Side by side

PVE Hardware Monitor vs Zabbix

Both stand on hardware monitoring software. Which one you can start free with, which one lets you read the code, and what each costs once you pay.

PVE Hardware Monitor

Free plan APILinuxSelf-hosted+1

PVE Hardware Monitor centralizes Proxmox hardware readings in a browser dashboard with charts and API access. Its early-stage status, limited testing, and IPMI restrictions warrant checking hardware compatibility first.

Visit PVE Hardware Monitor

Zabbix

Free plan APILinuxMac+3

Zabbix covers a broad range of monitoring sources and methods, with synthetic browser checks and a free plan. Subscription support and server or proxy allowances vary by tier.

Visit Zabbix

The facts

	PVE Hardware Monitor	Zabbix
Free plan	Yes	Yes
Open source	Not published	Not published
Runs on	API, Linux, Self-hosted, Web	API, Linux, Mac, Self-hosted, Web, Windows
Lowest paid plan	Not published	Free or on request
Plans published	None	5
Maker	Not published	Not published
Website	github.com	zabbix.com
On hardware monitoring software	#44 of 59	#40 of 59

PVE Hardware Monitor: what it does well

Free, open-source MIT-licensed project
Displays broad hardware and system metrics
Five-minute history chart for key readings
Automatic sensor detection and configuration
JSON status API available

What to know first

Project identifies itself as early-stage
Hardware testing is limited
Out-of-band IPMI lanplus is unsupported

Zabbix: what it does well

Collects metrics using push or pull methods.
Minimum polling interval is one second.
Synthetic monitoring includes browser scenarios and screenshots.
Monitored hosts, devices, applications, users, metrics, and alerts are listed as unlimited.
Subscriptions include five years of guaranteed security fixes.

What to know first

Server and proxy allowances vary by subscription.
Support availability and response targets vary by tier.
The listed trial lasts five days.

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