The short answer
Zabbix is a strong choice if you want one self-hosted platform to monitor mixed infrastructure and you'll assemble storage health from templates. Choose Rivana if you want drive health handled for you — purpose-built per-device latency distributions and SMART failure-prediction with a ~10-minute setup — instead of standing up a Zabbix server, database, and agents and wiring SMART templates yourself.
Side by side
| Detail | Rivana | Zabbix |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | Purpose-built storage-fleet monitoring | Enterprise general-purpose monitoring |
| Per-device I/O latency | Per-device I/O latency distributions via eBPF (not just averages) | Disk metrics via agent items / UserParameters |
| Drive-failure prediction | SMART degradation trends that flag drives before they fail | SMART via templates; threshold triggers |
| Deployment | Self-hosted single binary — deploys in ~10 min, no cloud | Self-hosted server + database + agents (heavier setup) |
| Pricing | Per-device annual license (free 30-day trial) | Free & open source (paid support available) |
| Best for | Infra teams running 50–500 on-prem SSD/HDD drives, tired of guessing why latency degraded | Centralized monitoring of mixed infrastructure |
Strengths & trade-offs
Rivana
Infra teams running 50–500 on-prem SSD/HDD drives, tired of guessing why latency degraded
Rivana is a self-hosted monitoring tool built specifically for storage fleets. A lightweight eBPF collector on each host captures real per-device I/O latency — full distributions, not just averages — alongside SMART attributes, temperature, and utilization, and the aggregator flags drives whose degradation trends predict failure. It installs as a single Rust binary in about ten minutes, runs entirely on your own infrastructure with no cloud dependency, and is licensed per monitored device.
Strengths
- Built only for storage — per-device latency, SMART, and degradation in one place
- eBPF captures real I/O latency distributions, not just averages
- Flags failing or slow drives from SMART trends before they cause an outage
- Self-hosted single binary — deploys in ~10 minutes, no cloud dependency
- Fleet-wide view of 50–500+ drives out of the box
Consider
- Storage-focused — not a general-purpose metrics platform
- Commercial per-device license (free 30-day trial, then paid)
- Linux hosts (the collector uses eBPF)
- Newer than the established monitoring stacks
Zabbix
Centralized monitoring of mixed infrastructure
Zabbix is a mature, free, self-hosted monitoring platform for servers, networks, and applications, with SMART monitoring available through templates and agent UserParameters. It's highly configurable and centralized, but it's a general-purpose system you stand up and maintain (server, database, agents), and storage health is something you assemble from templates rather than a built-in, latency-aware focus.
Strengths
- Mature, free, centralized monitoring of mixed infrastructure
- Powerful templating, triggers, and alerting
- Self-hosted — data stays on your infrastructure
- Large community and template library
Consider
- Heavier to deploy and operate (server + database + agents)
- Storage/SMART is assembled from templates, not built-in
- No per-device eBPF latency distributions
- General-purpose, not storage-specialized
Frequently asked questions
Is Rivana a replacement for Zabbix?
Zabbix is a strong choice if you want one self-hosted platform to monitor mixed infrastructure and you'll assemble storage health from templates. Choose Rivana if you want drive health handled for you — purpose-built per-device latency distributions and SMART failure-prediction with a ~10-minute setup — instead of standing up a Zabbix server, database, and agents and wiring SMART templates yourself.
What storage devices and metrics does Rivana monitor?
Rivana monitors NVMe SSDs, SATA SSDs, and HDDs on Linux hosts. A lightweight eBPF collector captures per-device I/O latency distributions, SMART attributes, temperature, and utilization, and the aggregator surfaces fleet-wide dashboards plus degradation trends that flag drives likely to fail.
Does Rivana run on my own infrastructure?
Yes. Rivana is self-hosted: the aggregator installs as a single Rust binary in about ten minutes with an embedded database, and licenses are validated locally with no phone-home or internet dependency. Your storage telemetry never leaves your infrastructure.
See your storage fleet clearly
Deploy Rivana on your own infrastructure in about ten minutes. Free 30-day trial for up to 50 drives.
Start a free trialCompetitor capabilities and pricing are directional and were verified in June 2026 — check each project's or vendor's own site for current details. Rivana is an independent product and isn't affiliated with the tools compared here.