High grade or special purpose Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers are used for ionosphere monitoring and research. These special kinds of receivers may provide data up to 50 Hz rate. Dual frequency, compact, low cost GNSS receivers which provides raw data is now being used in Single Point or RTK precise point positioning. In this paper, an initiative is described to use these modules for GNSS-based monitoring of ionosphere activities. Here a comparative study between Leica GR50, a high-grade geodetic receiver and Ublox ZED-F9P, a low cost, dual frequency, compact receiver is carried out to explore the potential of such low-cost receivers for ionosphere probing. Studies are carried out on signal strength values in terms of C/N and Sindices. A fixed bias in signal strength values is observed between the data provided by the two receivers which is about 15 dB-Hz in L1 band and 8 dB-Hz in L2 band. Ublox F9P Sindices have limited resolution, but the variation signature follows that for the Leica GR50. The compact module showed the potential for being used as GNSS-based ionospheric monitors with Make and Model specific calibration and with the advantages of cost, size and power efficiency. A GNSS based Ionosphere monitoring Unit (GIMU) integrating small computer, Ublox F9P and wireless data communication module is also proposed for real time, concurrent ionosphere anomaly monitoring using a distributed network of such modules over a geographical region.