Glances vs Nagios XI
Glances
nicolargo.github.io
Nagios XI
nagios.comSide by side
| Figure | Glances | Nagios XI |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 2 | 9 |
| Spec score · Hardware Monitoring Software | 8.9 (#6) | 9.0 (#4) |
| Spec score · Server Monitoring | 8.9 (#6) | 9.0 (#4) |
| Spec score · Container Monitoring | 8.8 (#8) | 9.0 (#4) |
| Spec score · Hardware monitoring tools | 8.6 (#12) | 8.8 (#7) |
| Deployment | Glances can be installed with pip, pipx, Homebrew or Linux and FreeBSD packages, and Docker images are available. | Nagios XI is self-hosted on Linux and offers virtual machine images for VMware Workstation, Oracle VirtualBox, VMware ESXi and vSphere, and Microsoft Hyper-V. |
| Documentation depth | Official documentation covers installation, quickstart, configuration, command reference, plugins, exports, APIs, and MCP usage. | Nagios Library lists installation, migration, dashboards, agents, integrations, API, security, reports, troubleshooting and hundreds of configuration articles. |
| License | Glances is distributed under the GNU LGPL version 3, expressed on PyPI as LGPL-3.0-only. | Nagios commercial software is proprietary; the terms grant a perpetual, non-exclusive, non-transferable license for permitted internal use, while third-party components have separate licenses. |
| Support | The project directs users to its manual, official Reddit forum and GitHub Discussions for help. | A paid license includes the first year of Maintenance & Support, version upgrades, up to ten support cases, Support Portal access, Premium features, and an assigned Customer Success Manager. |
| What it does | Glances is a Python-based, cross-platform system monitoring tool with terminal and web interfaces. | Nagios XI is commercial infrastructure monitoring software that executes threshold-based checks on servers, network devices, applications and services, records results and sends notifications. |
Plans
Nagios XI
- Standard — 100 Nodes$2,595, paid once
- Enterprise — 100 Nodes$4,690, paid once
- FreeFree
- FreeFree
- Standard$2,595, paid once
- Standard (100-Node)$2,595, paid once
- Enterprise$4,690, paid once
- Enterprise (100-Node)$4,690, paid once
- SitewidePriced on request
In their own words
Glances
Glances is a free, open-source, cross-platform tool for monitoring real-time system statistics and running processes. Its listed coverage includes CPU, memory, load, processes, network, disk I/O, sensors, filesystems, containers, alerts, and uptime. Client/server mode enables remote monitoring through a terminal, web interface, or API, while its built-in web UI lets users view a system from a browser-equipped device. Statistics can be exported to CSV or JSON files, databases such as InfluxDB and Prometheus, brokers such as RabbitMQ and Kafka, or a REST endpoint. The project documents Docker and Podman support and describes Docker and LXC container monitoring in its README. Installation options include pip, pipx, Homebrew, Linux and FreeBSD packages, and Docker images. Glances 4 requires Python 3.10 or higher. Its default installation does not include web interface dependencies; separate extras cover features such as web, GPU, containers, exports, and MCP. Version 4.5.1 and higher can provide an MCP server for AI assistants. The project uses the LGPL version 3 license.
Nagios XI
Nagios XI monitors servers, network devices, applications and services from a Linux server you manage. It checks configured thresholds, records results and sends notifications. Standard includes more than 90 configuration wizards, auto-discovery, dashboards, performance graphs, an open REST API, automation, configuration rollback and snapshots. Enterprise adds SLA and capacity-planning reports, scheduled reports and pages, business process intelligence, bulk changes and an audit log. Users can be restricted to assigned host and service groups, with authentication options including Active Directory or LDAP over SSL, Microsoft Entra ID single sign-on and Duo two-factor authentication. It is self-hosted on Linux, with virtual machine images for several hypervisors and offline installation on Red Hat and CentOS Stream. A 30-day trial provides unlimited monitoring, Enterprise features and direct support without a credit card. The free plan is limited to 7 nodes or 100 services, whichever comes first. Paid perpetual licenses are priced by monitored nodes: Standard is $2,595.00 once and Enterprise is $4,690.00 once, each shown for 100 nodes.