Technology · head to head
Checkmk vs Whimsical
Checkmk
Technology
Comprehensive IT monitoring, open and flexible
- From
- On request
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Only Whimsical 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; Whimsical the free plan is capped at 3 team boards, 3 teams and 10 guest seats
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Checkmk and Whimsical actually diverge.
Identical on both: pricing model (subscription), platforms (Web), 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 Whimsical does not also cover.
Only in Whimsical
- Flowcharts
- Wireframes
- Mind maps
- Sticky notes
- Docs
- Real-time collaboration
- Templates
- Keyboard shortcuts
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.
Whimsical
- Product planningnot Checkmk
- UI/UX designnot Checkmk
- Brainstormingnot Checkmk
- Process documentationnot Checkmk
- Project visualizationnot 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
Whimsical
- The free plan is capped at 3 team boards, 3 teams and 10 guest seats
- File uploads are limited to 5MB per file and 1GB in total on the free plan
- Version history on the free plan goes back 7 days
- Voting, the timer, private teams, the GitHub integration, password-protected files and watermark removal all need Pro at $10 per editor per month
- SSO and SAML are Business tier only at $20 per editor per month
Pricing, plan by plan
Checkmk
On requestNo published plan breakdown. See the Checkmk review.
Whimsical
Free- StarterFree
- Up to 4 boards
- Unlimited viewers
- 7-day version history
- Pro$10/month
- Unlimited boards
- Unlimited version history
- Advanced permissions
- Org$20/month
- Everything in Pro
- SSO
- User management
Which should you pick?
Choose Checkmk if
Nothing in the data separates Checkmk from Whimsical on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.
Choose Whimsical if
- You need flowcharts.
- You want to start without paying.
- You also want wireframes.
Questions people ask
- Is Checkmk or Whimsical better?
- Neither clearly leads. Checkmk starts at On request and Whimsical at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Checkmk or Whimsical?
- Whimsical has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Checkmk and Free for Whimsical.
- Does Checkmk or Whimsical run on more platforms?
- Both run on Web, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
- Can I use Whimsical for free?
- Yes. Whimsical has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Checkmk starts at On request.
- What can Checkmk do that Whimsical cannot?
- Whimsical covers Flowcharts, Wireframes, Mind maps, Sticky notes.