Prometheus vs Zabbix
Prometheus
Monitoring and alerting toolkit
Zabbix
Enterprise-class infrastructure monitoring
| Feature | Prometheus | Zabbix |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Monitoring | Monitoring |
| Sub-category | Metrics | Infra Monitor |
| Maturity | mature | mature |
| Complexity | intermediate | intermediate |
| Performance tier | medium | medium |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| License type | permissive | copyleft |
| Pricing | fully free | fully free |
| GitHub stars | 57.0K | 5.0K |
| Contributors | 300 | 300 |
| Commit frequency | weekly | weekly |
| Plugin ecosystem | none | none |
| Docs quality | good | good |
| Backing org | CNCF | Zabbix |
| Funding model | foundation | open_core |
| Min RAM | 512 MB | 1 GB |
| Min CPU cores | 1 | 2 |
| Scaling pattern | single_node | single_node |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| K8s native | Yes | Yes |
| Offline capable | No | No |
| Vendor lock-in | none | none |
| Languages | Go | C, PHP |
| API type | REST | REST |
| Protocols | HTTP | HTTP |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker, binary |
| SDK languages | — | — |
| Team size fit | small, medium, enterprise | small, medium, enterprise |
| First release | 2020 | 2020 |
| Latest version | — | — |
When to use Prometheus
- ✓ Primary: infrastructure-monitoring
- ✓ Primary: alerting
- ✓ Primary: kubernetes-metrics
When to use Zabbix
- ✓ Primary: server-monitoring
- ✓ Primary: network-monitoring
- ✓ Primary: auto-discovery
Prometheus anti-patterns
- ✕ Not for log aggregation
- ✕ Storage not for long-term by default
- ✕ Pull model doesn't work for all cases
Zabbix anti-patterns
- ✕ UI feels dated
- ✕ Complex initial setup
- ✕ PHP-based frontend less modern