Softwr

Networking · head to head

Kentik vs Zabbix

Kentik logo

Kentik

Networking

Network observability platform built on flow and traffic data, sold on annual-only contracts starting around $24,000/year

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Zabbix logo

Zabbix

Networking

Open source infrastructure and network monitoring with distributed proxies and templating

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Zabbix has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Kentik contracts are annual only, so there is no monthly option for a team wanting to trial the platform under real production load before committing to a year of spend; Zabbix the database is the scaling limit, and high frequency polling grows history tables fast enough that untuned installations hit housekeeping stalls and query timeouts within months.
  • They diverge on capability: Kentik covers Flow-based traffic analysis, Zabbix covers Agent and agentless collection.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Kentik and Zabbix actually diverge.

Attributes where Kentik and Zabbix differ
AttributeKentikZabbix
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelAnnual contract only, per tierOpen source, no licence fee
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, APILinux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web

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

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 Kentik

  • Flow-based traffic analysis
  • Synthetic testing
  • Cloud network monitoring
  • DDoS detection
  • API-driven querying

Only in Zabbix

  • Agent and agentless collection
  • Templates
  • Low-level discovery
  • Distributed proxies
  • Trigger expressions
  • Escalation actions

What people use each for

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

Kentik

  • A network engineering team at an ISP or large enterprise needing flow-level traffic visibility beyond basic uptime monitoringnot Zabbix
  • A cloud-heavy organisation wanting visibility into cloud provider network cost and performance across multiple providersnot Zabbix
  • A security or network operations team wanting DDoS detection layered on top of standard traffic monitoringnot Zabbix
  • A team needing synthetic testing alongside passive flow analysis in one platform rather than two separate toolsnot Zabbix

Zabbix

  • A service provider monitoring thousands of customer devices where per-device commercial licensing is the largest line itemnot Kentik
  • Branch or industrial sites with unreliable links that need local collection and bufferingnot Kentik
  • Mixed estates where the same tool must poll SNMP switches, Linux hosts, Windows servers and Java applicationsnot Kentik
  • Replacing an aging Nagios installation while keeping script-based checks that already existnot Kentik

Where each one falls short

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

Kentik

  • Contracts are annual only, so there is no monthly option for a team wanting to trial the platform under real production load before committing to a year of spend
  • The Pro tier's $24,000/year starting price is a serious commitment relative to general infrastructure monitoring tools, and it is aimed specifically at flow-level traffic visibility rather than general host monitoring
  • Add-on modules for advanced DDoS protection, service provider analytics and the Firehose pipeline are priced separately, so real deployment cost frequently exceeds the Pro sticker price
  • Premier tier pricing is entirely quote-based, so organisations needing more than Pro's limits (50 users, 1,000 FPS, 120-day retention) cannot get a number without a sales conversation
  • It is a specialised flow and traffic analytics tool, not a general infrastructure monitoring platform, so most buyers will still need a separate tool like PRTG or Icinga for host and service uptime checks
  • Data retention is capped at 120 days for traffic and 45 days for forensic data even on Pro, which may be short for organisations with longer compliance or investigation requirements

Zabbix

  • The database is the scaling limit, and high frequency polling grows history tables fast enough that untuned installations hit housekeeping stalls and query timeouts within months.
  • Initial configuration is heavy; getting useful alerting rather than noise requires understanding trigger expressions, macros and template inheritance, which is a multi-week learning curve for a team new to it.
  • The AGPLv3 change at version 7.0 affects anyone offering Zabbix over a network as part of a commercial service, and that obligation is easy to inherit accidentally during an upgrade.
  • The web interface is functional rather than pleasant, and many sites end up running Grafana alongside it purely for presentation, which is a second system to maintain.
  • Upgrades between major versions touch the database schema and can take hours on large history tables, so the maintenance window is proportional to how much data you kept.

Pricing, plan by plan

Kentik

On request
  • Pro$24000/year
    • 50 users
    • 1,000 flows per second baseline
    • 2.5M synthetics credits
  • Premier$undefined/year
    • 1,000 users
    • 5M synthetics credits
    • Custom dimensions and scheduled reporting

Zabbix

Free
  • ZabbixFree
    • No device, node or metric limits
    • Full feature set with no paid edition of the software
    • AGPLv3 from version 7.0 onward
  • Zabbix Technical Support$undefined/year
    • Tiered subscriptions with defined response times
    • Access to Zabbix engineers for configuration and performance issues
    • Bug fix priority and backports

Which should you pick?

Choose Kentik if

  • You need flow-based traffic analysis.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want synthetic testing.
Kentik review

Choose Zabbix if

  • You need agent and agentless collection.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web.
  • You also want templates.
Zabbix review

Questions people ask

Is Kentik or Zabbix better?
Neither clearly leads. Kentik starts at On request and Zabbix at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Kentik or Zabbix?
Zabbix has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Kentik and Free for Zabbix.
Does Kentik or Zabbix run on more platforms?
Kentik runs on Web, API. Zabbix runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web.
Can I use Zabbix for free?
Yes. Zabbix has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Kentik starts at On request.
What is Kentik best used for?
Kentik is most often used for a network engineering team at an isp or large enterprise needing flow-level traffic visibility beyond basic uptime monitoring, a cloud-heavy organisation wanting visibility into cloud provider network cost and performance across multiple providers, a security or network operations team wanting ddos detection layered on top of standard traffic monitoring, a team needing synthetic testing alongside passive flow analysis in one platform rather than two separate tools. Of those, a network engineering team at an isp or large enterprise needing flow-level traffic visibility beyond basic uptime monitoring and a cloud-heavy organisation wanting visibility into cloud provider network cost and performance across multiple providers are not what Zabbix is typically brought in for.
What can Kentik do that Zabbix cannot?
Kentik covers Flow-based traffic analysis, Synthetic testing, Cloud network monitoring, DDoS detection. Zabbix covers Agent and agentless collection, Templates, Low-level discovery, Distributed proxies.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Kentik: Is there a monthly billing option?

No, Kentik states contracts are annual only.

Zabbix: Is Zabbix genuinely free for commercial use?

The software has no licence fee at any scale. From version 7.0 it is AGPLv3, so offering it as a network service to third parties carries source distribution obligations.

Kentik: What is the entry price?

Pro starts at $2,000/month billed as $24,000/year for 50 users and baseline flow and synthetics quotas.

Zabbix: What is the real cost of running it?

Database administration and the person who tunes it. Budget for PostgreSQL with TimescaleDB and someone who owns the retention policy.

Kentik: Does Kentik replace general infrastructure monitoring tools like PRTG?

No, it is focused on flow-based traffic and network observability rather than general host and service uptime monitoring.

Zabbix: How does it compare to a commercial per-device tool?

It removes the licence line entirely and adds an operations line. Below a few hundred devices the commercial tool is often cheaper in total; above that Zabbix wins clearly.

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