Observium 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 | Observium | Shinken |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 0 · At risk | 17 · At risk |
| Category | Monitoring & Status | Monitoring & Status |
| License | GPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Shell | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1 | ★ 1,135 |
| First released | 2010 | 2009 |
| Replaces | SolarWinds, PRTG | SolarWinds |
What are Observium and Shinken?
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
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
Observium vs Shinken: key differences
Observium is written in Shell, while Shinken is built with Python. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Observium versus AGPL-3.0 for Shinken. Shinken is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Observium. Shinken has the considerably larger community, at 1,135 GitHub stars versus 1.
Why pick each one
Choose Observium if…
- Discovers devices automatically
- Clean interface
Watch out for
- Community edition lags the paid version
- SNMP-centric
Choose Shinken if…
- Scales horizontally
- Reuses Nagios ecosystem
Watch out for
- Development has slowed
- Complex setup
Frequently asked questions
Is Observium or Shinken better?
Neither is universally better. Shinken has the larger community, while Observium is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Observium and Shinken free and open-source?
Yes. Observium is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Shinken under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Observium and Shinken with Docker?
Observium: check the project docs for container support. Shinken: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Observium or Shinken?
Shinken has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Observium. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.