Side by side
GSmartControl vs Hard Disk Sentinel
Both stand on hardware diagnostic software. Which one you can start free with, which one lets you read the code, and what each costs once you pay.
Free plan LinuxMacWindows
Choose GSmartControl for free graphical inspection of SMART data and drive tests on supported ATA or NVMe hardware. Look elsewhere if you need SCSI or SAS support, or if you cannot provide the privileges required for direct hardware access.
Visit GSmartControl Free plan LinuxWindows
Visit Hard Disk Sentinel The facts
| GSmartControl | Hard Disk Sentinel | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | Not published | Not published |
| Runs on | Linux, Mac, Windows | Linux, Windows |
| Lowest paid plan | Free or on request | Standard: $22, paid once |
| Plans published | 1 | 7 |
| Maker | Not published | Not published |
| Website | gsmartcontrol.shaduri.dev | hdsentinel.com |
| On hardware diagnostic software | #1 of 26 | #3 of 26 |
GSmartControl: what it does well
- Free software licensed under GNU GPL version 3.
- Displays drive identity, SMART attributes, capabilities, and statistics.
- Automatically reports and highlights anomalies.
- Supports ATA and NVMe drives.
- Can read saved smartctl output as a read-only virtual device.
What to know first
- SCSI and SAS drives are not supported.
- Useful operations require Root or Administrator privileges.
- smartmontools is a runtime requirement outside the official Windows packages.
- Immediate Offline Tests are unsupported.
Hard Disk Sentinel: what it does well
Alternatives to GSmartControl Alternatives to Hard Disk Sentinel The whole list