Libre Hardware Monitor vs smartmontools
Libre Hardware Monitor
github.comsmartmontools
smartmontools.orgSide by side
| Figure | Libre Hardware Monitor | smartmontools |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Hardware monitoring tools | 8.1 (#18) | 8.7 (#9) |
| Spec score · Hardware Monitoring Software | 7.8 (#34) | 7.9 (#30) |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| License | The project is free and open source software licensed under MPL 2.0, with some parts under different terms. | Smartmontools is licensed under the GNU GPL Version 2. |
| Purpose | Libre Hardware Monitor monitors a computer’s temperature sensors, fan speeds, voltages, load, and clock speeds. | Smartmontools provides utilities to control and monitor storage systems using S.M.A.R.T. |
| Supported platforms | Windows | Darwin (Mac OS X),Linux,FreeBSD,NetBSD,OpenBSD,Solaris,OS/2,Cygwin,QNX,eComStation,Windows |
Plans
In their own words
Libre Hardware Monitor
Libre Hardware Monitor has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.
smartmontools
smartmontools is a free package containing smartctl and smartd for controlling and monitoring storage devices through SMART. It supports ATA/SATA, SCSI/SAS, and NVMe disks, as well as SCSI/SAS tape devices. smartctl can report SMART health status, show capabilities such as error logging and offline surface scanning, display vendor-specific attributes, start device self-tests, and read their logs. A failing health status can mean a device has failed or predicts failure within 24 hours. smartd periodically monitors SMART status, error and self-test logs, and attribute changes; it can schedule tests and report errors and attribute changes to syslog. It also supports warning emails and executable commands. The project says it should run on modern Linux, BSD variants, macOS, Solaris, Windows, Cygwin, OS/2, eComStation, and QNX systems, and can run from various Live CDs and DVDs. The package uses the GNU GPL Version 2 license and was originally derived from the Linux smartsuite package. Its capabilities focus on SMART health reporting, testing, and ongoing monitoring.