Tribe29 GmbH

Tribe29 GmbH is a Munich-based software company best known as the developer of Checkmk, a full-stack IT monitoring and observability platform for hybrid environments. The company traces its origins to 2007, when Linux and monitoring expert Mathias Kettner founded a consulting business in Munich that would later become the Checkmk GmbH. In 2009 the open source monitoring add-on Check_MK was released, setting new standards for IT monitoring, and in 2012 the company launched Checkmk Raw, its first official product release. Today Checkmk discovers and monitors everything an organization runs, in the cloud and on-premises, scaling to hundreds of thousands of hosts, with automated discovery covering servers, networks, storage, cloud workloads, containers, and applications through one of the largest integration catalogs in the market. The product line spans a free open source edition (Checkmk Raw) and multiple commercial editions, including Checkmk Cloud, which delivers full-stack monitoring with full SNMP coverage, OpenTelemetry, and AI alert analysis. Checkmk positions itself as a single source of truth across infrastructure, applications, and end-user experience, with out-of-the-box integrations for ServiceNow, Jira, and Slack, flexible APIs, and a new Checkmk MCP server that connects AI tools to live site data for cross-host analysis. Pre-built dashboards, advanced analytics, SLA reports, dependency mapping, and one-click AI root-cause summaries help teams reduce mean time to resolution and avoid tool sprawl. The company is headquartered in the heart of Munich, Germany, and has expanded internationally: it crossed the Atlantic in 2022 with a new office in Atlanta, Georgia, and by 2025 had grown to include experts from the Asia-Pacific region to ensure seamless 24/7 support. Its team has grown from a small consulting practice to more than 250 employees, and tens of thousands of users in more than 50 countries rely on Checkmk to obtain high availability from their IT systems by preventing outages and minimizing time-to-resolution. Checkmk is distributed both directly and through a growing channel network, with distribution partnerships such as Climb Channel Solutions in North America and ICOS as Value Added Distributor for Italy and Southern Europe, supported by a global partner program. As a privately held German software vendor, Tribe29 operates in the IT monitoring and observability market, competing with both open source monitoring stacks and commercial observability suites. Its strategy combines enterprise-grade scalability and automation with the extensibility of open source software, and it maintains a strong community tradition anchored by the annual Checkmk Conference, first held in Munich in 2014.

Tribe29 GmbH's history is the history of Checkmk. In 2007, Linux and monitoring expert Mathias Kettner founded a consulting business in Munich that would later become the Checkmk GmbH. Two years later, in 2009, the open source monitoring add-on Check_MK was released, setting new standards for IT monitoring. The project grew out of the practical needs of monitoring large, heterogeneous IT infrastructures, and its name — originally written Check_MK — reflected its origins as a Nagios add-on. In 2012 the company leveled up with the launch of Checkmk Raw, its very first official product release. This marked the transition from a consulting practice and open source add-on to a product company with a defined release cadence. In 2014, Munich became the home of the very first Checkmk Conference, a yearly tradition that has united the Checkmk community ever since and remains a key touchpoint for users, partners, and developers. Over the following years, next to Checkmk Raw, the company released multiple commercial versions, providing advanced monitoring of cloud, hybrid, and data center infrastructures, as well as modern containers and networks. These commercial editions added enterprise-grade scalability, automation, and support on top of the open source core, and the product line expanded to include Checkmk Cloud. In 2022 the company surpassed 100 employees and crossed the Atlantic, expanding into North America with a new office in Atlanta, Georgia. By 2025 the Checkmk team had grown to include experts from the Asia-Pacific region, ensuring seamless 24/7 support for customers worldwide, and the company had grown to more than 250 employees. Tens of thousands of users in more than 50 countries rely on Checkmk to obtain high availability from their IT systems by preventing outages and minimizing time-to-resolution. Product development continued at pace. In April 2026, Checkmk 2.5 unified monitoring and observability to speed issue resolution across hybrid environments, introducing OpenTelemetry support, AI analysis, and Relay, while Checkmk Cloud began delivering full-stack monitoring with full SNMP coverage, OpenTelemetry, and AI alert analysis. In June 2026, Checkmk announced a technical integration with Xurrent, vendor of an AI-powered service and operations management platform, to keep the CMDB current with live monitoring data, and prepared for the twelfth Checkmk Conference under the theme of tackling complexity in hybrid IT operations. Alongside product evolution, the company invested in channel growth. It partnered with Climb Channel Solutions to expand its U.S. monitoring and observability footprint, with ICOS as Value Added Distributor for Italy and Southern Europe, and unveiled a new global partner program in November 2025 to simplify partner access. The company's brand identity is carefully managed: the product name is written "Checkmk" (previously Check_MK) in one word, all lowercase in visual assets, with green, graphite, and white as brand colors.

• 2026

  Checkmk 2.5 unified monitoring and observability; Checkmk Cloud delivered full-stack monitoring; partnership with Xurrent announced.

• 2025

  Team grew to include experts from the Asia-Pacific region for seamless 24/7 support; new global partner program unveiled in November.

• 2022

  Surpassed 100 employees and expanded into North America with a new office in Atlanta, Georgia.

• 2014

  Munich hosted the first Checkmk Conference, an annual community tradition.

• 2012

  Launch of Checkmk Raw, the company's first official product release.

• 2009

  The open source monitoring add-on Check_MK was released, setting new standards for IT monitoring.

• 2007

  Mathias Kettner founded a consulting business in Munich that would later become the Checkmk GmbH.

Enterprise-grade, open-source-extensible full-stack monitoring and observability for hybrid IT, positioned as a single source of truth that reduces tool sprawl and MTTR.

• Checkmk Raw

  The free open source edition, first released in 2012.

• Checkmk Enterprise Editions

  Commercial versions adding enterprise-grade scalability, automation, and support.

• Checkmk Cloud

  Cloud edition delivering full-stack monitoring with full SNMP coverage, OpenTelemetry, and AI alert analysis.

• Checkmk 2.5

  Release unifying monitoring and observability with OTel, AI analysis, and Relay.

• Checkmk MCP server

  Connects AI tools to live site data for cross-host analysis.

1. 1Full-Stack Monitoring and Observability for Hybrid IT | Checkmkcheckmk.com
2. 2The Checkmk GmbHcheckmk.com
3. 3Checkmk Newsroomcheckmk.com
4. 4The Checkmk brandcheckmk.com
5. 5Tribe29 GmbH - Wikidatawikidata.org