Top Network Monitoring Software Comparison
By Richard "Rick" Callahan | Published: 2025-03-06 | Category: Network Monitoring Software
About Network Monitoring Software
Network monitoring software provides visibility into network performance, availability, and health by tracking devices, traffic, and potential issues. It helps administrators proactively identify and resolve problems to ensure optimal network operation.
Scoring Criteria
- → Feature Set
- → Monitoring Capabilities
- → Ease of Use
- → Alerting & Reporting
- → Scalability
- → Value
The Best Network Monitoring Software
#10
Checkmk
By Checkmk GmbH
Comprehensive IT monitoring solution available in open source and commercial enterprise editions, known for its high performance and auto-discovery capabilities.
Platforms & Use Cases
Platforms: Linux, Appliance, Web-based UI
Best For: Enterprise, SMB, Complex Environments, Technical Teams
Key Features
- ✓High-Performance Core: Efficiently handles a large number of hosts and services. (Scalable)
- ✓Automatic Service Discovery: Automatically finds and configures checks for services on discovered hosts. (Efficient)
- ✓Extensive Check Catalog: Over 2000 pre-built checks for various hardware, software, and network devices. (Comprehensive)
- ✓Rule-Based Configuration: Flexible configuration system using rules for hosts and services. (Customizable)
- ✓Distributed Monitoring: Built-in capabilities for monitoring multiple sites from a central location. (Enterprise-ready)
Scorecard (Overall: 8.8 / 10.0)
Pricing
Raw Edition (Open Source)
Contact Vendor
- Core monitoring engine
- Community support
Limitations: Lacks enterprise features, Self-supported
Enterprise Free
Contact Vendor
- Up to 25 hosts
- Enterprise features
- Limited scale
Limitations: Host limit
Enterprise Standard
$720.00 / Per Year (Starts at 300 services)
- Full enterprise features
- Commercial support
- Scalability
Limitations: Service-based pricing
Pros
- + Excellent performance and scalability
- + Powerful auto-discovery features
- + Large number of built-in checks
- + Flexible open source and enterprise options
Cons
- - Rule-based configuration can have a learning curve
- - Interface might feel dense for new users
- - Requires Linux host
Verdict
"A very strong monitoring solution, particularly effective in large or complex environments due to its performance and auto-discovery. Offers great value in both open source and enterprise editions."
#9
LogicMonitor
By LogicMonitor
A SaaS-based, automated infrastructure monitoring platform providing broad coverage across networks, cloud, servers, containers, and applications.
Platforms & Use Cases
Platforms: SaaS, Agentless (Collector)
Best For: Enterprise, MSP, Hybrid IT, Cloud Monitoring
Key Features
- ✓Automated Discovery & Configuration: Discovers devices and automatically applies monitoring templates. (Efficient)
- ✓Broad Technology Coverage: Monitors thousands of technologies across network, compute, storage, cloud, and applications. (Extensive)
- ✓AIOps Capabilities: Includes anomaly detection, root cause analysis, and forecasting. (Intelligent)
- ✓Cloud Monitoring: Deep visibility into AWS, Azure, and GCP services. (Cloud-centric)
- ✓Topology Mapping: Visualizes relationships between monitored resources. (Insightful)
Scorecard (Overall: 8.6 / 10.0)
Pricing
Pro
$22.00 / Per Device Per Month (Est.)
- Infrastructure Monitoring
- 180-day data retention
Limitations: Minimum commitment, Quote-based
Enterprise
$30.00 / Per Device Per Month (Est.)
- Pro features
- AIOps
- Log Intelligence
- Container Monitoring
- 1-year+ data retention
Limitations: Higher cost, Minimum commitment, Quote-based
Pros
- + Highly automated deployment and configuration
- + Extensive out-of-the-box monitoring coverage
- + Powerful AIOps features
- + Scalable SaaS platform
Cons
- - Can be expensive, especially with advanced features
- - Pricing is quote-based and not fully transparent
- - Some niche network features might be less developed than dedicated tools
Verdict
"A premium, comprehensive SaaS monitoring platform excelling in automation and broad technology support, ideal for complex hybrid and cloud environments."
#8
WhatsUp Gold
By Progress
Network monitoring software providing visibility into the status and performance of network devices, servers, applications, and traffic flows.
