GLASSMKR VS CHECKMK
Glassmkr vs Checkmk: opinionated open-source monitoring vs configurable enterprise platform.
Both monitor servers. They differ on breadth, edition models, and what an operator has to configure.
Last verified: 2026-08-25. Glassmkr is not affiliated with Checkmk GmbH.
Checkmk is a long-established enterprise monitoring platform (Munich-based, Nagios lineage). Editions as of 2026-03-17 are Community (free, self-hosted, ~100 hosts) 1, Pro (from EUR 190/month annual), Ultimate (from EUR 275/month annual), Cloud SaaS (EUR 240/month), and Ultimate with Multi-Tenancy 3 4. Pricing is service-based (~30 services per host typical) 1.
Glassmkr is opinionated bare-metal monitoring, fully open source and free in both deployment forms: self-hosted (AGPL-3.0-only dashboard, MIT agent, no node limits) or hosted at app.glassmkr.com (free, 10-node per-account cap) G. 70 alert rules ship enabled and tuned, and there is no proprietary edition: every feature is in the open repo.
Checkmk wins on breadth (2000+ official plugins 8), distributed monitoring across regions, and enterprise features (RBAC, audit logs, LDAP/SAML). Glassmkr wins on time-to-value for focused bare-metal monitoring without the operational footprint.
What’s the same
Both monitor Linux servers, route alerts, and have free tiers. Both cover SMART, IPMI, and common RAID controllers on bare metal. Both have multi-channel notifications.
What’s different
| Dimension | Checkmk | Glassmkr |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor | Checkmk GmbH (Munich, DE) | Glassmkr (Prague-based EU sole-trader) |
| Editions (current) | Community / Pro / Ultimate / Cloud / Ultimate w/ Multi-Tenancy 3 | One edition; every feature ships in the open repo |
| Open-source license | Community edition (renamed from Raw) is GPL-2.0-only 10 | AGPL-3.0-only (dashboard); MIT (agent) |
| Proprietary edition | Yes: the Micro Core, agent bakery, and advanced reporting are commercial-only 9 | None; there is no closed edition |
| Pro pricing | From EUR 190/month annual; ~EUR 1.90/host equivalent at 100 hosts (about 3,000 services) 1 | Free (self-hosted, AGPL-3.0-only) / Free (hosted, 10-node cap) G |
| Cloud SaaS pricing | EUR 240/month base; ~EUR 7.20/host at 30 services 1 | Hosted at app.glassmkr.com is free (10-node cap) |
| Pricing unit | Service-based (~30 services per host typical) 1 | Per node |
| Plugin / integration count | 2000+ 8 | Bare-metal focused; ~10 integration surfaces |
| Auto-discovery | Yes, services and network devices 5 | Agent reports what it finds on the host |
| Distributed monitoring | Central + hundreds of remote sites 5 | Single dashboard; all agents report to it |
| RBAC / audit / LDAP / SAML | RBAC in all editions; LDAP/AD from Pro; SAML SSO from Pro 9 | Not currently surfaced as a feature |
| SMART / IPMI | Built-in plugins (smart, freeipmi) 6 7 | Built-in via Crucible agent |
| Opinionated bare-metal rules | No "best-practice rule pack"; thresholds operator-tuned | 70 rules tuned out of the box |
Bare-metal coverage
Checkmk Community covers SMART (smart plugin via smartctl) and IPMI (via the freeipmi/ipmi-sensors integration), plus vendor-specific RAID controllers, PSU, and memory plugins 6 7. The coverage is broad but unopinionated: defaults are generic, and operators tune thresholds and rules to fit their fleet. ECC and ZFS specifics typically combine the generic Linux agent with hardware-vendor plugins or Checkmk Exchange contributions.
Glassmkr ships 70 rules with pre-tuned thresholds and per-alert remediation guidance built into the dashboard. Coverage is narrower than Checkmk’s 2000+ plugins but tuned for "this is genuinely a problem worth waking someone up about."
Operational profile
Checkmk Community installs on Linux (RHEL/SLES/Debian/Ubuntu), as a virtual appliance, or in Docker. Setup is six steps per the docs 2; an experienced operator can complete the install in under an hour. Real-world deployments add agent rollout, host inventory, rule tuning, and notification configuration on top. The SaaS Cloud edition removes server install but still requires agent deployment and rule configuration.
Glassmkr’s hosted form removes all of the dashboard-side setup; the self-hosted form is one docker-compose file. Either way the rule-authoring work is gone (70 rules ship enabled) and agent install is one bash command.
When Checkmk is the right choice
You run a heterogeneous enterprise fleet.
Switches, storage arrays, hypervisors, network devices, application servers, databases. 2000+ plugins covers the vendor matrix Glassmkr doesn’t reach.
