Prometheus 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.

Not the right match-up?
FeaturePrometheusSNMP Exporter
CategoryMonitoring & StatusMonitoring & Status
LicenseApache-2.0Apache-2.0
LanguageGoGo
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM512 MB64 MB
Deploymentdocker, binary, helmdocker, kubernetes, binary
GitHub stars★ 65,616★ 2,156
First released20152016
ReplacesDatadogSolarWinds

Why pick each one

Choose Prometheus if…

  • Powerful query language
  • Reliable and scalable
  • Huge ecosystem
Prometheus details

Choose SNMP Exporter if…

  • Brings network gear into Prometheus
  • Flexible config
SNMP Exporter details

Frequently asked questions

Is Prometheus or SNMP Exporter better?

Neither is universally better. Prometheus has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Prometheus and SNMP Exporter free and open-source?

Yes. Prometheus is licensed under Apache-2.0 and SNMP Exporter under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Prometheus and SNMP Exporter with Docker?

Prometheus: yes. SNMP Exporter: yes.

Related comparisons