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Networking · head to head

Icinga vs OpenEBS

Icinga logo

Icinga

Networking

Open source infrastructure monitoring, free at its core, with paid support and modules sold separately by Icinga GmbH

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
OpenEBS logo

OpenEBS

Cloud

Open source container-attached storage for Kubernetes

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Icinga the free core has no vendor SLA, so production incidents are supported through community channels unless a paid support subscription is purchased; OpenEBS there is no vendor on the other end of an incident unless you separately contract DataCore, so an outage at three in the morning is resolved by your own team and a public Slack channel.
  • They diverge on capability: Icinga covers Forever Free core, OpenEBS covers Replicated engine.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Icinga and OpenEBS actually diverge.

Attributes where Icinga and OpenEBS differ
AttributeIcingaOpenEBS
Pricing modelOpen source core, with paid repository, module and support subscriptions sold separatelyOpen source, no licence fee
PlatformsLinux, WebLinux
CategoryNetworkingCloud

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

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 Icinga

  • Forever Free core
  • Clustering and HA
  • Icinga Web and API
  • Enterprise modules (paid)
  • Integration ecosystem

Only in OpenEBS

  • Replicated engine
  • Local PV engines
  • Kubernetes-native management
  • Snapshots and clones
  • No licence fee
  • Hardware independence

What people use each for

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

Icinga

  • An IT team wanting unlimited-scale open source monitoring with no per-host licence fee, running standard Linux distributionsnot OpenEBS
  • An organisation on RHEL or SLES that wants officially packaged Icinga builds via the repository subscription rather than building from sourcenot OpenEBS
  • A team wanting an SLA-backed vendor support relationship rather than relying on community forums for a production monitoring systemnot OpenEBS
  • A company already invested in Prometheus and Grafana wanting to add host and service-level alerting from a compatible open source toolnot OpenEBS

OpenEBS

  • Running Cassandra or Kafka on Kubernetes where the application already replicates and node-local volumes are sufficientnot Icinga
  • A platform team that needs persistent volumes on bare metal Kubernetes without a per node subscriptionnot Icinga
  • An edge or lab deployment where a commercial storage licence cannot be justifiednot Icinga
  • Replacing hostpath volumes with something that has snapshots and a Container Storage Interface drivernot Icinga

Where each one falls short

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

Icinga

  • The free core has no vendor SLA, so production incidents are supported through community channels unless a paid support subscription is purchased
  • Repository access for enterprise Linux distributions like RHEL and SLES is not free, so organisations standardised on those distributions face a real recurring cost most open source monitoring buyers do not expect
  • Enterprise modules are gated behind a separate module subscription, so some functionality demonstrated in marketing material is not part of the free core
  • Self-hosting and operating Icinga requires real Linux and monitoring expertise that a commercial SaaS tool would otherwise absorb, so total cost of ownership includes staff time not captured in the licence price
  • Pricing for the paid subscriptions varies by geographic region and is not published as a single global rate card, complicating budgeting for multinational organisations
  • The web interface and configuration language, while capable, are less immediately polished than a fully commercial tool like PRTG, and initial setup takes longer to reach a usable state

OpenEBS

  • There is no vendor on the other end of an incident unless you separately contract DataCore, so an outage at three in the morning is resolved by your own team and a public Slack channel.
  • The project has several storage engines with different maturity and different operational characteristics, and choosing the wrong one for your workload produces poor results that look like a product failure.
  • Documentation and upgrade guidance assume real Kubernetes storage knowledge, so teams without that expertise underestimate the operational load they are taking on.
  • Project governance shifted after DataCore acquired MayaData in 2021, which means the direction of a supposedly neutral project is influenced by one commercial sponsor.
  • Disaster recovery, cross-cluster replication and policy-driven data services are thinner than in the commercial alternatives, so organisations with those requirements end up building them or buying a product anyway.

Pricing, plan by plan

Icinga

Free
  • IcingaFree
    • Unlimited hosts and services
    • Clustering and API
    • Community support
  • Support Subscription$undefined/year
    • Professional support (8x5 or 24/7)
    • Includes module and repository subscriptions

OpenEBS

Free
  • OpenEBSFree
    • Apache 2.0 licensed
    • All storage engines included
    • No node or capacity limits

Which should you pick?

Choose Icinga if

  • You need forever free core.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Web.
  • You also want clustering and ha.
Icinga review

Choose OpenEBS if

  • You need replicated engine.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux.
  • You also want local pv engines.
OpenEBS review

Questions people ask

Is Icinga or OpenEBS better?
Neither clearly leads. Icinga starts at Free and OpenEBS at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Icinga or OpenEBS?
Icinga starts at Free and OpenEBS at Free.
Does Icinga or OpenEBS run on more platforms?
Icinga runs on Linux, Web. OpenEBS runs on Linux.
Can I use Icinga for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Icinga best used for?
Icinga is most often used for an it team wanting unlimited-scale open source monitoring with no per-host licence fee, running standard linux distributions, an organisation on rhel or sles that wants officially packaged icinga builds via the repository subscription rather than building from source, a team wanting an sla-backed vendor support relationship rather than relying on community forums for a production monitoring system, a company already invested in prometheus and grafana wanting to add host and service-level alerting from a compatible open source tool. Of those, an it team wanting unlimited-scale open source monitoring with no per-host licence fee, running standard linux distributions and an organisation on rhel or sles that wants officially packaged icinga builds via the repository subscription rather than building from source are not what OpenEBS is typically brought in for.
What can Icinga do that OpenEBS cannot?
Icinga covers Forever Free core, Clustering and HA, Icinga Web and API, Enterprise modules (paid). OpenEBS covers Replicated engine, Local PV engines, Kubernetes-native management, Snapshots and clones.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Icinga: Is Icinga free to run in production?

Yes, the core platform has no licence fee and no limit on hosts or services monitored.

OpenEBS: Who supports it in production?

The project is community supported. Commercial support is available from DataCore, which acquired the original sponsor MayaData in 2021. Establish that relationship before production, not during an incident.

Icinga: What do the paid subscriptions actually add?

A repository subscription provides packages for certain enterprise Linux distributions, a module subscription unlocks enterprise-only add-on modules, and a support subscription bundles both with professional support.

OpenEBS: Which engine should we use?

If your application replicates its own data, use a Local engine and avoid replicating twice. If it does not, such as with PostgreSQL, use the Replicated engine.

Icinga: Is Icinga related to Nagios?

Yes, it originated as a fork of Nagios but has since diverged into an independently developed platform.

OpenEBS: Does it cost anything?

No licence fee. The cost is operational, and a support contract if you want someone accountable.

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