Tribe29 has made a significant impact in the IT monitoring industry with its powerful, open-source monitoring solutions. Known for developing the Checkmk platform, Tribe29 offers tools that help businesses ensure their IT systems run smoothly by providing efficient and scalable monitoring options.

This article will provide a detailed look into Tribe29, starting with its origins and growth. We will also examine its product evolution, company culture, and target market. Lastly, we’ll explore challenges the company has faced and how it continues to shape the future of IT monitoring.

Company Background

Tribe29 was founded in 2013 by Mathias Kettner, a seasoned IT professional with years of experience in system administration and software development. His inspiration came from the challenges he encountered while managing complex IT infrastructures. He realized that most monitoring tools available at the time were either too expensive, overly complex, or unable to scale effectively. These limitations led him to create an open-source monitoring solution that would address these problems.

The initial vision for Tribe29 was to provide a reliable, flexible, and easy-to-use monitoring platform that could cater to the needs of businesses both large and small. This led to the development of the Checkmk platform, which quickly gained traction due to its versatility. The company’s mission from the start was to empower IT teams with a tool that could monitor systems comprehensively while remaining cost-effective and scalable. Over time, Tribe29 became known for its commitment to innovation, community-driven development, and delivering solutions that solved real-world IT problems.

Early Challenges and Milestones

In its early days, Tribe29 faced several challenges typical of a startup, especially in the open-source software space. One of the biggest hurdles was gaining the trust of businesses and IT professionals who were accustomed to more established, proprietary solutions. Convincing potential users to adopt an open-source platform over expensive commercial alternatives required extensive outreach, community building, and showcasing the reliability of Checkmk.

Another major challenge was scaling the platform to handle increasingly complex IT infrastructures as the client base grew. The development team had to continuously improve Checkmk’s features and scalability while maintaining its simplicity and ease of use. They also faced competition from larger, more established vendors offering monitoring tools with extensive marketing budgets.

Despite these challenges, Tribe29 achieved key milestones, including early partnerships with several mid-sized companies that trusted the platform for their monitoring needs. As word spread about Checkmk’s efficiency and adaptability, Tribe29 saw a steady increase in adoption. The introduction of the Checkmk Enterprise Edition further solidified their market position, offering additional features for larger organizations with more complex needs.

Timeline of Growth

Tribe29’s growth over the years can be traced through a series of key events that shaped the company into a major player in the IT monitoring industry. After its founding in 2013, the company quickly built a strong user base by offering the Checkmk Raw Edition, a free and open-source solution that allowed users to monitor their IT systems without financial investment. This gained significant attention in the IT community, leading to widespread adoption by small and medium-sized enterprises.

By 2015, Tribe29 launched the Checkmk Enterprise Edition, which introduced advanced features like distributed monitoring, custom dashboards, and support for larger, more complex infrastructures. This move helped the company attract larger enterprise clients looking for comprehensive and scalable monitoring solutions.

Over the following years, Tribe29 continued to enhance its platform by integrating support for container-based environments and cloud services, keeping pace with changing market demands. In 2019, the company introduced major updates to Checkmk, making it even more scalable, which allowed clients to monitor thousands of systems with ease. By 2021, Tribe29 expanded globally, with clients across industries such as finance, healthcare, and manufacturing.

These milestones solidified Tribe29’s place in the market, proving its ability to adapt and grow with the evolving needs of IT teams.

Organizational Culture

Tribe29 fosters a collaborative and open work culture, which has been central to its success. The company emphasizes transparency and values input from all team members, regardless of their position. This culture of openness allows for faster innovation, as ideas can come from any level within the organization. The team’s commitment to continuously improving Checkmk has been driven by a strong sense of responsibility to its user base, which includes both open-source users and enterprise clients.

Customer satisfaction is a top priority at Tribe29, and this is reflected in the company’s approach to support and product development. Feedback from the community plays a significant role in shaping new features, ensuring that the product evolves based on real-world needs. This commitment to listening and responding to customers has built a loyal user base and helped drive innovation.

Client Segments

Tribe29’s products cater to a wide range of businesses, from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to large corporations with complex IT needs. For smaller businesses, the Checkmk Raw Edition offers a cost-effective, open-source solution that allows them to monitor their infrastructure without straining their budget. These companies typically require basic monitoring features but still require reliability and efficiency, making the Raw Edition an ideal fit.

