windows_exporter is Prometheus's usual Windows scrape: a :9182 /metrics endpoint of windows_cpu_time_total and logical-disk gauges. That is not a mechanic. Tink installs in one command, watches the Linux server, explains what is wrong, and helps you fix it.
Accidental sysadmins land on windows_exporter because every Windows + Prometheus diagram starts with a WMI scrape. Then the Linux disk fills, nginx 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 windows_exporter if you already operate Prometheus and need Windows gauges. Use Tink if you run Linux servers and want a mechanic.
| Feature | Tink | Windows Exporter |
|---|---|---|
| Setup time | 30 seconds (one curl | sh command) | Hours — MSI or binary, --collectors.enabled, :9182 firewall, prometheus.yml scrape job, dashboards, and Alertmanager |
| What you get | Working monitoring, diagnosis, and approved fixes | A Windows scrape target. Linux disk, 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 (MIT). You still pay for Prometheus, Grafana, Alertmanager, and the engineer who writes the rules |
| Hidden costs | None — fully managed | Collector cardinality, WMI timeouts, and a second tool to tell you the Linux box is sick |
| Monitoring approach | Agent on the server — CPU, disk, services, logs, certs, ports | windows_cpu_time_total, windows_logical_disk_free_bytes, and windows_service_state. windows_exporter does not watch a Linux VPS unless you added another exporter |
| Configuration | None after install — heuristics and AI | collectors.enabled, windows_exporter.yml, scrape intervals, and which PromQL actually pages you |
| Plain-English diagnosis | Yes — AI explains root cause, impact, and fix | You graph windows_logical_disk_free_bytes in Grafana, then RDP or SSH in to change the box |
| Fix execution | Proposes and executes approved commands with an audit trail | Export only — windows_exporter cannot restart a service or free disk |
| Alerting | Built-in across 8 channels | Not a Windows 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 WMI scrape does not forecast a quiet volume |
| SSH brute-force detection | Built-in — parses auth.log every scan | Only if you ship Windows Event Log elsewhere, parse it, write a query, and wire an alert downstream |
| Machine offline detection | Agent presence monitoring with multi-channel alerts | Silence if windows_exporter dies — unless you built an up{job="windows"} deadman check |
| Public status page | Shareable URL with 90-day history | None — windows_exporter has no customer-facing status page |
| Weekly fleet digest | Automated Monday digest + daily brief when issues are open | None — a Windows 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 :9182/metrics and Grafana. No mechanic you text when a collector timed out and the volume filled |
| Learning curve | None — works after install | Steep — collectors, WMI, 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 Windows scrapes, not a sick-VPS mechanic |
Keep windows_exporter when you already want that exact job:
A Windows exporter is in every Windows + Prometheus diagram. A working ops loop for five Linux boxes is not:
For a 5-server team, Tink Mechanic at $45/month is cheaper than windows_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.
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