Platforms & Use Cases
Platforms: Windows Server, Web-based UI
Best For: SMB, Mid-Market, Enterprise Departments
Key Features
- ✓Layer 2/3 Discovery & Mapping: Automatically discovers and maps network infrastructure. (Automated)
- ✓Performance Monitoring: Tracks availability, CPU, memory, disk, and interface utilization via SNMP and WMI. (Standard)
- ✓Add-on Modules: Offers optional modules for network traffic analysis, application monitoring, virtualization monitoring, configuration management. (Modular)
- ✓Customizable Dashboards & Alerts: Tailors views and notifications to specific needs. (Flexible)
- ✓Distributed Monitoring: Scalability options for monitoring remote sites. (Scalable)
Scorecard (Overall: 8.1 / 10.0)
Pricing
Premium (Annual Subscription)
$2740.00 / Starting Price (Annual)
- Core monitoring
- Discovery & Mapping
- Alerting
Limitations: Device-based pricing, Add-ons extra
Premium (Perpetual License)
$3500.00 / Starting Price (Perpetual)
- Core monitoring
- Discovery & Mapping
- Alerting
Limitations: Device-based pricing, Add-ons extra
Total Plus (Perpetual License)
$5995.00 / Starting Price (Perpetual)
- Premium features plus NTA, APM, VIM, Config Mgmt
Limitations: Higher cost
Pros
- + Intuitive user interface and mapping
- + Relatively easy to set up
- + Flexible licensing with perpetual and subscription options
- + Good range of core features
Cons
- - Add-on costs can significantly increase the price
- - Performance can degrade on very large networks
- - Requires Windows Server
Verdict
"A solid and user-friendly network monitoring tool, well-suited for SMBs and mid-sized businesses looking for comprehensive visibility without excessive complexity."
#7
Auvik
By Auvik Networks Inc.
Cloud-based network management and monitoring designed for Managed Service Providers (MSPs) but also suitable for IT departments, focusing on ease of use and automation.
Platforms & Use Cases
Platforms: SaaS, Requires lightweight collector
Best For: MSP, SMB, Distributed Networks
Key Features
- ✓Automated Discovery & Mapping: Continuously scans and maps the network topology in real-time. (Real-time)
- ✓Configuration Backup & Restore: Automatically backs up network device configurations. (Secure)
- ✓Remote Management: Provides secure remote access (terminal, web) to network devices. (Convenient)
- ✓Proactive Alerting: Pre-configured and customizable alerts for common network issues. (User-friendly)
- ✓Inventory Management: Keeps track of network assets and device lifecycle information. (Organized)
Scorecard (Overall: 8.3 / 10.0)
Pricing
Essentials
$150.00 / Starting Per Month (Quote-based)
- Discovery & Mapping
- Monitoring & Alerting
- Inventory
Limitations: Limited configuration management, Based on billable devices
Performance
$250.00 / Starting Per Month (Quote-based)
- Essentials features
- Traffic analysis (NetFlow, etc.)
- Geo IP Tracking
Limitations: Higher cost, Based on billable devices
Pros
- + Extremely easy to deploy and use
- + Excellent automated mapping
- + Strong features for MSPs (multi-tenancy)
- + Cloud-based convenience
Cons
- - Pricing model (per device) can be costly
- - Less depth in some monitoring areas compared to enterprise tools
- - Primarily focused on network infrastructure
Verdict
"An outstanding choice for MSPs and organizations prioritizing ease of use and automated network mapping, particularly in distributed environments."
#6
Datadog Network Monitoring
By Datadog
A SaaS-based monitoring platform providing visibility across network devices, traffic, and performance, integrated with Datadog's broader observability suite.
Platforms & Use Cases
Platforms: SaaS, Agent-based (multi-platform)
Best For: Cloud-native Environments, DevOps, Hybrid Infrastructure, Enterprise
Key Features
- ✓Network Device Monitoring (NDM): Collects SNMP metrics from network devices like routers, switches, firewalls. (Comprehensive)
- ✓Network Performance Monitoring (NPM): Analyzes network traffic flow (via agents) between services, containers, availability zones. (Flow-based)
- ✓Unified Platform: Integrates network data with metrics, traces, and logs from the entire stack. (Holistic)
- ✓Service Map Visualization: Automatically maps service dependencies based on network traffic. (Insightful)
- ✓Machine Learning Based Alerts: Uses ML for anomaly detection and forecasting. (Intelligent)
Scorecard (Overall: 8.7 / 10.0)
Pricing
Network Device Monitoring
$7.00 / Per Device Per Month
- SNMP monitoring
- Pre-built dashboards
Limitations: Priced per monitored device
Network Performance Monitoring
$5.00 / Per Host Per Month
- Traffic flow analysis
- Dependency mapping
Limitations: Priced per host sending traffic data
Pros
- + Excellent integration with broader Datadog platform
- + Strong visualization and dashboards
- + Good for cloud and hybrid environments
- + SaaS platform simplifies deployment
Cons
- - Can become very expensive at scale
- - Focus is broader than just traditional network monitoring
- - Requires agents for deep traffic analysis
Verdict
"A powerful SaaS option, especially compelling for organizations already invested in the Datadog ecosystem or those prioritizing cloud/hybrid network visibility."
