is fiddly
- Needs Prometheus and Grafana
Frequently asked questions
Is Naemon or SNMP Exporter better?
SNMP Exporter is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Naemon if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Naemon and SNMP Exporter free and open-source?
Yes. Naemon is licensed under GPL-2.0 and SNMP Exporter under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Naemon and SNMP Exporter with Docker?
Naemon: check the project docs for container support. SNMP Exporter: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Naemon or SNMP Exporter?
SNMP Exporter has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Naemon. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.