Softwr

Networking · head to head

Icinga vs Presto

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
Presto logo

Presto

Databases

The Meta-lineage distributed SQL query engine, distinct from the Trino fork

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; Presto the original creators and most of the active contributor base left for Trino in 2020, so Presto has the smaller community, fewer connectors and slower feature delivery of the two branches.
  • They diverge on capability: Icinga covers Forever Free core, Presto covers Federated querying.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Icinga and Presto actually diverge.

Attributes where Icinga and Presto differ
AttributeIcingaPresto
Pricing modelOpen source core, with paid repository, module and support subscriptions sold separatelyOpen source, no licence fee
PlatformsLinux, WebLinux, Docker, Kubernetes
CategoryNetworkingDatabases

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 Presto

  • Federated querying
  • In-memory execution
  • Open table format support
  • Presto C++ workers
  • ANSI SQL
  • Pluggable connectors

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 Presto
  • An organisation on RHEL or SLES that wants officially packaged Icinga builds via the repository subscription rather than building from sourcenot Presto
  • A team wanting an SLA-backed vendor support relationship rather than relying on community forums for a production monitoring systemnot Presto
  • A company already invested in Prometheus and Grafana wanting to add host and service-level alerting from a compatible open source toolnot Presto

Presto

  • An existing PrestoDB estate that needs continued upgrades rather than a migration to Trinonot Icinga
  • A team buying IBM watsonx.data, where Presto is the underlying query enginenot Icinga
  • Joining a Hive or Iceberg lake to an operational PostgreSQL database in one query without an ETL stepnot Icinga
  • Very large scale interactive SQL where the Meta-tested branch is a specific requirementnot 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

Presto

  • The original creators and most of the active contributor base left for Trino in 2020, so Presto has the smaller community, fewer connectors and slower feature delivery of the two branches.
  • Documentation, tutorials and Stack Overflow answers for the two projects are frequently mixed up, and a solution written for Trino often does not apply, which costs real debugging time.
  • It is a query engine with no storage of its own, so query performance is dictated by your file layout, partitioning and statistics, and a badly organised lake makes Presto look slow.
  • Memory-bound execution means a single large join can fail the whole query rather than spilling gracefully, and tuning cluster memory settings is a persistent operational chore.
  • Commercial support has consolidated into IBM since the Ahana acquisition, so the independent vendor market that once existed around Presto is largely gone.

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

Presto

Free
  • PrestoFree
    • Apache 2.0 licence
    • Presto Foundation governance under the Linux Foundation
    • No node or query 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 Presto if

  • You need federated querying.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes.
  • You also want in-memory execution.
Presto review

Questions people ask

Is Icinga or Presto better?
Neither clearly leads. Icinga starts at Free and Presto at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Icinga or Presto?
Icinga starts at Free and Presto at Free.
Does Icinga or Presto run on more platforms?
Icinga runs on Linux, Web. Presto runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes.
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 Presto is typically brought in for.
What can Icinga do that Presto cannot?
Icinga covers Forever Free core, Clustering and HA, Icinga Web and API, Enterprise modules (paid). Presto covers Federated querying, In-memory execution, Open table format support, Presto C++ workers.

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.

Presto: Is this Presto or Trino?

This is PrestoDB, the branch that stayed at Facebook and moved to the Linux Foundation. Trino is the 2020 fork by the original creators.

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.

Presto: Which should I choose for a new project?

Trino, in most cases. It has the larger community, more connectors and more commercial options.

Icinga: Is Icinga related to Nagios?

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

Presto: Who maintains Presto now?

Principally Meta, Uber and IBM, which acquired the Presto vendor Ahana in 2023.

Presto: Is it still actively released?

Yes, releases continue on a regular cadence under the Presto Foundation.

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