Grafana vs Shinken: What are the differences?

Introduction

Grafana and Shinken are both software tools used for monitoring and visualizing metrics in an IT environment. While they share some similarities, there are key differences that set them apart.

1. Architecture: Grafana is primarily a visualization tool that connects to various data sources and presents the collected data in customizable dashboards. It does not have built-in monitoring capabilities but can integrate with other monitoring tools. On the other hand, Shinken is a complete monitoring solution that includes data collection, alerting, and visualization components. It is designed to monitor various types of infrastructure and services from a central server.

2. Data Visualization: Grafana provides a wide range of options for visualizing data, including charts, graphs, tables, and maps. It offers a highly flexible and customizable interface, allowing users to create visually appealing and informative dashboards. Shinken, on the other hand, does not have as extensive visualization capabilities as Grafana. It focuses more on the monitoring aspect, providing basic visualization options such as tables and graphs.

3. Alerting and Notification: Shinken excels in alerting and notification capabilities. It allows users to set up complex alerting rules based on predefined thresholds or custom criteria. It provides multiple notification options, such as email, SMS, and integration with third-party tools like Slack. Grafana, on the other hand, relies on integrations with alerting tools like Prometheus or InfluxDB for alerting and notification functionalities.

4. Community and Ecosystem: Grafana has a larger and more active community compared to Shinken. This allows for a wider range of community-developed plugins, extensions, and integrations. Grafana also has extensive documentation and online resources available, making it easy for users to find help and support. Shinken has a smaller community and a more limited ecosystem of plugins and extensions.

5. Ease of Use: Grafana offers a user-friendly and intuitive interface, making it easy for both beginners and experienced users to create dashboards and visualizations. It provides drag-and-drop functionality and a rich set of pre-built panels and templates. Shinken, on the other hand, has a steeper learning curve and requires more configuration and setup to get started. It is more suited for experienced users or organizations with specific monitoring requirements.

6. Scalability: Shinken is designed to handle large-scale monitoring environments with thousands of hosts and services. It supports distributed monitoring, allowing for the deployment of multiple servers for load balancing and fault tolerance. Grafana, on the other hand, relies on external data sources for data collection and does not have built-in scalability features. Scalability in Grafana depends on the scalability of the underlying data sources.

In summary, Grafana is a powerful data visualization tool with flexible dashboards and a large community, while Shinken is a comprehensive monitoring solution with strong alerting capabilities and scalability for large deployments.