Pandora FMS vs. Centreon
Still chained to Nagios on steroids?
Centreon inherits limitations from the past: technical dependencies, manual configuration, external plugins and a modular model that grows in complexity and cost.
Pandora FMS gives you what Centreon never got: a unified console, flexible deployment, a proprietary ITSM tool and visibility from the network to the user experience.

Price Comparison
How much can you save?
Let’s compare an average four-year Centreon project, considering only license and support.
version
PANDORA FMS
Up to 50 agents
Up to 100 agents
devices
PANDORA FMS
8.500€
13.000€
devices
PANDORA FMS
32.000€
49.000€
devices
PANDORA FMS
57.000€
79.000€
(*) Compares Pandora ONE vs Centreon Business Edition.
(**) Estimated market prices subject to variations according to region and volume.
Centreon keeps you in the same logic of 15 years ago.
Experience modern monitoring, without patches or excuses,
Pandora FMS
- Hybrid infrastructure
- Network monitoring, cloud, server and critical service monitoring.
- Real SLAs, KPI reporting and full multitenancy.
- Lower total cost and no plug-in headaches.
Advantages and limitations of each solution
Pandora FMS
- All in one, no external dependencies: Pandora FMS offers a comprehensive solution that covers network monitoring, servers, applications, cloud, logs and RMM, all from a single, integrated, proprietary platform, without third-party components, without external scripts.
- Easier deployment and configuration: Pandora FMS provides wizards, templates and a visual approach to create agents, modules, alerts and dashboards without the need to use the command console.
- Simplified scalability with centralized management: The Command Center architecture in Pandora FMS allows multiple distributed nodes to be controlled from a single console. Its scalability is almost unlimited.
- Automation and proactive detection with integrated AI: Pandora FMS’s MADE engine allows detecting anomalies and unusual behaviors without manual rules, thanks to the use of artificial intelligence.
- More predictable and flexible licensing model: Pandora FMS has a model based exclusively on agents, without differentiating by functionalities.
Centreon
- Based on the Nagios ecosystem, with high compatibility: Centreon is built on the Nagios engine, making it compatible with thousands of existing plugins, reusable without the need for adaptations.
- Large open source community and public documentation: Centreon has an active community, technical forums and extensive online documentation for its OSS version.
- Modular model oriented to specific plugins: Centreon allows granular control over what is installed and configured, ideal for environments with very specific needs and technical teams used to modular solutions.
- Natural integration with DevOps tools and Grafana: Centreon integrates easily with popular tools such as Grafana, Ansible or Prometheus, especially in environments where there is already an established DevOps culture.
- Smoother learning curve for Nagios users: For teams familiar with Nagios, Centreon represents a natural evolution with familiar concepts, commands and structure.
Pandora FMS
- Complexity in very simple or extremely specialized deployments: Pandora FMS’s all-in-one approach can be excessive if only a very basic solution is needed, such as monitoring 10 servers with SNMP and ping. In extremely specific environments that only need some functionalities, Pandora FMS may be too complex.
- Less presence in international technical forums: Although Pandora FMS has professional support and an active community, its visibility in global forums such as Stack Overflow, Reddit or GitHub is limited.
- Interface with an adaptation curve if you come from classic environments: Its unified web console, although powerful, has a different logic than Nagios-based solutions or derivatives. For teams used to configure from CLI, flat files or with Centreon type tools, it can be an adaptation effort.
- Less maturity in cloud-native metrics support (Prometheus, Kubernetes, etc.): Although Pandora FMS can integrate with cloud and container environments, its approach is not natively focused on ecosystems such as Prometheus, Kubernetes or OpenTelemetry.
- Documentation more oriented to the product than to the DevOps environment: Pandora FMS official documentation is extensive, but it is more focused on explaining the use of its console and its closed ecosystem, not so much on integrations with CI/CD pipelines, automated testing or container deployment.
Centreon
- Lack of RMM or advanced remote management capabilities: Centreon does not include native capabilities for remote system management (RMM), such as remote script execution, service control, process restart or software inventory, although integrating with Ansible and other tools means maintaining more tools.
- Less intuitive and fragmented administrative interface: Despite recent improvements, Centreon configuration (especially in OSS) requires manual steps, use of CLI, engine restarts and high technical knowledge.
