How to Choose Your Monitoring Solution: Zabbix vs Checkmk

When building reliable Proxmox and Kubernetes environments, selecting the right monitoring tool is crucial. Both Zabbix and Checkmk excel at infrastructure monitoring, but they serve different needs.

Zabbix offers superior scalability with automated network discovery, extensive customization options, and robust community support—ideal for complex homelab setups. Its flexible agent-based and agentless monitoring approaches work seamlessly across virtual machines, containers, and storage systems. However, it comes with a steeper learning curve for advanced configurations.

Checkmk provides a more streamlined experience with an intuitive interface and comprehensive auto-discovery capabilities, making it beginner-friendly for homelab enthusiasts. It supports unified monitoring across Linux, Windows, VMware, and Docker containers. While it simplifies management, certain advanced features require the enterprise edition.