Sign In

Upstat vs Nagios

Get cloud-hosted monitoring plus incident operations without open-source infrastructure overhead.

Start Free Trial
Get a Demo

Executive Snapshot

Nagios is open-source infrastructure monitoring. Upstat is complete incident operations.

Nagios (GNU GPL v2, trusted by 1M+ users) provides free open-source monitoring for network services and host resources via plugins—requiring self-hosted server infrastructure, text-based configuration, and ongoing maintenance. Teams typically incur infrastructure costs plus separate subscriptions for on-call management (PagerDuty, OpsGenie) and status pages. Upstat consolidates cloud-hosted monitoring, incident operations, and status communication into one platform at $29–$49 per user.

Open-source versus SaaS platform

Nagios excels at network and host monitoring but requires self-hosted infrastructure, plugin configuration files, and manual schedule management. Upstat provides cloud-hosted SaaS with external monitoring, native incident workspace, built-in on-call management, and status pages—no infrastructure maintenance or configuration files required.

Capability comparison

Platform Focus

Upstat

Complete incident operations platform with native monitoring, incident workflows, on-call management, and status communication.

Nagios

Open-source monitoring solution (GNU GPL v2) focused on network services and host resource monitoring; trusted by 1M+ users worldwide.

Incident Coordination

Upstat

Native incident workspace with Kanban views, embedded runbooks, role assignments, and collaborative timelines.

Nagios

Alert notifications via email, pager, or custom channels; incident coordination happens in external ITSM tools or ticketing systems.

On-Call Management

Upstat

Built-in on-call scheduling, escalation policies, rotation management, and shift swaps.

Nagios

No native on-call management—teams integrate with external on-call platforms or manage schedules manually.

Status Communication

Upstat

Customer-facing status pages automatically updated from monitoring health and incidents.

Nagios

No native status pages—teams build custom dashboards or use separate status page tools.

Deployment Model

Upstat

Cloud-hosted SaaS platform with quick setup; no infrastructure maintenance required.

Nagios

Self-hosted open-source software requiring server infrastructure, plugin configuration, and ongoing maintenance.

Target Audience

Upstat

DevOps and SRE teams needing unified monitoring, incident operations, and status communication without infrastructure overhead.

Nagios

IT operations teams with technical resources for self-hosted deployment; organizations prioritizing free open-source licensing and community support.

Configuration Approach

Upstat

Web-based configuration interface with intuitive setup for monitors, on-call, and incident workflows.

Nagios

Text-based configuration files requiring manual editing; steeper learning curve for non-technical users.

Pricing

Upstat

$29 / $49 per user with monitoring, incidents, on-call, runbooks, and status pages included.

Nagios

Free open-source (Nagios Core); costs include infrastructure, maintenance, and optional commercial support (Nagios XI enterprise version).

Why teams evaluate Nagios alternatives

Configuration complexity and learning curve

Nagios requires text-based configuration files requiring manual editing—steep learning curve for non-technical users. Teams spend significant time configuring hosts, services, contacts, and notification rules via config files. Upstat provides web-based configuration interface with intuitive setup for monitors, on-call schedules, and incident workflows—no config file editing required.

No native incident coordination

Nagios provides alert notifications via email, pager, or custom channels but no native incident workspace or team collaboration. Teams coordinate incident response in external ITSM tools (Jira, ServiceNow) or manual processes. Upstat provides native monitoring integrated directly with incident workflows, embedded runbooks, and collaborative timelines.

Manual on-call management

Nagios provides alert notifications but no native on-call scheduling—teams manage schedules manually via spreadsheets or integrate with external platforms. Upstat includes built-in on-call scheduling, escalation policies, rotation management, and shift swaps—eliminating manual schedule management and separate on-call subscriptions.

Learn more about Why teams evaluate Nagios alternatives

How teams migrate from Nagios to Upstat

Most teams migrate monitoring in 1-2 weeks by replacing self-hosted Nagios with Upstat's cloud-hosted SaaS platform and unified incident operations.

