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 smartctl Exporter

smartctl_exporter is Prometheus's usual disk SMART scrape: a :9633 /metrics endpoint of device status and temperature gauges. That is not a mechanic. Tink installs in one command, watches the Linux server, explains what is wrong, and helps you fix it.

smartctl_exporter exposes SMART gauges. Tink answers “why is this VPS sick?”

Accidental sysadmins land on smartctl_exporter because every disk + Prometheus diagram starts with a SMART scrape. Then the volume fills, nginx dies, and Grafana is quiet — SMART still says PASSED, so nothing fired. A filling /var is a Tink warning; it is not an exporter job.

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 smartctl_exporter if you already operate Prometheus and need SMART gauges. Use Tink if you run Linux servers and want a mechanic.

Feature	Tink	smartctl Exporter
Setup time	30 seconds (one curl \| sh command)	Hours — smartmontools, device allowlists, :9633, prometheus.yml scrape job, dashboards, and Alertmanager
What you get	Working monitoring, diagnosis, and approved fixes	A SMART scrape target. Host disk fill, nginx, Postgres, and certs stay your problem until PromQL fires and you SSH in
Pricing	Free (Scout) / $9 / $29 per machine per month	Free software (Apache 2.0). You still pay for Prometheus, Grafana, Alertmanager, and the engineer who writes the rules
Hidden costs	None — fully managed	smartctl privileges, NVMe vs SCSI flags, a noisy temperature series, and a second tool to tell you the box is sick
Monitoring approach	Agent on the server — CPU, disk, services, logs, certs, ports	smartctl_device_smart_status and temperature gauges. smartctl_exporter does not watch host fill or a quiet cert unless you added another exporter
Configuration	None after install — heuristics and AI	--smartctl.path, device glob, scrape intervals, and which PromQL actually pages you
Plain-English diagnosis	Yes — AI explains root cause, impact, and fix	You graph smartctl_device_temperature in Grafana, then SSH in to change the box
Fix execution	Proposes and executes approved commands with an audit trail	Export only — smartctl_exporter cannot free disk, restart nginx, or rotate a cert
Alerting	Built-in across 8 channels	Not a smartctl 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 SMART scrape does not forecast a quiet volume filling up
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 smartctl_exporter dies — unless you built an up{job="smartctl"} deadman check
Public status page	Shareable URL with 90-day history	None — smartctl_exporter has no customer-facing status page
Weekly fleet digest	Automated Monday digest + daily brief when issues are open	None — a SMART 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 :9633/metrics and Grafana. No mechanic you text when /var filled and SMART still said PASSED
Learning curve	None — works after install	Steep — smartctl, device names, 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 SMART scrapes, not a sick-VPS mechanic

When smartctl Exporter is the right choice

Keep smartctl_exporter when you already want that exact job:

Prometheus SMART scrapes — you need smartctl_device_temperature in PromQL, not a mechanic.
Per-drive hardware gauges — reallocated sectors and NVMe wear matter more than host nginx, certs, and SSH on a quiet VPS.
An existing Prometheus + Grafana stack — smartctl_exporter already ships, dashboards already graph, and someone owns Alertmanager.
Hosts that only export — you already run smartctl_exporter next to the disks, not a sick-box SSH loop.

The real cost of “just run smartctl_exporter”

A SMART exporter is in every disk + Prometheus diagram. A working ops loop for five Linux boxes is not:

An exported PASSED status still means you SSH in and change the box by hand
Host fill, nginx, certs, and SSH brute-force never appear unless you scraped those signals and Alertmanager paged
A filling /var is a Tink disk warning on every scan — smartctl_exporter will keep scraping PASSED
A single VPS with a dead smartctl_exporter still needs a mechanic, not another scrape job

For a 5-server team, Tink Mechanic at $45/month is cheaper than smartctl_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 Process Exporter