For larger enterprises, the Checkmk Enterprise Edition provides advanced features that support complex IT environments. Large organizations, such as those in finance, healthcare, and manufacturing, often have thousands of devices and applications to monitor. They require scalable, secure, and highly customizable solutions. Checkmk’s ability to integrate with other tools, monitor hybrid environments, and provide detailed reporting makes it especially attractive to these enterprise clients.

With its flexible offerings, Tribe29 has positioned itself to meet the needs of a broad client base, from startups to global corporations.

Competitive Comparison

Checkmk competes with several other prominent IT monitoring tools, including Nagios, Zabbix, Prometheus, and Datadog. Each of these competitors brings its own strengths, from Nagios’ long-standing presence in the industry to Datadog’s focus on cloud-native applications and real-time analytics.

What sets Checkmk apart is its high scalability paired with an easy-to-use interface and its ability to integrate seamlessly into both traditional and hybrid cloud environments. Unlike some competitors, Checkmk’s distributed monitoring capabilities and customizable plugins offer flexibility for organizations with highly specific requirements.

Its balance of open-source availability (through the Raw Edition) and enterprise features makes it a versatile choice for a broad range of users, from smaller IT teams to large-scale enterprises. While other tools may excel in specific areas, Checkmk’s blend of high-performance data handling, long-term storage, and customizable access control gives it a unique advantage for businesses that need robust, flexible monitoring solutions across varied environments.

Vision for the Future

Tribe29 has a clear vision for the future, centered around expanding the capabilities of its Checkmk platform to meet the growing demands of modern IT infrastructures. As more companies adopt cloud-based and hybrid environments, Tribe29 is focused on enhancing support for these technologies, ensuring that Checkmk remains at the forefront of IT monitoring solutions. Their goal is to offer a platform that can seamlessly monitor on-premises, cloud, and container environments with the same efficiency.

Innovation will continue to play a key role in their strategy, with plans to integrate AI-driven analytics and predictive monitoring features that help IT teams prevent issues before they arise. Tribe29 also aims to strengthen its global presence by building partnerships and expanding its customer base in new markets. The long-term goal is to maintain the simplicity that made Checkmk successful while staying ahead of emerging industry trends.

Product Offerings

Initial Product Offering

Tribe29’s first major product was the Checkmk Raw Edition, an open-source IT monitoring solution designed to address the limitations of existing tools. Released in the company’s early days, Checkmk focused on providing a streamlined, easy-to-use platform for monitoring networks, servers, databases, and applications. The Raw Edition was well-received by system administrators who needed an efficient, scalable solution without the overhead or cost of proprietary software.

Checkmk’s core strength was its ability to efficiently monitor complex infrastructures with minimal resource usage. It simplified the process of monitoring large environments by automating many aspects of configuration and offering customizable monitoring rules. This made it particularly attractive for small and medium-sized businesses that required comprehensive monitoring but lacked the budget for expensive, enterprise-grade tools.

Evolution of Product Suite

As the IT landscape evolved, so did Tribe29’s product suite. Initially focused on basic network and server monitoring, Tribe29 expanded Checkmk to include more advanced features to meet the growing complexity of IT infrastructures. The introduction of the Checkmk Enterprise Edition marked a significant step forward. It added premium features like high-availability monitoring, built-in reporting, and distributed monitoring capabilities, catering to larger businesses with more intricate needs.

Tribe29 also adapted to industry shifts by integrating support for new technologies, such as container-based platforms and cloud environments like AWS and Azure. This helped customers monitor not just physical servers but virtual machines, containers, and cloud services, giving them a single platform for a hybrid environment. Additionally, the company enhanced the scalability of Checkmk, allowing it to monitor thousands of devices and services simultaneously without compromising performance.

Current Product Portfolio

Today, Tribe29’s product portfolio revolves around the Checkmk platform, which is available in two main editions: the Checkmk Raw Edition and the Checkmk Enterprise Edition. The Raw Edition remains open-source and continues to serve smaller organizations and IT professionals who prefer a flexible, no-cost monitoring solution. The Enterprise Edition, however, has grown into a comprehensive platform designed to meet the needs of large-scale organizations with complex IT infrastructures.

Key features of the Enterprise Edition include high-performance monitoring, detailed analytics, and automation tools that simplify the management of thousands of devices. It also offers enhanced security, advanced reporting, and seamless integration with other IT management tools. Checkmk supports a wide range of environments, including cloud-based, containerized, and hybrid infrastructures, making it a versatile solution for monitoring across diverse systems.