  • 1
    Assess whether your team needs deep infrastructure monitoring (Nagios) or external service monitoring with incident operations (Upstat).
  • 2
    Configure Upstat native monitoring to replace Nagios checks for production service availability.
  • 3
    Migrate on-call schedules from manual management to Upstat unified on-call platform.
  • 4
    Set up Upstat incident workflows, runbooks, and status pages for operations coordination.
  • 5
    Evaluate whether to retain Nagios for infrastructure monitoring or consolidate with Upstat for SaaS-based monitoring.

Migration checklist

Teams needing deep infrastructure monitoring with custom plugins should keep Nagios. Teams prioritizing external service monitoring and incident coordination can consolidate with Upstat.

Learn more about How teams migrate from Nagios to Upstat

Business Case

Stack consolidation scenario

A 12-engineer SRE team manages production services using:

  • Nagios infrastructure: $2,400/year (servers, maintenance)
  • Engineer time: $20,000/year (1 FTE at 25% capacity)
  • PagerDuty for on-call: $3,600/year
  • Total costs: $26,000/year

With Upstat Teams ($29/user), total cost: $4,176/year—including cloud-hosted monitoring, on-call management, incident workflows, runbooks, and status pages. Annual savings: $21,824 plus eliminated infrastructure overhead.

ROI Summary

Current stack (Nagios + on-call + time) $26,000/year
Upstat Teams (12 users) $4,176/year
Annual savings $21,824

Additional benefits: No config file editing, no infrastructure maintenance, no plugin management, unified incident operations.

When Nagios makes sense

IT operations teams requiring free open-source monitoring with full infrastructure control and custom plugin development benefit from Nagios's flexibility. Organizations prioritizing GNU GPL licensing and self-hosted deployments accept configuration complexity and maintenance overhead.

DevOps and SRE teams focused on production service uptime typically find Upstat's cloud-hosted external monitoring (uptime, API, heartbeat) sufficient while gaining complete incident operations (on-call, runbooks, incident workspace, status pages) without infrastructure maintenance or config file management—all at predictable per-user pricing.

Frequently asked questions

IT operations teams using Nagios for network and server monitoring evaluate whether Upstat provides sufficient capabilities without open-source infrastructure overhead.

Does Upstat replace Nagios for infrastructure monitoring?

For external service monitoring, yes. Nagios (trusted by 1M+ users) excels at network services and host resource monitoring via plugins requiring self-hosted infrastructure. Upstat provides external uptime and API monitoring without plugins or infrastructure maintenance—focused on service availability rather than infrastructure metrics. Teams needing deep infrastructure monitoring should keep Nagios; teams prioritizing service availability monitoring and incident operations can consolidate with Upstat.

How does Upstat pricing compare to Nagios?

Nagios Core is free open-source software (GNU GPL v2) but requires server infrastructure, plugin configuration, and ongoing maintenance. Teams typically incur infrastructure costs, maintenance time (1-2 engineers), and optional Nagios XI commercial support. Upstat offers $29 (Teams) or $49 (Business) per user with cloud-hosted SaaS—no infrastructure costs, plugin management, or maintenance overhead.

Can we use Nagios with Upstat?

Yes. Some teams use Nagios for network services and host resource monitoring, then route critical alerts to Upstat for incident coordination, on-call management, and status communication. However, most DevOps teams find Upstat's external monitoring sufficient for production services—eliminating Nagios infrastructure overhead while gaining unified incident operations that Nagios lacks.

Does Upstat include on-call management like Nagios?

Nagios provides alert notifications via email, pager, or custom channels but no native on-call scheduling—teams manage schedules manually or integrate with external platforms. Upstat includes built-in on-call scheduling, escalation policies, rotation management, and multi-channel alerting integrated directly with monitoring—eliminating the need for manual schedule management that Nagios requires.

Eliminate config file complexity

Cloud-hosted monitoring with web-based configuration and complete incident operations

Start Free Trial
Explore pricing