Nagios Core vs Smokeping
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted monitoring & status options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Nagios Core | Smokeping |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 84 · Excellent | 69 · Good |
| Category | Monitoring & Status | Monitoring & Status |
| License | GPL-2.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | C | Perl |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, docker, source | bare-metal, docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,045 | ★ 1,967 |
| First released | 1999 | 2003 |
| Replaces | SolarWinds, PRTG | PRTG |
What are Nagios Core and Smokeping?
Nagios Core
Nagios Core is the open-source monitoring engine that watches hosts, services, and network devices, alerting when problems occur. It is highly extensible through plugins and remains a long-standing standard in IT monitoring.
- Host and service checks
- Massive plugin ecosystem
- Flexible notification rules
- Proven at scale
Smokeping
SmokePing measures network latency and packet loss, storing and graphing the results to reveal connection quality over time. Its distinctive smoke graphs visualize jitter and loss for troubleshooting.
- Latency and packet loss graphs
- Distinctive smoke visualization
- Multiple probe types
- Alerting on degradation
Nagios Core vs Smokeping: key differences
Nagios Core is written in C, while Smokeping is built with Perl. Smokeping is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Nagios Core. Nagios Core is the more established project (first released 1999), while Smokeping arrived in 2003.
Why pick each one
Choose Nagios Core if…
- Battle-tested and stable
- Enormous plugin library
Watch out for
- Configuration is text-file heavy
- Dated web interface
Choose Smokeping if…
- Excellent for connection quality
- Lightweight
Watch out for
- Single-purpose tool
- Dated UI
Frequently asked questions
Is Nagios Core or Smokeping better?
Neither is universally better. Nagios Core has the larger community, while Smokeping is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Nagios Core and Smokeping free and open-source?
Yes. Nagios Core is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Smokeping under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Nagios Core and Smokeping with Docker?
Nagios Core: yes. Smokeping: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Nagios Core or Smokeping?
Smokeping has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Nagios Core. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.