compare · alertping vs nagios
Nagios alternative and Nagios Core replacement for uptime, ping and port checks
Short answer: if your Nagios box mostly runs check_http, check_ping, check_tcp and certificate checks against public sites and APIs, a hosted monitor does that job without a server to patch. A 100-node Nagios XI Standard license costs $2,595, then $2,104 a year to renew support. AlertPing Business watches 500 endpoints from three regions every 30 seconds for $1,128 a year. Keep Nagios for internal CPU, disk and SNMP checks.
Nagios XI Standard, 100 nodes
$6,803 / 3 yrs
AlertPing Business, 500 monitors
$3,384 / 3 yrs
alertping ▸ check preview
simulated
▸ type a domain to watch a check and an alert play out
▸ simulation of 2 regions · US East · EU Central
▸ waiting…▌
queued
probing▌
If ever goes down, you get:
Alert fired ▸ 2 channels · 6.2 s after first failure
AlertPing app
● DOWN : HTTP timeout confirmed from 2/2 regions (US East, EU Central). Incident opened.
sms · on-call
AlertPing: DOWN. Confirmed 2/2 regions . First fail: EU Central.
Simulation, not a measurement of your site: this preview runs entirely in your browser and the latencies are generated from the domain you typed. Real checks on your monitors run from our US East and EU Central regions.
$2,595
list price of Nagios XI Standard at 100 nodes, with the first year of maintenance included
81%
of that price comes back every year as the $2,104 maintenance and support renewal
5 min
the check interval Nagios assumes in its own XI plan calculator ("Total Checks /5min")
2 regions
US East and EU Central check every AlertPing monitor on every plan, and a second region confirms each failure
where the check runs from
One Nagios server inside the network versus two regions outside it
Nagios Core and Nagios XI run on a Linux server you own. Every check starts from that one machine, usually in the same building or cloud account as the services it watches. That is the right place for internal checks. For public websites and APIs it is the wrong place, because the monitor shares the failure. When the uplink, the firewall or the data center goes, the Nagios server goes with it, and nobody gets the alert.
single vantage point
two external regions
what moves over
The Nagios checks a hosted monitor replaces one for one
Open your service definitions and count the ones that point at public hostnames, such as the website, the API, the mail and VPN ports and the certificates. Each of those becomes one AlertPing monitor with no plugin to install.
check_http ▸
HTTP(S) and keyword monitor
Status code, response time and a keyword or JSON assertion on the body, for pages and API endpoints.
check_ping ▸
Ping monitor
ICMP reachability and round-trip time for public hosts, from two regions instead of one.
check_tcp ▸
TCP and UDP port monitor
Is SMTP, SSH, a database listener or a VPN port accepting connections from the outside.
certificate checks ▸
SSL certificate monitor
Days to expiry, issuer and chain, with alerts well before the date rather than on it.
passive checks ▸
Heartbeat monitor
Your cron job or backup script calls a URL when it finishes. Silence past the grace period raises an alert.
contacts and escalations ▸
Escalation chains
Who gets the SMS first, who is next after a delay, and on-call hours, from the Team plan up.
The units differ. Nagios XI licenses nodes, meaning each unique IP address or FQDN, with unlimited services on each. AlertPing counts monitors, one URL or host plus one check type, so a host watched by HTTP and ping is 2 monitors.
three years of list price
What Nagios XI costs over three years compared with a hosted monitor
Nagios XI is a perpetual license priced by node count. The purchase includes the first year of Maintenance and Support. After that, renewal keeps version upgrades, support cases and Premium features. The Standard Edition keeps running without it, but without renewal you stop getting new versions. The figures below use Nagios's own 2026 price sheet, with renewal prices effective January 1, 2026, and assume two renewals.
| Option | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | 3-year total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nagios XI Standard, 100 nodes | $2,595 | $2,104 | $2,104 | $6,803 |
| Nagios XI Enterprise, 100 nodes | $4,690 | $3,170 | $3,170 | $11,030 |
| Nagios XI Standard, 200 nodes | $4,395 | $3,466 | $3,466 | $11,327 |
| Nagios XI Enterprise, 200 nodes | $6,490 | $4,532 | $4,532 | $15,554 |
| Nagios XI Standard, 500 nodes | $8,295 | $6,939 | $6,939 | $22,173 |
| Nagios XI Enterprise, 500 nodes | $10,390 | $8,005 | $8,005 | $26,400 |
| AlertPing Starter, 20 monitors, 60 s | $288 | $288 | $288 | $864 |
| AlertPing Team, 100 monitors, 30 s | $348 | $348 | $348 | $1,044 |
| AlertPing Business, 500 monitors, 30 s | $1,128 | $1,128 | $1,128 | $3,384 |
| AlertPing Enterprise, 1,500 monitors, 15 s | $2,268 | $2,268 | $2,268 | $6,804 |
USD list prices. Nagios Enterprise renewal adds $1,066 a year to the Standard renewal. AlertPing on yearly billing. Nagios figures exclude the Linux server, the admin hours to run it, extra support packs and any partner fees, which vary too much to estimate. Sources: nagios.com/pricing-plans and nagios.com/maintenance-support-plans.
