# LibreNMS > Open-source network monitoring with automatic discovery, alerting and distributed polling. LibreNMS is an open-source network monitoring platform using SNMP for automatic device discovery, alerting and bandwidth billing, freely available under GPL v3 with community-driven support and no per-device licensing. Listing updated 6 September 2026. Checked by MSP Software 6 September 2026. - Page: https://mspsoftware.net/software/librenms - Vendor: LibreNMS, https://mspsoftware.net/vendors/librenms, website https://www.librenms.org/ - Categories: Network monitoring (primary) - Free version: yes. - Deployment: on-premises. Platforms: web and Linux. Founded: 2006. - Support: community. Training: documentation. ## From the vendor LibreNMS is a network monitoring system distributed as free, open-source software under the GPL v3 licence by a community of contributors worldwide. The project began in 2006 as a monitoring tool and has grown to support hundreds of device vendors through SNMP protocols including CDP, FDP, LLDP, OSPF, BGP, and ARP-based automatic discovery. It suits MSPs who want to deploy network monitoring without per-device licensing costs and who need a platform they can self-host on-premises or run in their own cloud infrastructure, including Docker containerized deployments. Small to mid-sized IT teams often choose LibreNMS when they lack budget for commercial monitoring tools like PRTG or SolarWinds NPM. LibreNMS covers the core network monitoring workflow: automatic device discovery and topology mapping, uptime and outage alerting via email, IRC, Slack and other channels, bandwidth monitoring and billing with 95th percentile reporting, device configuration backup and change detection, multi-site dashboards for distributed networks, and full API access for custom integration. It integrates with Oxidized and RANCID for device configuration management, NetFlow and sFlow via NfSen for traffic analysis, Nagios plugins for service monitoring, Graylog for centralised syslog ingestion, and collectd for system metrics. Authentication methods include LDAP, Active Directory, Radius, MySQL and HTTP-based systems. Because LibreNMS is free open-source software, there is no recurring cost per network device or site, but it requires technical staff to install on CentOS or Ubuntu servers, maintain the underlying database and operating system, and manage updates. Community support is available through documentation, a forum at community.librenms.org, Discord chat, and GitHub issue tracking. MSPs should verify that their network device types are on the supported list before planning a migration, and should confirm their team has Linux system administration skills or has budget for managed hosting through a third-party partner. ## Our take LibreNMS is the open-source alternative to commercial network monitors like PRTG or SolarWinds NPM. There is no licensing cost per device, but you manage your own infrastructure and uptime yourself. Good fit for MSPs with Linux expertise or those wanting to minimise software licensing costs for network monitoring. Before choosing LibreNMS, verify that your specific device types (switches, firewalls, routers, access points) are on the supported list, and confirm your team can handle database and Linux OS maintenance, or budget for a managed hosting partner. ## Pricing LibreNMS does not publish a list price. ## Features | Feature | Supported | Note | | --- | --- | --- | | Automatic network discovery | yes | CDP, FDP, LLDP, OSPF, BGP, SNMP and ARP protocols | | Topology mapping | yes | Network topology mapping and visualization | | Device configuration backup | yes | Integration with Oxidized and RANCID for device configuration backup | | Uptime and outage alerting | yes | Comprehensive alerting via email, IRC, Slack and other channels | | Bandwidth monitoring | yes | Bandwidth monitoring with 95th percentile billing reports | | SNMP support | yes | Full SNMP support with device collection via SNMP protocols | | Configuration change detection | yes | Configuration change detection via device backup integrations | | Multi-site dashboard | yes | Multi-site dashboards for distributed networks | | Hardware probe option | no | No hardware probe option; software-only deployment | ## Integrations - Oxidized, https://github.com/Oxid221/oxidized - RANCID, https://www.shrubbery.net/rancid/ - NfSen, https://nfsen.sourceforge.net/ - Graylog, https://graylog.org/ - collectd, https://collectd.org/ - Nagios, https://www.nagios.org/ ## Alternatives - Checkmk: Infrastructure monitoring for hybrid environments, Community free or from €190 per month. https://mspsoftware.net/software/checkmk. Compare: https://mspsoftware.net/compare/checkmk-vs-librenms - PRTG Network Monitor: Sensor-based network monitoring with a free tier and subscriptions from 200 dollars per month. https://mspsoftware.net/software/prtg. Compare: https://mspsoftware.net/compare/librenms-vs-prtg - WhatsUp Gold: Network monitoring with topology mapping and multi-site visibility, flexible licensing models. https://mspsoftware.net/software/whatsup-gold. Compare: https://mspsoftware.net/compare/librenms-vs-whatsup-gold - Auvik: Cloud network monitoring with automated topology mapping and device configuration backup. https://mspsoftware.net/software/auvik ## FAQ ### How much does LibreNMS cost? LibreNMS does not publish a list price. No MSP price reports have been approved yet. ### Does LibreNMS offer a free trial? There is a genuinely free version. ### What does LibreNMS integrate with? LibreNMS lists integrations with Oxidized, RANCID, NfSen, Graylog, collectd and Nagios. ### Is LibreNMS cloud or on-premises? LibreNMS is installed on-premises. ### Who is LibreNMS for? MSPs report using LibreNMS at sizes of 6-15, 16-50, 51-200 and 200+ technicians. ### Is LibreNMS truly free with no licensing costs? Yes, LibreNMS is free open-source software distributed under the GNU General Public Licence v3. There are no per-device, per-site or per-user licensing costs. However, you are responsible for hosting the application on your own infrastructure (Linux server or Docker container), maintaining the operating system and database, and managing software updates. If you prefer not to manage infrastructure yourself, you can use a partner offering managed LibreNMS hosting. ### What devices can LibreNMS monitor? LibreNMS monitors network devices via SNMP, supporting hundreds of vendors including Cisco, Juniper, Arista, Fortinet, Palo Alto Networks, Dell, HP, F5, Ubiquiti, MikroTik and many others. Before deploying LibreNMS, verify that your specific devices (switches, routers, firewalls, access points) are on the supported device list in the documentation, as vendor and model support are community-maintained. ### What support is available for LibreNMS? LibreNMS offers community-driven support through extensive online documentation, a forum at community.librenms.org, real-time chat on Discord, and a GitHub issue tracker for bug reports. There is no commercial support team or phone support. If you need managed hosting or professional consulting, third-party companies offer LibreNMS hosting and support services. ### Can LibreNMS integrate with our existing tools? LibreNMS has a full REST API for custom integrations and integrates with configuration management tools like Oxidized and RANCID, flow analysis via NfSen, syslog centralisation via Graylog, system metrics via collectd, and service monitoring via Nagios plugins. It also supports multiple authentication methods including LDAP and Active Directory for SSO integration.