Zabbix
Open-source monitoring for servers, network gear, VMs and applications.
Open source Desktop download
- Platforms
- Linux/Unix server, web UI; agents for Windows/Linux/macOS/Unix
- Licence
- Open source — AGPL-3.0
- Price
- Free; paid support available
- Category
- Monitoring & observability
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
What it is
Zabbix is a free, open-source monitoring system for servers, network equipment, virtual machines and applications. It gathers metrics, draws graphs and network maps, and fires alerts — one place to watch a whole infrastructure.
Problems it removes
- You need one monitoring system across servers, SNMP devices and apps without per-node fees.
- Alerting has to escalate to the right people with real context.
How administrators use it
- Roll out agents and SNMP checks, then template hosts for consistent metrics.
- Write trigger expressions and escalation chains so on-call is paged on genuine failures.
- Publish maps and dashboards for a shared operational picture.
Strengths & trade-offs
Strengths
- Free yet genuinely enterprise-capable.
- Templates, SNMP, auto-discovery.
- Active community and long-term-support releases.
Trade-offs
- Steeper learning curve.
- You host and scale it yourself.
Common questions
Does Zabbix cost anything?
The software is free under AGPL-3.0. Zabbix sells support and training, but the full product runs at no licence cost.
Guides
Head to head
Alternatives
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