Tribe29 has also expanded its portfolio with additional services, including technical support, consulting, and training to help businesses get the most out of their monitoring tools. This combination of powerful software and dedicated customer service sets Tribe29 apart in the IT monitoring space.

Challenges and Growing Pains

Like any growing company, Tribe29 has encountered several challenges throughout its journey. One of the major issues was the initial skepticism surrounding the use of open-source software in enterprise environments. Many large organizations were hesitant to rely on open-source solutions, fearing a lack of support and the possibility of security vulnerabilities. Tribe29 had to work hard to demonstrate that Checkmk could deliver enterprise-level performance and security without the drawbacks often associated with open-source projects.

Another notable challenge came with the rise of cloud computing. As businesses began moving to cloud-based infrastructures, Checkmk had to quickly adapt to this shift. Initially, the platform was more suited to traditional on-premises monitoring, and adjusting to meet the demands of monitoring cloud environments required significant development effort. Balancing the needs of both cloud-based and traditional IT environments became a core focus for the company.

Despite these hurdles, Tribe29 continuously evolved its platform, making the necessary adjustments to address these concerns and remain competitive.

Tribe29 took a proactive approach to overcoming the challenges it faced, starting with the skepticism around open-source software. To address concerns about security and support, the company invested heavily in building a strong community around Checkmk. This included active forums, detailed documentation, and regular updates to address any vulnerabilities. Additionally, the introduction of the Checkmk Enterprise Edition provides businesses with a premium version of the software that came with dedicated support, reducing the concerns of enterprise clients regarding reliability and service.

When the shift toward cloud-based infrastructure became more prevalent, Tribe29 focused on rapidly expanding Checkmk’s capabilities to support cloud environments. The team worked to integrate monitoring for major cloud providers like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, making it easier for businesses to monitor both cloud and on-premises systems from a single platform. By continuously updating and adapting the platform, Tribe29 ensured Checkmk remained relevant in the ever-evolving IT landscape.

Success Stories

Checkmk has proven to be an effective monitoring solution for several leading organizations across different industries, helping them address complex IT infrastructure challenges. One notable case is Rockefeller University, a premier biomedical research institution. 

Prior to implementing Checkmk, the university relied on Nagios for its monitoring needs but found it insufficient due to frequent false alerts and a cumbersome maintenance process. With more than 850 hosts and 17,000 services to monitor, including high-performance computing clusters and healthcare devices, Rockefeller University required a more efficient solution that could provide accurate, actionable alerts.

Since switching to Checkmk in 2022, the university’s IT team has significantly reduced the number of unnecessary notifications, allowing them to focus on critical tasks. One of the key advantages they experienced was the transparency and flexibility that Checkmk offers. Each department can customize its monitoring setup based on its specific needs, while also having a unified view of the entire infrastructure. This has improved collaboration between teams, as they can quickly assess whether an issue in one department affects other systems. Moreover, the ability to collect and store long-term monitoring data has allowed the university to take a more proactive approach to IT maintenance, solving potential issues before they impact performance

Another notable case study is Swisscom Banking, which chose Checkmk to improve the quality and range of its IT services. The banking division of Swisscom, a major telecommunications provider, required a solution that could handle the scale and complexity of its operations, including monitoring diverse IT assets across its banking systems. With Checkmk, Swisscom Banking enhanced the visibility of its infrastructure and reduced downtime, leading to improved service delivery for its customers.

Lastly, Dedalus, a healthcare technology company, also turned to Checkmk to manage its IT systems across multiple hospitals. By using Checkmk’s flexible monitoring features, Dedalus was able to respond more quickly to the individual needs of hospitals, allowing for better IT service management in a highly regulated environment.

Awards and Recognition

Checkmk has received several notable awards, solidifying its position as a leader in the IT monitoring industry. In 2023, Checkmk earned 4th place in the Top 50 IT Infrastructure Products category at the G2 Best Software Awards, an achievement based on real user reviews. This was a significant milestone, as G2’s awards are highly regarded in the tech industry, recognizing the best software products based on customer satisfaction and performance. In the same year, Checkmk was also named one of the Top 25 German Software Companies, securing 11th place in that category.

In 2024, Checkmk continued its momentum by climbing to 3rd place in the G2 Best Software Awards in the same IT Infrastructure Products category. This placed Checkmk alongside some of the biggest global tech companies, further emphasizing its growing reputation in the field of IT monitoring. These awards highlight Checkmk’s scalability, flexibility, and customer-driven approach, which have earned it strong user support across various industries. The company’s commitment to offering both open-source and enterprise solutions has played a key role in its success on these prestigious platforms.

