Pandora FMS Community 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 | Pandora FMS Community | Smokeping |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 45 · Fair | 69 · Good |
| Category | Monitoring & Status | Monitoring & Status |
| License | GPL-2.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | PHP | Perl |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | bare-metal, docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 474 | ★ 1,967 |
| First released | 2008 | 2003 |
| Replaces | SolarWinds, PRTG | PRTG |
What are Pandora FMS Community and Smokeping?
Pandora FMS Community
Pandora FMS Community Edition is a flexible monitoring system that watches networks, servers, applications, and infrastructure. It supports SNMP, agents, and remote checks at scale.
- Network and server monitoring
- SNMP and agents
- Custom dashboards
- Alerting and reports
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
Pandora FMS Community vs Smokeping: key differences
Pandora FMS Community is written in PHP, while Smokeping is built with Perl. Smokeping is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 2,048 MB for Pandora FMS Community. Smokeping is the more established project (first released 2003), while Pandora FMS Community arrived in 2008. Smokeping has the considerably larger community, at 1,967 GitHub stars versus 474.
Why pick each one
Choose Pandora FMS Community if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in PHP
Choose Smokeping if…
- Excellent for connection quality
- Lightweight
Watch out for
- Single-purpose tool
- Dated UI
Frequently asked questions
Is Pandora FMS Community or Smokeping better?
Smokeping is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Pandora FMS Community if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Pandora FMS Community and Smokeping free and open-source?
Yes. Pandora FMS Community is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Smokeping under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Pandora FMS Community and Smokeping with Docker?
Pandora FMS Community: yes. Smokeping: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Pandora FMS Community or Smokeping?
Smokeping has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 2,048 MB for Pandora FMS Community. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.