Monit
Monit: A focused, free utility for monitoring services and automatically recovering failed processes. Ranked #18 of 32 in Infrastructure Monitoring by our editors (7.7/10); pricing: Free plan; best for lightweight Linux process auto-remediation.
At a glance
- Editor score7.7 / 10
- PricingFree plan
- Best forLightweight Linux process auto-remediation
- Free planYes
- Paid fromFree
- Facts checked23 Sep 2026
Where it wins
- Automatically starts, stops, or restarts services when conditions occur
- Monitors processes, filesystems, resources, protocols, and scripts
- Free, open-source, and self-hosted on Linux or macOS
Where it doesn't
- Its scope is narrower than full infrastructure monitoring suites
- Runs locally as a daemon rather than offering general agentless monitoring
- Requires configured conditions before alerts or recovery actions occur
Our verdict on Monit
Monit is a lightweight, open-source utility for monitoring and managing Unix systems. It is aimed at teams and administrators who need local process, daemon, filesystem, resource, network, protocol, and script checks with automated responses. When configured conditions occur, Monit can send customizable alerts or start, stop, and restart services. It supports Linux, macOS, and self-hosted deployments, with a built-in HTTP(S) status interface and support for container PID 1 and init use cases.
The pricing model is straightforward: Monit itself is free and open source. That makes it suitable when a self-hosted utility is preferable to a paid monitoring service. The vendor also offers M/Monit under paid host-based licenses, but that is a separate product. For a focused monitoring setup, the free model avoids a recurring Monit license while leaving configuration and operation within the user's environment.
Monit's strength is depth within lightweight local checks rather than breadth across an entire infrastructure estate. It can inspect CPU, memory, load, network interfaces, files, directories, filesystems, programs, and service behavior, while TCP, UDP, Unix-domain socket, and protocol checks cover remote network services. Integrations with init, upstart, and systemd support common service-management environments. Choose Monit for targeted Linux process auto-remediation and configurable alerts; choose a broader infrastructure monitoring suite when you need wider centralized coverage beyond its local daemon model.
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Monit pricing
Monit fact sheet
| Free plan | Yes |
|---|---|
| Paid from | Free |
| Included hosts | Not verified |
| VM monitoring | Not verified |
| Service monitoring | Yes |
| Metrics retention | Not verified |
| Deployment model | Self-hosted |
| OS coverage | Multiple |
| Agentless monitoring | Not verified |
| Deployment | Self-hosted |
| Platforms | Linux, macOS |
| Support | Community, Docs |
| Built for | Solo, Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise (editorial estimate) |
| Integrations | 4 integrations: init, upstart, systemd, M/Monit |
| Pricing | Free plan |
| Website | mmonit.com |
| Facts checked | 23 Sep 2026 |
Monit integrations
Monit lists 4 integrations on its own site.
- init
- upstart
- systemd
- M/Monit
Alternatives to Monit
- ZabbixA broad monitoring platform with a free self-hosted edition and flexible deployment options.9.4
- CheckmkA broad hybrid-monitoring platform with free open-source coverage and paid automation tiers.9.3
- Datadog Infrastructure MonitoringBroad infrastructure observability for cloud-native teams, with host-based pricing.9.2
Also Ranked In
Monit is ranked in 3 of our directories.
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Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
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