Zabbix review

Zabbix is the best free option for admins willing to put in setup time. The software is open source under AGPLv3, and its network monitoring collects SNMP metrics or agent data for traffic in and out, total bandwidth, packet loss, interface errors, TCP connections, link status and interface speed. It supports SNMP v1, v2c and v3 plus traps, and tracks device uptime, CPU, memory, power supplies, temperature and fans. Alerting is a strength: you can define dependencies so one root-cause alert replaces a flood, suppress alerts during maintenance, detect anomalies against dynamic baselines and escalate across teams. For those who do not want to run the server, Zabbix Cloud starts at $50 a month on the Nano tier with 10GB of storage included, across seven tiers, after a 5-day trial. The cost of free is effort. Templates, tuning and upgrades are on you, and Zabbix asks commercial users to support development by buying technical support.

Who it is for

Teams with Linux skills that want a free, fully featured monitor or a managed instance without license fees per device.

Price

Free open source software; Zabbix Cloud from $50 a month (Nano tier).

Zabbix Cloud - starting from $50 a month (Nano tier)
Quoted from the vendor pricing page on November 9, 2026.

Key features

• SNMP v1, v2c and v3 polling and SNMP trap collection
• Traffic, bandwidth, packet loss, interface error and link status metrics
• Device health such as CPU, memory, fans, power supplies and temperature
• Alert dependencies, maintenance suppression and dynamic baselines
• Escalations across users and departments

Strengths and weaknesses

• Strength: The software is open source under AGPLv3 with no license fee
• Strength: Zabbix Cloud removes the need to host the server yourself
• Strength: Alert dependencies help surface the root cause instead of every symptom
• Weakness: Self-hosting takes more setup and tuning than commercial tools
• Weakness: Zabbix asks commercial users to buy technical support
• Weakness: Zabbix Cloud trial is only 5 days

Key facts

• License: AGPLv3 open source
• Zabbix Cloud: From $50 a month, Nano tier
• Cloud tiers: 7, from Nano to 2xLarge
• SNMP: v1, v2c, v3 and traps

Where it ranks

Zabbix is No. 9 in our Best Network Monitoring Tools verdict.