Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

LibreNMS VS Nfsen

Compare LibreNMS VS Nfsen and see what are their differences

LibreNMS logo LibreNMS

A fully featured network monitoring system that provides a wealth of features and device support.

Nfsen logo Nfsen

NfSen is a graphical web based front end for the nfdump netflow tools that allows you to:
  • LibreNMS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-04-20
  • Nfsen Landing page
    Landing page //
    2019-09-17

LibreNMS features and specs

  • Open Source
    LibreNMS is open-source software, allowing you to customize, modify, and distribute it freely. This also means it has a community of contributors who help improve and maintain the project.
  • Vendor-Agnostic
    Supports a wide range of network devices and vendors, making it a versatile network monitoring tool capable of managing heterogeneous environments.
  • Scalability
    Designed to scale from small office networks to large data center environments, ensuring it can grow with your network infrastructure needs.
  • Auto Discovery
    Includes automatic network discovery capabilities which help in identifying and adding devices to the monitoring system effortlessly.
  • Extensive Features
    Offers a robust set of features including alerting, graphing, and support for a variety of network protocols (e.g., SNMP, ICMP, BGP).
  • Integration
    Integrates well with other tools and services such as RANCID, Collectd, Nagios, and more, enhancing its capabilities in various IT ecosystem setups.
  • User-Friendly Interface
    Provides an intuitive web-based interface that makes it easier for administrators to navigate and use the tool effectively.

Possible disadvantages of LibreNMS

  • Complex Initial Setup
    The initial setup can be complex and time-consuming, especially for users who are not familiar with network monitoring systems.
  • Resource Intensive
    Requires significant server resources (CPU, memory, disk space) as your network grows, which could necessitate infrastructure upgrades.
  • Learning Curve
    Has a steep learning curve for new users, particularly those who are not experienced with network monitoring tools.
  • Documentation
    While there is documentation available, it can sometimes be lacking in detail or out-of-date, making it difficult for users to troubleshoot or fully utilize all features.
  • Community Support
    Relies heavily on community support which can be inconsistent and may not always provide timely solutions for critical issues.
  • Third-Party Dependencies
    Requires several third-party dependencies for full functionality, making the setup process more complicated and sometimes leading to compatibility issues.

Nfsen features and specs

  • Open Source
    Nfsen is an open-source tool, which means it is free to use and can be modified to fit specific needs. This allows organizations to customize it without incurring additional costs.
  • NetFlow Analysis
    Nfsen provides detailed NetFlow analysis capabilities, allowing users to effectively monitor, analyze, and visualize network traffic data, which is crucial for maintaining network performance and security.
  • Web Interface
    It features a web-based interface that makes it accessible from anywhere, providing convenience and flexibility for network administrators to monitor traffic in real-time.
  • Customizable Graphs
    Users can customize graphs and views to display specific data metrics, which helps in quickly identifying trends or issues in network traffic.

Possible disadvantages of Nfsen

  • Complex Installation
    The installation process of Nfsen can be complex, particularly for those who are not familiar with NetFlow tools or Linux-based systems, which might pose challenges for some users.
  • Limited Documentation
    Nfsen's documentation is not as comprehensive as some commercial alternatives, making it potentially difficult for users to troubleshoot or fully utilize all features without external support.
  • Scalability Issues
    Nfsen may face scalability limitations when dealing with a very large amount of network traffic, which can affect its performance or require additional resources as the network grows.
  • Maintenance Requirement
    As an open-source tool, ongoing maintenance and updates may be needed to keep it secure and functional, which requires either in-house expertise or external support.

Analysis of LibreNMS

Overall verdict

  • Yes, LibreNMS is generally considered a good solution for network monitoring, especially for medium to large environments. Its open-source nature also makes it a cost-effective choice compared to some proprietary alternatives, and it offers a great deal of flexibility through its plugins and API.

Why this product is good

  • LibreNMS is a network monitoring tool that is known for its ease of use, extensive documentation, and active community support. It provides automated monitoring and discovery of network devices and supports a wide range of devices and operating systems. Its web-based interface is considered user-friendly and it offers comprehensive graphing and alerting capabilities.

Recommended for

    Network administrators and IT professionals who need an efficient and scalable monitoring solution for a variety of network devices. It's particularly well-suited for those who prefer open-source software and are interested in contributing to or benefitting from community-driven improvements and support.

LibreNMS videos

Network Monitoring - LibreNMS

More videos:

  • Review - NLNOG day 2017 - Neil Lathwood (LibreNMS) - Monitoring Everything
  • Review - [LibreNMS] Explaining alert rules
  • Tutorial - Introduction to LibreNMS and Prime Features - LibreNMS
  • Tutorial - LibreNMS Application -Apache

Nfsen videos

Episode 19: NFSEN and NFDUMP

More videos:

  • Tutorial - How to Install & Configure Nfsen & NfDump on Ubuntu

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to LibreNMS and Nfsen)
Monitoring Tools
87 87%
13% 13
Performance Monitoring
84 84%
16% 16
Log Management
81 81%
19% 19
Network Monitoring
85 85%
15% 15

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare LibreNMS and Nfsen

LibreNMS Reviews

The Best Cacti Monitoring Alternatives
LibreNMS is a fully-fledged network monitoring system supporting various device types and vendors, including Linux, Foundry, Cisco, and many others. As a result, it’s one of the most accessible tools on this list to use straight out of the box. In addition, its autodiscovery features help you spend as little time as possible setting it up.
The Best Open Source Network Monitoring Tools in 2023
Description: LibreNMS is an open source network monitoring system that uses several network protocols to observe every device on your network. The LibreNMS API can retrieve, manage, and graph the data it collects and supports horizontal scaling to grow its monitoring capabilities alongside your network. The tool features a flexible alerting system that is tailor-made to...
Top 10 PRTG Alternatives for Monitoring Networks and IT Infrastructure
Observium is similar to LibreNMS (which is a fork of it) and comes in Enterprise, Professional and Community Editions, so you have a free version if you want to try it out. It is more a network centric tool instead of a systems monitoring tool.
10 Best Open Source Monitoring Software for IT Infrastructure
LibreNMS is a fully featured network monitoring system. It is based on PHP/MySQL/SNMP. LibreMNS covers a wide range of operating systems and network hardware.
Source: geekflare.com
13 Best Nagios Alternatives for Networks, Servers, IT Systems Monitoring
During the setup process, LibreNMS automatically discovers individual devices and end-points using various protocols such as CDP, FDP, LLDP, OSPF, BGP, SNMP and ARP. Users don’t need to spend hours adding individual devices to be monitored.

Nfsen Reviews

We have no reviews of Nfsen yet.
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing LibreNMS and Nfsen, you can also consider the following products

Zabbix - Track, record, alert and visualize performance and availability of IT resources

Observium - Observium

FastNetMon - FastNetMon is a very fast DDoS analyzer with sflow/netflow/mirror support.

Nagios - Complete monitoring and alerting for servers, switches, applications, and services

nfsen-ng - nfsen-ng aims to be an in-place replacement for the ageing nfsen.

Icinga - Icinga is a fork of Nagios and is backward compatible.