Comparison
Open-AudIT vs NetBox
How live discovered state compares to a hand-curated source of truth, and where the two often sit alongside each other.
NetBox is an open source IPAM, DCIM, and source-of-truth platform for network engineers. It is excellent at modelling intended state, the way the network is supposed to look, and is widely used for change management and network automation. Open-AudIT solves a different problem: discovered state, what is actually on the network right now, plus the compliance and vulnerability reporting layered on top. The two are often complementary; this page compares them only on the areas where their scope overlaps, which is asset inventory.
| Capability | Open-AudIT | NetBox |
|---|---|---|
| Deployment model | Self-hosted (Linux, Windows, Docker, AWS Marketplace AMI) | Self-hosted (open source); managed offering via NetBox Cloud |
| Agentless discovery | Yes, native to the discovery engine | Limited; discovery is not the primary use case. [Verify before publish] |
| Agent-based discovery | Yes, on the Enterprise tier for air-gapped or restricted networks | No |
| Multi-tenancy | Yes, with multi-server collectors on Enterprise | Yes, native tenancy model |
| Configuration change tracking | Yes, with change history and alerting | Via plugins (e.g., NetBox Network Importer) |
| Vulnerability detection | AI-prioritised CVE matching against discovered assets on Open-AudIT 6 | No |
| Compliance reporting (NIST, ISO 27001, Essential Eight, CIS Controls) | NIST, ISO 27001, Essential Eight, and CIS Controls reporting | No |
| Open source availability | Yes, open source core since 1998 (GPLv3) | Yes, Apache 2.0 |
| Pricing model | Per-device subscription; Free tier up to 100 devices | Free (open source); paid support via NetBox Labs |
| Typical buyer | IT operations, security, audit and compliance leads | Network engineers, network automation teams |
When Open-AudIT is the right call
- You need discovered state (what is actually on the network) rather than only intended state.
- Audit and compliance evidence is part of the job, not just IPAM and DCIM modelling.
- You want vulnerability detection integrated with the asset inventory.
- Agent-based audit for restricted networks is on the requirements list.
When NetBox might be the right call
- You need a hand-curated source of truth for IPAM, DCIM, and circuits, not discovered state.
- Your network automation tooling already reads from NetBox via its API as the canonical inventory.
- You are primarily a network engineering team, and asset audit is out of scope.