Feature Breakdown

Checkmk offers a range of unique features that help businesses manage complex IT environments efficiently. These features are designed to handle large-scale infrastructures while remaining adaptable to industry-specific needs.

• Distributed Monitoring Checkmk allows users to monitor systems across multiple, geographically dispersed locations while providing a centralized view. This ensures that all sites are monitored independently, but data can still be collected and viewed centrally. Distributed monitoring is crucial for organizations that operate globally, as it helps maintain performance even if one monitoring site experiences a network disruption. This setup prevents any single point of failure from affecting the entire monitoring infrastructure.
• High-Performance Data Handling One of Checkmk’s core strengths is its ability to handle massive volumes of data without slowing down. Unlike some monitoring tools that become sluggish as they scale, Checkmk is designed to monitor thousands of hosts and services with minimal impact on performance. Its efficient architecture allows real-time data collection and alerting, making it ideal for industries where large-scale data processing is necessary. This capability ensures critical systems are continuously monitored without latency.
• Granular Access Control Checkmk offers detailed access control, allowing organizations to assign specific monitoring roles and permissions to different teams. This feature ensures that only authorized personnel can modify settings or view sensitive data. Each department or team can be given access to specific systems they are responsible for, creating a highly secure and collaborative environment. This access structure is especially important for large organizations that need to delegate responsibilities across various business units.
• Customizable Monitoring Plugins Checkmk provides a robust set of plugins, enabling organizations to extend the platform’s capabilities according to their specific needs. With hundreds of pre-built plugins, users can monitor everything from servers to applications. Additionally, custom plugins can be developed to address unique requirements, making Checkmk highly flexible. This feature is particularly useful in specialized sectors such as healthcare and manufacturing, where traditional monitoring solutions may not be sufficient.
• Seamless Hybrid and Cloud Monitoring As businesses increasingly move to cloud-based infrastructures, Checkmk supports comprehensive monitoring across both on-premise and cloud environments. Whether it’s AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud, Checkmk enables organizations to monitor their hybrid setups through a single interface. This integrated monitoring allows businesses to manage traditional and virtualized systems without switching between multiple tools, providing full visibility over their entire infrastructure.
• Long-Term Data Storage and Analytics Checkmk’s ability to store and analyze data over long periods is invaluable for organizations that require historical performance insights. With long-term data storage, businesses can identify trends, troubleshoot issues, and even predict future problems based on past performance. This feature is particularly useful for organizations subject to regulatory compliance, as it allows them to retain detailed logs for auditing purposes. Long-term analytics provide a proactive approach to maintaining IT health and improving system reliability over time.

Tribe29’s Checkmk Review

Checkmk is an excellent solution for organizations looking to monitor diverse and distributed IT environments. Its customizable features, hybrid monitoring approach, and scalability make it ideal for businesses with complex needs. However, its steep learning curve and the need for manual configuration may pose challenges for smaller or less technical teams. This tool is highly recommended for companies seeking robust, flexible, and scalable IT monitoring, especially those looking for open-source or enterprise options.

Key Features:

• Unified Monitoring Platform: Checkmk provides monitoring for a wide range of devices, including Linux, Windows, Unix, Docker, VMware, and more, allowing for a holistic view of your IT infrastructure.
• Agent-Based and Agentless Monitoring: The platform offers both options, providing flexibility for users depending on their specific needs and existing systems.
• Auto-Discovery and Inventory Management: Checkmk automatically discovers new devices and maintains an inventory, ensuring comprehensive coverage of monitored systems.
• Customizable Dashboards and Reports: Users can tailor dashboards and reporting tools to their specific needs, offering better insights into system performance.
• Event Handling and Alerts: Real-time alerts can be customized and delivered through various channels like email or SMS, ensuring that issues are promptly addressed.

Insights Wrap-Up

Tribe29, through its flagship product Checkmk, has made a significant mark in the IT monitoring landscape, consistently earning recognition for its innovation and customer-centric approach. Tribe29 has proven its ability to compete with industry giants by offering a versatile and scalable monitoring solution. The ongoing success of Checkmk highlights Tribe29’s dedication to providing top-tier, adaptable monitoring tools that meet the growing demands of modern IT infrastructures.