#5 of 20 infrastructure monitoring tools · Updated October 2026
Centreon review 2026
Centreon (Open Source, IT Edition and Business Edition) · Sovereign open-core challenger
Centreon ranks #5 of 20 infrastructure monitoring tools in the Infrastructure Monitoring Ledger 2026, with a Ledger Index of 73.3 out of 100. Centreon is a European open-core platform shipping twice a year on schedule, with low lock-in and strong VMware-exit coverage but no flow or log analysis.
Scores
Source: Infrastructure Monitoring Ledger 2026, edition 2026-10-04. How each score works: methodology.
Pros
- Server, virtualization and storage4.5/5
- Data collection and scale4.5/5
- Security and compliance4.5/5
- New-platform support (VMware exit)4.5/5
Cons
- Logs and traces2/5
What the Ledger says
Centreon is building a European open-core platform, keeping the engine open source while adding Proxmox, OpenShift Virtualization, AI features and an MCP server to its paid editions. Since 2023 it has released twice a year on schedule and delivered every tracked promise in the stated release. Buyers get low lock-in and strong VMware-exit coverage, but no flow analysis, config backup or native log store, and the useful packs, maps and AI need a subscription.
AI say-do: 2 tracked, 2 GA (anomaly detection 23.10, NVIDIA pack 24.04), 0-1 month lag, 0 dropped. The AI is ML anomaly detection in Business Edition, topology-based incident clustering and a natural-language assistant; GenAI incident summaries are still preview.
Capability by area
Buying, lock-in and release record
Buying and licence (commercial risk)(lower is better)
- Price and licence volatility2
- Anomaly detection reserved to Business Edition in 2023; no metric change documented
- Purchase constraints2
- Free GPL core; IT Edition from about EUR 4,500 a year in host packs; paid editions subscription only
- Channel and access1
- Open download, public docs and GitHub; paid packs need a subscription
- Owner stability3.5
- Majority private-equity growth investment in 2024 (grade B source)
- Cost of staying supported3
- BAM, MAP and MBI stop working when the subscription ends; Plugin Pack library gated
Technical lock-in(lower is better)
- Formats1.5
- Configuration in MariaDB, exportable as JSON or CLAPI files; metrics in RRD; Nagios plugin format
- Export path1.5
- REST API v2 and CLAPI export; stream connectors; BAM trees must be rebuilt elsewhere
- Stack coupling2
- Own engine, broker and Gorgone, but standard Monitoring Plugins and MariaDB
- Hardware / cloud coupling0.5
- Any Linux server; offline repositories for air-gapped installs
- Skills and tooling coupling1.5
- Nagios-style skills, widely available
Release credibility
- Cadence4.5
- Two releases a year, April and October, since 18.10; 26.04 on schedule
- Roadmap transparency3.5
- Public what's-new pages, lifecycle policy and GitHub monorepo; roadmap shown at Summit and blog
- Say-do5
- 7 of 7 items 2023-2026 shipped in the stated release with 0 month lag
- Velocity4
- Several capabilities per release: Proxmox, anomaly detection, OpenTelemetry, MCP
- Lifecycle stability3.5
- Published support windows; moved from CentOS to AlmaLinux 8, 9 and 10; in-place upgrades
Partners and services
- Partner programme openness3
- Strong with European MSPs; partner programme terms not documented
- Multi-tenancy and self-service3.5
- ACL scoping and MSP tenant isolation since 24.10; no billing portal documented
- API and infrastructure-as-code3.5
- OpenAPI REST v2 covering all functions; Ansible playbooks; Terraform only community
- Skills and certification3.5
- Centreon Certified Administrator and Expert via Centreon Academy
Alternatives to Centreon
Is Centreon right for you?
Describe what you run and the free advisor ranks Centreon against the other infrastructure monitoring tools for your case.
Questions about Centreon
Is Centreon any good?
Centreon ranks #5 of 20 infrastructure monitoring tools in the Infrastructure Monitoring Ledger 2026, with a Ledger Index of 73.3 out of 100. Its strongest areas are server, virtualization and storage, data collection and scale, security and compliance. Its weakest are logs and traces.
What are the best alternatives to Centreon?
The closest by Ledger Index are Checkmk (73.6), Elastic (73), ManageEngine (75.1), ScienceLogic (71.2).
How is Centreon licensed and sold?
Anomaly detection reserved to Business Edition in 2023; no metric change documented.
How much lock-in does Centreon bring?
Centreon scores 7 out of 25 on technical lock-in (lower is better). Export path: REST API v2 and CLAPI export; stream connectors; BAM trees must be rebuilt elsewhere.
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