You need distributed monitoring across regions.
Checkmk supports central + hundreds of remote sites; basic distributed monitoring (Livestatus) is available in all editions including the free Raw edition, with the optimized Livestatus proxy commercial-only 5. Glassmkr has a single dashboard model.
You have RBAC / audit / SSO requirements.
Compliance contexts that require role-based access, audit trails, LDAP/SAML integration. Checkmk ships role-based access in every edition, and LDAP/AD plus SAML SSO from Pro up 9. Glassmkr doesn’t currently.
You prefer broad coverage over opinionated defaults.
If your monitoring philosophy is "monitor everything and tune from there," Checkmk’s breadth fits. Glassmkr’s philosophy is the opposite.
When Glassmkr is the right choice
You want focused bare-metal monitoring without the operational footprint.
No Checkmk site to install, configure, version-upgrade, and TLS-secure. One agent, one hosted dashboard.
You don’t want an edition matrix.
Checkmk’s feature set fans out across Community, Pro, Ultimate, and Cloud, with the flagship pieces in the paid editions 9. Glassmkr has one edition: everything it ships is in the open repo, free in both deployment forms.
You don’t need 2000+ plugins.
If your fleet is Linux bare-metal servers (not network devices, storage arrays, vSphere clusters), the breadth advantage doesn’t apply.
You want a modern UI without Nagios-era ergonomics.
Checkmk has modernized significantly but its lineage is visible. Glassmkr was built recently with no legacy.
Self-hosting
Both self-host, but the models differ. Checkmk is open-core: the Community edition (GPL-2.0-only) is real and free, while the flagship features (the Micro Core, agent bakery, advanced reporting) live in proprietary paid editions 9. Glassmkr has no proprietary edition: the self-hosted deployment is the whole product, AGPL-3.0-only dashboard and MIT agent, from a single docker-compose file.
Migration: switching from Checkmk to Glassmkr
Checkmk Hosts → Glassmkr Nodes. Same unit. One server is one node.
Checkmk Services → individual alert-rule subjects. A Checkmk host’s ~30 services map to multiple Glassmkr alert rules (each with its own threshold). The mapping is many-to-many; not 1:1.
Checkmk Views / Dashboards → Glassmkr server detail pages. Per-server, with metrics and alert state.
Checkmk Notifications → Glassmkr notification channels. Reconfigure routing once.
Checkmk Host Groups → Glassmkr node tags (loosely). The grouping model differs; Glassmkr is per-node with tag-based labels rather than Checkmk’s hierarchical groups.
The honest trade-off: you give up integration breadth, distributed monitoring across sites, and enterprise features (RBAC, audit, LDAP/SAML). You gain a simpler operational footprint and opinionated bare-metal defaults.
- Checkmk pricing page, checkmk.com/pricing (verified 2026-08-25).
- Checkmk installation docs, docs.checkmk.com/latest/en/intro_setup.html (verified 2026-08-25).
- "Meet the new Checkmk lineup" (2026-03-17), checkmk.com/blog/meet-new-checkmk-lineup (verified 2026-08-25).
- Werk #19391 Edition Renaming, checkmk.com/werk/19391 (verified 2026-08-25). Edition titles change in 2.3 and 2.4; the internal identifiers change in 2.5.
- Checkmk monitoring platform features, checkmk.com/product/features/monitoring-platform; distributed monitoring by edition (Livestatus in all editions, Livestatus proxy in the commercial editions), docs.checkmk.com/latest/en/distributed_monitoring.html (verified 2026-08-25).
- Checkmk IPMI integration, checkmk.com/integrations/ipmi_sensors (verified 2026-08-25).
- Checkmk Linux agent docs (SMART + IPMI plugins), docs.checkmk.com/latest/en/agent_linux.html (verified 2026-08-25).
- Checkmk Community edition page ("2,000+ built-in integrations"), checkmk.com/product/checkmk-raw (verified 2026-08-25).
- Checkmk editions comparison (LDAP/AD, SAML SSO, role management by edition), checkmk.com/product/editions; Checkmk Micro Core ("The CMC is included as a component in the commercial editions"), docs.checkmk.com/latest/en/cmc.html; Agent Bakery glossary entry ("In the commercial editions, the Agent Bakery is used to individually package agents"), docs.checkmk.com/latest/en/glossar.html (verified 2026-08-25).
- Checkmk COPYING (GPL-2.0), github.com/Checkmk/checkmk/blob/master/COPYING (verified 2026-08-25).
- Glassmkr pricing page, glassmkr.com/pricing (verified 2026-08-23). Free self-hosted (AGPL-3.0-only, no node limits); hosted free with a 10-node per-account cap.