NetXMS vs Shinken
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted monitoring & status options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | NetXMS | Shinken |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 78 · Good | 17 · At risk |
| Category | Monitoring & Status | Monitoring & Status |
| License | GPL-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | C++ | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 403 | ★ 1,135 |
| First released | 2004 | 2009 |
| Replaces | SolarWinds, PRTG | SolarWinds |
What are NetXMS and Shinken?
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
Shinken
Shinken is a monitoring framework written in Python and compatible with Nagios configurations and plugins. Its distributed architecture splits monitoring into specialized, scalable daemons.
- Nagios configuration compatibility
- Distributed daemon architecture
- Scales across many pollers
- Plugin support
NetXMS vs Shinken: key differences
NetXMS is written in C++, while Shinken is built with Python. Licensing differs — GPL-2.0 for NetXMS versus AGPL-3.0 for Shinken. NetXMS is the more established project (first released 2004), while Shinken arrived in 2009. Shinken has the considerably larger community, at 1,135 GitHub stars versus 403. NetXMS lists first-class Docker deployment; Shinken does not.
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 Shinken if…
- Scales horizontally
- Reuses Nagios ecosystem
Watch out for
- Development has slowed
- Complex setup
Frequently asked questions
Is NetXMS or Shinken better?
Neither is universally better. Shinken has the larger community; both share a hard setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are NetXMS and Shinken free and open-source?
Yes. NetXMS is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Shinken under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run NetXMS and Shinken with Docker?
NetXMS: yes. Shinken: check the project docs for container support.