Observium 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 | Observium | SNMP Exporter |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 0 · At risk | 81 · Excellent |
| Category | Monitoring & Status | Monitoring & Status |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Shell | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1 | ★ 2,176 |
| First released | 2010 | 2016 |
| Replaces | SolarWinds, PRTG | SolarWinds |
What are Observium and SNMP Exporter?
Observium
Observium is a network monitoring platform that auto-discovers devices via SNMP and collects performance and health data. It focuses on a clean interface and low-maintenance operation for network infrastructure.
- SNMP auto-discovery
- Network device dashboards
- Low maintenance design
- Historical performance graphs
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
Observium vs SNMP Exporter: key differences
Observium is written in Shell, while SNMP Exporter is built with Go. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Observium versus Apache-2.0 for SNMP Exporter. SNMP Exporter is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Observium. Observium is the more established project (first released 2010), while SNMP Exporter arrived in 2016. SNMP Exporter has the considerably larger community, at 2,176 GitHub stars versus 1. SNMP Exporter lists first-class Docker deployment; Observium does not.
Why pick each one
Choose Observium if…
- Discovers devices automatically
- Clean interface
Watch out for
- Community edition lags the paid version
- SNMP-centric
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 Observium or SNMP Exporter better?
Neither is universally better. SNMP Exporter has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Observium and SNMP Exporter free and open-source?
Yes. Observium is licensed under GPL-3.0 and SNMP Exporter under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Observium and SNMP Exporter with Docker?
Observium: check the project docs for container support. SNMP Exporter: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Observium or SNMP Exporter?
SNMP Exporter has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Observium. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.