Softwr

Technology · head to head

Checkmk vs Redis

Checkmk logo

Checkmk

Technology

Comprehensive IT monitoring, open and flexible

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Redis logo

Redis

Technology

The real-time data platform

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Redis has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Checkmk pricing is metered per service (each individual metric or sensor monitored) rather than per host, so cost scales with monitoring depth, not just server count; Redis licensing changed from BSD to AGPL in 2025, impacting open-source usage

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Checkmk and Redis actually diverge.

Attributes where Checkmk and Redis differ
AttributeCheckmkRedis
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelsubscriptionUnknown
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWebLinux, macOS, Windows
FoundedUnknown2009

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Technology).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Checkmk

Nothing recorded that Redis does not also cover.

Only in Redis

  • In-memory data store
  • Data structures
  • Pub/Sub messaging
  • Lua scripting
  • Transactions
  • Persistence options
  • Replication
  • Clustering

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Checkmk

No use cases recorded yet. See the Checkmk review.

Redis

  • Cachingnot Checkmk
  • Session managementnot Checkmk
  • Real-time analyticsnot Checkmk
  • Message queuingnot Checkmk
  • Leaderboardsnot Checkmk

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Checkmk

  • Pricing is metered per service (each individual metric or sensor monitored) rather than per host, so cost scales with monitoring depth, not just server count
  • Pro edition starts at 190 euro per month billed annually, and Ultimate at 275 euro per month billed annually; prices are published in euros only
  • The CloudAI SaaS edition is capped at 50,000 services even though self-hosted Pro and Ultimate scale to over 100,000 hosts

Redis

  • Licensing changed from BSD to AGPL in 2025, impacting open-source usage
  • All data must fit in memory, limiting scalability to available RAM
  • No built-in support for multi-tenancy
  • Limited transaction support compared to traditional databases

Pricing, plan by plan

Checkmk

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the Checkmk review.

Redis

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Redis review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Checkmk if

Nothing in the data separates Checkmk from Redis on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.

Checkmk review

Choose Redis if

  • You need in-memory data store.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows.
  • You also want data structures.
Redis review

Questions people ask

Is Checkmk or Redis better?
Neither clearly leads. Checkmk starts at On request and Redis at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Checkmk or Redis?
Redis has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Checkmk and Free for Redis.
Does Checkmk or Redis run on more platforms?
Checkmk runs on Web. Redis runs on Linux, macOS, Windows.
Can I use Redis for free?
Yes. Redis has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Checkmk starts at On request.
What can Checkmk do that Redis cannot?
Redis covers In-memory data store, Data structures, Pub/Sub messaging, Lua scripting.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Redis: Is Redis open source?

Redis was open source under the BSD license since its inception in 2009 and has remained open source. However, in 2024-2025, Redis Labs changed licensing to source-available and AGPL, prompting the creation of Valkey, a BSD-licensed open-source fork.

Source
Redis: What is Redis used for?

Redis is an in-memory data structure store used primarily as a cache, database, and message broker. It provides high-speed data access for real-time applications, sessions, leaderboards, real-time analytics, and other use cases requiring fast data retrieval.

Source
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Related pages

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