Where the Nagios money goes after year one
The year-two renewal on a 100-node Standard license is $2,104, which is 81% of the $2,595 purchase price. So a perpetual license behaves much like a subscription for anyone who wants upgrades and support. Each bar is split by year. The detail, including support packs at $995 and $1,495 and phone support from $1,995, is in our Nagios XI pricing and renewal costs breakdown. AlertPing's own plans are on the pricing page.
the pattern we recommend
Keep Nagios for the inside and move the public endpoints out
You do not have to rip Nagios out to save money. XI counts nodes, so every public FQDN you stop monitoring from Nagios is a node that no longer needs a license. Move the websites, APIs, mail and VPN hostnames and their certificates to AlertPing, leave internal hosts where they are, and renew XI at the smaller node level.
The same split is what we suggest to teams leaving PRTG for outside-in checks and to anyone replacing SolarWinds ipMonitor.
worked example, Standard edition
- Renewal at 200 nodes
- $3,466 / yr
- Renewal at 100 nodes
- $2,104 / yr
- Saved on the renewal
- $1,362 / yr
- AlertPing Business, 500 monitors
- $1,128 / yr
- Left over
- $234 / yr
You end up with 30-second checks from two regions, SLA reports and 20 status pages for less than the node tier you no longer need.
side by side
AlertPing vs Nagios Core vs Nagios XI
Icinga, Zabbix and Checkmk are the usual self-hosted Nagios alternatives in roundups. They solve the same inside-the-network problem as Nagios, so they belong in one column here. If Checkmk is on your shortlist, our Checkmk pricing breakdown has its full per-service sheet.
| Capability | AlertPing | Nagios Core | Nagios XI | Icinga, Zabbix, Checkmk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Where it runs | Hosted, nothing to install | Your Linux server | Your Linux server, 3 installs per key | Your own servers |
| Where checks come from | US East, EU Central | The Nagios server | The Nagios server | Your servers |
| Web interface and wizards | Yes | Basic, configured in files | Yes, with configuration wizards | Yes |
| Fastest check interval | 60 s Starter, 30 s Team and Business, 15 s Enterprise | You configure it | You configure it; sizing assumes 5 min | You configure it |
| HTTP, ping, TCP port, SSL expiry | Yes | Yes, through plugins | Yes | Yes |
| Cron heartbeats | Yes | Through passive checks | Through passive checks | Varies by tool |
| CPU, disk, memory, SNMP, Windows WMI | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Hosts behind your firewall | No, public endpoints only | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| SLA reports | Business and Enterprise | No | Enterprise add-on | Varies by tool |
| Pricing model | Flat per account, $49 to $378 a month | Open source | Perpetual per node plus yearly renewal | Open source cores, paid editions vary |
| Who patches it | We do | You do | You do | You do |
read this before you switch
What AlertPing does not replace
- No agent on your hosts, so no CPU, memory, disk, load or process checks.
- No SNMP polling of switches, routers, printers or UPS units.
- No Windows WMI, event log or service checks. If you searched for a Nagios alternative for Windows servers, that part needs an internal tool.
- No checks of hosts that are only reachable inside your firewall. Our regions see what the internet sees.
If you need those, keep Nagios Core, or look at Icinga, Zabbix or Checkmk, and point it only at internal hosts. For deeper internal coverage see our server monitoring guide, which explains what an external checker can and cannot see on a server.
migration
How to move public checks off Nagios in two weeks
Time the work to your XI renewal date. The renewal price is set by node level, so the move only pays off if the smaller node count is in place before you renew. Start about a month ahead.
Most of the effort is reading your own config. A Nagios install that has grown for years carries hosts nobody remembers, and moving to a monitor list you can read on one screen is often the moment those get retired. If you are still choosing a hosted tool, our best uptime monitoring tools comparison and the SSL certificate monitoring tools roundup price the field.
