What operating systems does Tink support?

Any Linux distribution with systemd. Ubuntu, Debian, CentOS, RHEL, Amazon Linux, Fedora, and Alpine are all tested.

Does Tink run commands automatically?

No. Tink suggests fixes and waits for your explicit approval. Nothing runs without you confirming it first.

How much resources does the Tink agent use?

Minimal. The agent idles at under 20MB RAM and near-zero CPU between scans. Scans themselves take a few seconds.

Can I use Tink on containers?

Tink is designed for long-running servers, not ephemeral containers. For Kubernetes, point it at your nodes instead.

What data does Tink collect?

System metrics (CPU, memory, disk, network), running services, and relevant log snippets when diagnosing issues. No application data, credentials, or file contents.

Tink vs Apache Exporter

apache_exporter is Prometheus's usual Apache scrape: a :9117 /metrics endpoint of apache_up and scoreboard gauges. That is not a mechanic. Tink installs in one command, watches the Linux server, explains what is wrong, and helps you fix it.

apache_exporter exposes apache_* gauges. Tink answers “why is this VPS sick?”

Accidental sysadmins land on apache_exporter because every Apache + Prometheus diagram starts with a mod_status scrape. Then the disk fills, Postgres dies, and Grafana is quiet — nothing scraped, so nothing fired.

Tink is the other job: detect the issue on the machine, say why it happened in plain English, propose the command, and run it only after you approve. Keep apache_exporter if you already operate Prometheus and need Apache gauges. Use Tink if you run Linux servers and want a mechanic.

Feature	Tink	Apache Exporter
Setup time	30 seconds (one curl \| sh command)	Hours — mod_status, ExtendedStatus, scrape URI, binary, :9117, prometheus.yml scrape job, dashboards, and Alertmanager
What you get	Working monitoring, diagnosis, and approved fixes	An Apache scrape target. Host disk, Postgres, and certs stay your problem until PromQL fires and you SSH in
Pricing	Free (Scout) / $9 / $29 per machine per month	Free software (MIT). You still pay for Prometheus, Grafana, Alertmanager, and the engineer who writes the rules
Hidden costs	None — fully managed	A public-or-localhost server-status page, scrape URI flags, and a second tool to tell you the box is sick
Monitoring approach	Agent on the server — CPU, disk, services, logs, certs, ports	apache_up and apache_scoreboard_* / apache_accesses_total gauges. apache_exporter does not watch host disk or a quiet cert unless you added another exporter
Configuration	None after install — heuristics and AI	mod_status, --scrape_uri, scrape intervals, and which PromQL actually pages you
Plain-English diagnosis	Yes — AI explains root cause, impact, and fix	You graph apache_workers in Grafana, then SSH in to change the box
Fix execution	Proposes and executes approved commands with an audit trail	Export only — apache_exporter cannot reload Apache or free disk
Alerting	Built-in across 8 channels	Not an Apache Exporter job — Prometheus rules and Alertmanager have to fire
Predictive alerts	Yes — disk fills in ~6 days, memory and CPU trends	Not an exporter job — a mod_status scrape does not forecast a quiet volume
SSH brute-force detection	Built-in — parses auth.log every scan	Only if you ship auth.log elsewhere, parse it, write a query, and wire an alert downstream
Machine offline detection	Agent presence monitoring with multi-channel alerts	Silence if apache_exporter dies — unless you built an up{job="apache"} deadman check
Public status page	Shareable URL with 90-day history	None — apache_exporter has no customer-facing status page
Weekly fleet digest	Automated Monday digest + daily brief when issues are open	None — an Apache scrape target is not a plain-English fleet narrative
On-call tracking	Built-in /oncall command + incident acknowledgment	Not included — wire Alertmanager into PagerDuty or another incident tool
Conversation interface	Telegram, WhatsApp, web dashboard, CLI	curl :9117/metrics and Grafana. No mechanic you text when workers saturated and 503s filled the log
Learning curve	None — works after install	Steep — mod_status, scrape URI, PromQL, scrape configs, and which rule actually pages
Best for	Freelancers, small teams, accidental sysadmins (1-50 Linux servers)	Teams that already run Prometheus and need Apache scrapes, not a sick-VPS mechanic

When Apache Exporter is the right choice

Keep apache_exporter when you already want that exact job:

Prometheus Apache scrapes — you need apache_scoreboard and apache_accesses_total in PromQL, not a mechanic.
Per-worker and scoreboard gauges — busy workers, CPULoad, and bytes sent matter more than host disk, certs, and SSH on a quiet VPS.
An existing Prometheus + Grafana stack — apache_exporter already ships, dashboards already graph, and someone owns Alertmanager.
Hosts that only export — you already run apache_exporter next to Apache, not a sick-box SSH loop.

The real cost of “just run apache_exporter”

A web-server exporter is in every Apache + Prometheus diagram. A working ops loop for five Linux boxes is not:

An exported scoreboard metric still means you SSH in and change the box by hand
Host disk, Postgres, certs, and SSH brute-force never appear unless you scraped those signals and Alertmanager paged
mod_status exposure, scrape URIs, and PromQL cardinality punish the hours you spend debugging targets
A single VPS with a dead apache_exporter still needs a mechanic, not another scrape job

For a 5-server team, Tink Mechanic at $45/month is cheaper than apache_exporter plus the engineer who keeps Prometheus scrape alive, and every scan includes a diagnosis a quiet /metrics endpoint will not type.

No prometheus.yml homework. No silent host. One command install.

Start Mechanic

Also compare: Tink vs Node Exporter · Tink vs Prometheus · Tink vs Blackbox Exporter