- Dependency on the Nagios ecosystem, already considered obsolete by some: Centreon is based on Nagios, a technology with monolithic architecture more than two decades old. This implies limitations in scalability, performance and modern design, especially in large distributed environments.
- Multi-node management with no real centralized console: Although scalable via pollers, Centreon does not have a unified console that centrally manages multiple instances.
- Dependency on external tools for key functions: Centreon relies on external components such as RRDTool to store and graph metrics, which limits historical resolution and flexibility in data analysis. In addition, it requires tools such as SNMPTT to process SNMP traps and OS cronjobs for periodic tasks, which adds operational complexity and spreads management outside the console.
Why choose Pandora over Centreon?
Modern visual interface and command console-less configurations
Allows you to manage modules, agents, alerts and dashboards graphically and intuitively, without resorting to the CLI or external configurations.
All-in-one platform without external dependencies
Pandora FMS natively integrates network monitoring, servers, cloud, logs, RMM and alerts in a single console, without the need for additional tools such as SNMPTT, cronjobs or RRDTool.
Centralized management and true multi-node scalability
With its Command Center architecture, it allows multiple nodes to be controlled from a single interface, ideal for distributed environments, MSPs or large organizations.
Unified approach vs. DevOps fragmentation
Unlike Centreon’s modular DevOps-type model, based on multiple external tools and integrations, Pandora FMS relies on a cohesive approach, where everything is designed to work in an integrated way from the start.
Faster deployment speed and lower cost
Pandora FMS deploys complete environments in less time and with fewer technical resources, drastically reducing the total cost of ownership (TCO) compared to solutions that require specialized personnel to integrate and maintain multiple components.
Typical use cases
Pandora FMS
- Organizations looking for a complete and centralized solution: Environments where a single platform is needed to monitor network, servers, cloud, applications, logs, services and users, without integrating external tools.
→ Pandora FMS excels in operational simplicity and functional coverage from day one.
- MSP, integrators or large companies with multiple sites or customers: When you need to manage hundreds or thousands of nodes from a single console, with data isolation, granular permissions and differentiated views by client or delegation.
→ Pandora’s “Command Center” model enables true and efficient multi-node management.
- Enterprises that value direct business support and rapid deployment: Organizations that need professional support from the start, controlled lifecycles and immediate deployment, without having to invest in an expert integrations team.
→ Pandora FMS offers direct support, training, and SaaS options that reduce TCO.
Centreon
- Technical environments already based on Nagios or Icinga: Organizations with previous Nagios-like experience (Icinga, Naemon, etc.) that want to take advantage of its plugins, knowledge and modular structure.
→ Centreon offers a natural transition, with minimal operational impact and high compatibility.
- DevOps teams with custom pipelines and specific tools: if the organization already uses tools such as Prometheus, Grafana, Ansible or Telegraf, and prefers to integrate custom components into their DevOps stack.
→ Centreon is a better fit with highly customized and engineering-driven ecosystems.
- Limited budget with focus on modular OSS software: For small to mid-sized companies that want to build a monitoring solution without commercial licenses and are willing to take on the technical complexity.
→ Centreon OSS allows you to get started at no cost, with publicly available community and plugins.
Comparative ratings
(G2 – March 2025)
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Take control without complications
Request your demo and discover how Pandora FMS can help you reduce costs, risks and unnecessary technical dependency.
- Forget about Nagios technical legacy and integrating loose parts.
- Manage your entire infrastructure: servers, networks, cloud, applications… From a single console, without depending on engineers for every change.
- Enjoy a solution designed to grow with you, with professional support, clear interface and results from day one.
Real cases
User’s opinion

“Pandora FMS is a truly all-in-one monitoring solution, covering all the traditional specific monitoring silos: servers, networks, applications, logs, transactional/synthetic, remote control, inventory, etc.”
Source: Slashdot.org

“Centreon started as a graphical interface to Nagios, but has evolved significantly since then. Although it shares roots with Nagios, Centreon has developed its own engine and functionalities, offering a more complete and modern monitoring solution.”
Source: Centreon

Why remain tied to complex and fragmented solutions?
If you are looking for a monitoring tool that speaks your language, that does not depend on legacy architectures or obscure configurations, Pandora FMS is for you.