Tink vs Autopsy
Autopsy runs keyword search, timeline, and hash lookup on a disk image. That is not a mechanic. Tink installs in one command, watches the Linux host, explains what is wrong, and helps you fix it.
Autopsy ingests the image. Tink answers “why is this VPS sick?”
Accidental sysadmins land on Autopsy because a forensics GUI looks cheaper than a NAS. Then the host volume fills, nginx dies, and ingest still looks complete — no keyword match for host fill. A filling /var is a Tink warning; it is not an Autopsy job unless you scraped ingest output and watched it.
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 using Autopsy if you already run disk forensics. Use Tink if you run Linux servers and want a mechanic.
| Feature | Tink | Autopsy |
|---|---|---|
| Setup time | 30 seconds (one curl | sh command) | Hours — create a case, add a disk image, wait for ingest modules, keyword search, timeline, hash lookup, then a host that still has no mechanic after the last ingest finished |
| What you get | Working monitoring, diagnosis, and approved fixes | A forensics GUI. Disk fill, nginx, Postgres, and certs stay your problem until you SSH past the last keyword hit |
| Pricing | Free (Scout) / $9 / $29 per machine per month | Apache 2.0. You still pay the person who owns the VPS after the last ingest looks finished |
| Hidden costs | None — fully managed | A quiet case tree that is not host fill, downtime to image the disk, ingest homework, and a second tool to tell you the box is sick while the last keyword search still showed complete |
| Monitoring approach | Agent on the server — CPU, disk, services, logs, certs, ports | Add Data Source, ingest modules, keyword search, timeline, hash sets. Autopsy does not watch a quiet cert or host auth.log after the last ingest session ended |
| Configuration | None after install — heuristics and AI | Which image or local disk to add, ingest module list, keyword lists, hash databases, and which failed ingest session actually pages you |
| Plain-English diagnosis | Yes — AI explains root cause, impact, and fix | You read the ingest results and keyword hits, then SSH into the host to change the Linux box Autopsy already carved files off |
| Fix execution | Proposes and executes approved commands with an audit trail | Ingest a volume into a case — Autopsy cannot free host disk, rotate a cert, or stop SSH brute-force unless you run ingest again |
| Alerting | Built-in across 8 channels | Not an Autopsy job — mail from a failed ingest plus a separate monitoring tool have to fire |
| Predictive alerts | Yes — disk fills in ~6 days, memory and CPU trends | Not an Autopsy job — a timeline event date does not forecast a quiet host filling up |
| SSH brute-force detection | Built-in — parses auth.log every scan | Never — Autopsy does not read host auth.log, journald, or firewall state after the last ingest session ended |
| Machine offline detection | Agent presence monitoring with multi-channel alerts | Silence if the host dies after the last ingest — unless you built a separate uptime check |
| Public status page | Shareable URL with 90-day history | None — Autopsy has no customer-facing status page for the Linux host |
| Weekly fleet digest | Automated Monday digest + daily brief when issues are open | None — an ingest recap is not a plain-English fleet narrative |
| On-call tracking | Built-in /oncall command + incident acknowledgment | Not included — wire failed Autopsy ingests into PagerDuty or another incident tool |
| Conversation interface | Telegram, WhatsApp, web dashboard, CLI | Case tree, keyword search, timeline, and SSH. No mechanic you text when /var filled and the last ingest still showed complete |
| Learning curve | None — works after install | Steep — case ingest, module lists, keyword vs hash vs timeline, and which failure is the carve vs the running host |
| Best for | Freelancers, small teams, accidental sysadmins (1-50 Linux servers) | Teams that already run Autopsy for disk forensics, not a sick-VPS mechanic |
When Autopsy is the right choice
Keep using Autopsy when you already want that exact job:
- Disk forensics — you need case ingest, keyword search, timeline, and hash lookup, not a mechanic.
- An existing evidence image — allocated vs deleted files matter more than guest nginx, certs, and SSH on a quiet VPS.
- An existing lab or nested setup — The Sleuth Kit already runs, the image already exists, and someone owns the case.
- Hosts that only page on ingest or carve death — you already run a forensics pipeline, not a sick-box SSH loop.
The real cost of “just watch Autopsy ingest”
Autopsy ingests a volume. A working ops loop for five Linux boxes is not:
- A healthy ingest still means you SSH into the host and change the box by hand when it gets sick later
- Host fill, nginx, certs, and SSH brute-force never appear unless a separate tool scraped those signals and a rule fired
- A filling /var is a Tink disk warning on every scan — Autopsy will stay quiet until the next image
- A single VPS with a dead agent still needs a mechanic, not another keyword listing
For a 5-server team, Tink Mechanic at $45/month is cheaper than the engineer who keeps failed-ingest notifications alive after a green Autopsy session, and every scan includes a diagnosis a quiet case tree will not type.
No ingest queue or keyword homework. No silent host. One command install.
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