NetXMS 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 | NetXMS | SNMP Exporter |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 78 · Good | 81 · Excellent |
| Category | Monitoring & Status | Monitoring & Status |
| License | GPL-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | C++ | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 403 | ★ 2,176 |
| First released | 2004 | 2016 |
| Replaces | SolarWinds, PRTG | SolarWinds |
What are NetXMS and SNMP Exporter?
NetXMS
NetXMS is an open-source network and infrastructure monitoring system with auto-discovery, event correlation, and a flexible alerting engine. It scales from small networks to large distributed environments.
- Network auto-discovery
- Event correlation
- Distributed monitoring
- SNMP and agent support
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
NetXMS vs SNMP Exporter: key differences
NetXMS is written in C++, while SNMP Exporter is built with Go. Licensing differs — GPL-2.0 for NetXMS versus Apache-2.0 for SNMP Exporter. SNMP Exporter is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 512 MB for NetXMS. NetXMS is the more established project (first released 2004), while SNMP Exporter arrived in 2016. SNMP Exporter has the considerably larger community, at 2,176 GitHub stars versus 403.
Why pick each one
Choose NetXMS if…
- Powerful event processing
- Scales to large networks
Watch out for
- Steep learning curve
- Desktop console for full features
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 NetXMS or SNMP Exporter better?
SNMP Exporter is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider NetXMS if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are NetXMS and SNMP Exporter free and open-source?
Yes. NetXMS 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 NetXMS and SNMP Exporter with Docker?
NetXMS: yes. SNMP Exporter: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, NetXMS or SNMP Exporter?
SNMP Exporter has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for NetXMS. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.