Paessler PRTG – A better Checkmk alternative

Quick, agentless setup

PRTG is set up in a few quick clicks and runs completely without the need for agents. Its smart auto-discovery feature automatically adds relevant endpoints and suitable sensors to your monitoring environment. You can also tailor PRTG to your needs and create your own custom sensors.

Checkmk also offers automatic network and service discovery as well as out-of-the-box integration plug-ins. However, while HTTP-, SNMP-, and API-based monitoring with Checkmk works without agents, all other monitoring requires the installation of a Checkmk agent on the monitored server or workstation.

Intuitive and user-friendly

PRTG is designed with an intuitive user interface for excellent usability. With PRTG, sensors and measurement points can be added with just a few clicks. Easy-to-read visualizations of your network as well as customizable dashboards and network maps let you determine the status of your network at one quick glance.

Checkmk also provides graphic maps and charts that are, however, less sophisticated in look & feel. With Checkmk, it is not possible to create your own comprehensive and interactive network maps, as you can do with the PRTG map designer.

Flexible subscriptions

Every PRTG subscription comes with the full range of monitoring features, including network traffic analysis, syslog monitoring, or flow monitoring. License prices are based on the number of required PRTG sensors. Each sensor covers several monitoring metrics, the so-called channels.

With Checkmk, prices are based on the number of services. A service can cover the same scope as a PRTG sensor, or it can be just a specific metric, which corresponds to the channel of a PRTG sensor. Even if pricing differs in terms of definition, the costs for PRTG and Checkmk are about the same.

However, with Checkmk, specific functionalities need extra open-source integrations, which do not cost extra, but require lots of extra time for configuration and maintenance.