Computer monitoring systems are used to gather data for the purpose of real-time incident notification, performance analysis, and system health verification. Without such a tool, a system administrator would have to login to each machine to collect information on a regular basis.
System monitoring can also help identify problems before they escalate to emergency status. This type of software is not only useful for network administrators. Home users with a small network or even just a single computer will benefit from advanced notification provided by system monitoring tools. Knowing that free space on the hard disk is running out, or that a particular server/daemon has gone down can be extremely useful.
These types of systems gather data relating to CPU, memory, network, disk utilization, response time of network services, and much more.
To provide an insight into the quality of software that is available, we have compiled a list of 22 Linux system monitoring tools. Hopefully, there will be something of interest here for anyone who wants to monitor a specific service or situation.
Here’s our verdict captured in a legendary LinuxLinks-style ratings chart. Only free and open source software is eligible for inclusion.
Let’s explore the 22 system monitoring applications at hand. For each title we have compiled its own portal page, a full description with an in-depth analysis of its features, screenshots, together with links to relevant resources.
| System Monitoring Tools | |
|---|---|
| Prometheus | Systems and service monitoring system |
| Nagios | Host and service monitor designed to inform you of network problems |
| OpenNMS | Enterprise grade network monitoring platform |
| LibreNMS | Fully featured network monitoring system |
| SigNoz | Monitor your applications and troubleshoot problems |
| ZABBIX | All-in-one 24x7 free monitoring solution |
| Jaeger | Distributed tracing system |
| Loki | Horizontally-scalable, highly-available, multi-tenant log aggregation system |
| Cockpit | Sysadmin login session in a web browser |
| Monit | Utility for managing and monitoring processes, files, directories and filesystems |
| HyperDX | Cloud-based production monitoring and debugging tool |
| Cacti | Web-based frontend to RRDtool |
| NetXMS | Network and infrastructure monitoring and management system |
| FreeNATS | Automatic network status testing, alerting and reporting package |
| Monitorix | Lightweight system monitoring tool |
| Icinga | Monitoring platform with a powerful configuration language |
| Munin | Networked resource monitoring tool designed to be plug and play |
| Checkmk | IT monitoring platform |
| Shinken | Flexible and scalable monitoring framework |
| Pandora FMS | Flexible monitoring system |
| Xymon | System for monitoring of hosts and networks |
| Mon | General-purpose problem alerting system |
 Read our complete collection of recommended free and open source software. Our curated compilation covers all categories of software. Spotted a useful open source Linux program not covered on our site? Please let us know by completing this form. The software collection forms part of our series of informative articles for Linux enthusiasts. There are hundreds of in-depth reviews, open source alternatives to proprietary software from large corporations like Google, Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, IBM, Cisco, Oracle, and Autodesk. There are also fun things to try, hardware, free programming books and tutorials, and much more. |