-
1
Export the public service definitions
Pull every check_http, check_ping and check_tcp service plus certificate checks that point at a public IP or FQDN.
-
2
Recreate them as monitors
One monitor per URL or host and check type. Copy thresholds such as expected status and keyword.
-
3
Map contacts to escalation chains
Nagios contact groups and escalations become chains with delays and on-call hours.
-
4
Run both for two weeks
Compare alerts side by side. Expect AlertPing to catch short outages a 5-minute interval misses.
-
5
Remove the hosts, then renew smaller
Delete the moved hosts from Nagios and renew XI at the node level you now use.
who should switch
The best Nagios alternative depends on what your checks watch
move to alertping
Mostly public endpoints
Your Nagios services are mainly websites, APIs, ports and certificates, and you are tired of patching the box. Starter covers 20 monitors at $288 a year, Team 100 at $348.
split the job
A mix of inside and outside
You need host metrics and SNMP too. Keep Nagios Core or XI for those, move public checks and status pages to AlertPing, and drop a node tier at renewal.
stay where you are
Almost everything is internal
If nearly all checks hit hosts behind the firewall, a hosted monitor saves you little. Compare self-hosted tools instead, as in our SolarWinds alternatives guide.
questions buyers ask
Nagios alternative questions
What is the best alternative to Nagios?
It depends on what Nagios watches for you. For internal hosts, SNMP and Windows metrics, Icinga, Zabbix and Checkmk are the usual self-hosted alternatives. For public websites, APIs, ports and certificates, a hosted monitor such as AlertPing replaces the job without a server, checking from two regions every 30 seconds from $348 a year.
Is Nagios still free?
Nagios Core is free open source software. Nagios XI, the commercial product with the web interface, wizards, reporting and API, has a free edition limited to 7 nodes or 100 services, whichever comes first, and it is self-supported. Beyond that, XI Standard starts at $2,595 for 100 nodes.
How much does Nagios XI cost?
Nagios XI Standard lists at $2,595 for 100 nodes, $4,395 for 200, $8,295 for 500 and $14,995 for 1,000. Enterprise adds $2,095 on every tier. The first year of support is included, then renewal is $2,104 a year at 100 nodes, plus $1,066 for Enterprise. Over three years, 100 Standard nodes cost $6,803.
Can I replace Nagios with a SaaS uptime monitor?
Yes, for the checks that watch public endpoints: HTTP and keyword checks, ping, TCP ports, SSL expiry and cron heartbeats. A SaaS monitor cannot read CPU, disk or SNMP on internal hosts, so the practical setup is to move the public checks and keep a smaller Nagios or another self-hosted tool for the inside.
Does AlertPing monitor internal servers behind a firewall?
No. AlertPing checks from US East and EU Central, so it sees only what is reachable from the internet. It has no agent and does no SNMP or WMI polling. For hosts behind your firewall keep Nagios Core or use Icinga, Zabbix or Checkmk, and use AlertPing for the public side.
How do I migrate from Nagios to a hosted monitoring tool?
Export the services that point at public IPs or FQDNs, recreate each as a monitor, and map contact groups to escalation chains. Run both systems for two weeks and compare alerts. Then delete the moved hosts from Nagios and renew XI at the smaller node level, which is where the saving comes from.
What counts as a node in Nagios XI?
Nagios defines a node as any unique IP address or FQDN you monitor. Services on each node are unlimited on paid licenses. AlertPing counts differently: one monitor is one URL or host plus one check type, so a public host watched by HTTP and ping uses 2 of your plan's monitors.
Is Nagios XI a one-time purchase?
The license is perpetual and the Standard Edition keeps running if you stop paying. Version upgrades, support cases and Premium features such as Azure AD SSO need the yearly Maintenance and Support renewal after year one. At 100 nodes that renewal is $2,104, which is 81% of the purchase price.
how we page you
Two regions have to agree
A single failed probe never wakes anybody. A second region, US East or EU Central, re-checks first, so a hiccup on one route is not a 3am phone call.
what a plan covers
SMS is in the price, not in credits
Email, Slack and webhook alerts are unlimited on every plan, SMS comes with a monthly allowance, and each plan hosts status pages. No credit packs, no per-message fee, no per-monitor math.
how setup works
One URL, no agent to install
Paste the address, choose where alerts go, and the first check runs from both regions. No agent, no config file, nothing to deploy on your side.
Public uptime checks without a Nagios server to patch
Websites, APIs, ping hosts, ports, SSL certificates and cron heartbeats, confirmed from a second region. Team watches 100 monitors every 30 seconds for $59 a month.