#5
Zabbix
By Zabbix LLC
A mature, open-source monitoring solution for networks, servers, cloud, applications, and services, offering great flexibility at no software cost.
Platforms & Use Cases
Platforms: Linux, Web-based UI
Best For: Cost-conscious Organizations, Enterprise, SMB, Technical Teams
Key Features
- ✓Full Open Source: No software licensing costs; backed by optional commercial support. (Cost-effective)
- ✓Versatile Data Collection: Supports agent-based, agentless (SNMP, IPMI, SSH/Telnet scripts), JMX, and synthetic monitoring. (Flexible)
- ✓Autodiscovery & Low-Level Discovery (LLD): Automates the discovery of hosts and monitored items (filesystems, network interfaces). (Efficient)
- ✓Advanced Problem Detection: Sophisticated trigger expressions, anomaly detection, and trend prediction. (Powerful)
- ✓Distributed Monitoring: Supports proxies for monitoring remote locations or large environments. (Scalable)
Scorecard (Overall: 8.8 / 10.0)
Pricing
Open Source
Contact Vendor
- All software features included
Limitations: Requires self-support or paid support contracts
Support Tiers
$1500.00 / Starting Per Year (Optional)
- Technical support
- Consulting
- Training
Limitations: Support level varies by tier
Pros
- + Completely free and open-source software
- + Highly flexible and customizable
- + Scales to very large environments
- + Active community and development
Cons
- - Requires significant technical expertise to set up and manage
- - User interface can be complex
- - Commercial support is an additional cost
Verdict
"An outstanding choice for organizations with the technical capability to manage it, offering enterprise-grade features and scalability with zero software cost."
#4
Nagios XI
By Nagios Enterprises
A powerful, enterprise-grade monitoring solution built upon the open-source Nagios Core, offering extensive monitoring capabilities and customization.
Platforms & Use Cases
Platforms: Linux, Web-based UI
Best For: Enterprise, Organizations needing high customization, Technical Teams
Key Features
- ✓Comprehensive Monitoring Engine: Leverages Nagios Core for robust checks of network protocols, services, applications, and systems. (Powerful)
- ✓Extensibility: Thousands of community-developed plugins available for monitoring virtually anything. (Highly Flexible)
- ✓Configuration Wizards: Simplifies the setup process compared to manual Nagios Core configuration. (Improved Usability)
- ✓Advanced Dashboards & Reporting: Provides customizable views and detailed reports on availability and performance. (Informative)
- ✓Capacity Planning: Helps forecast future infrastructure needs based on historical trends. (Proactive)
Scorecard (Overall: 8.5 / 10.0)
Pricing
Standard Edition
$1995.00 / Per Instance (Perpetual)
- Core monitoring
- Dashboards
- Reporting
- Configuration Wizards
Limitations: Node-based pricing
Enterprise Edition
$3495.00 / Per Instance (Perpetual)
- Standard features
- Capacity Planning
- Bulk Modification Tools
- Audit Logging
Limitations: Node-based pricing
Pros
- + Extremely powerful and flexible
- + Vast plugin ecosystem
- + Strong community support alongside commercial support
- + Mature and stable core engine
Cons
- - Steeper learning curve than some competitors
- - Interface can feel dated
- - Configuration can still be complex despite wizards
- - Requires Linux host
Verdict
"Ideal for organizations with Linux expertise needing highly customizable and powerful monitoring, especially if leveraging the extensive plugin library."
#3
ManageEngine OpManager
By ManageEngine
Integrated network management software for performance monitoring, fault management, and network configuration management.
Platforms & Use Cases
Platforms: Windows Server, Linux, Web-based UI
Best For: SMB, Mid-Market, Enterprise
Key Features
- ✓Network Performance Monitoring: Monitors health, availability, and performance of network devices, servers, VMs. (Comprehensive)
- ✓Workflow Automation: Automates L1/L2 troubleshooting steps and routine maintenance tasks. (Efficient)
- ✓Network Visualization: Provides Layer 2 maps, business views, and 3D datacenter floor views. (Detailed)
- ✓Integrated Add-ons: Offers optional add-ons for flow analysis, configuration management, firewall analysis, IPAM. (Modular)
- ✓Multi-level Thresholds: Allows setting adaptive thresholds for proactive alerting. (Intelligent)
Scorecard (Overall: 8.6 / 10.0)
Pricing
Standard
$245.00 / Starting Per 10 Devices (Annual)
- Core monitoring
- Basic reporting
Limitations: Limited device count, Fewer features
Professional
$345.00 / Starting Per 10 Devices (Annual)
- Standard features
- VMware monitoring
- Hyper-V monitoring
Limitations: Device limits, Add-ons separate
Enterprise
$11545.00 / Starting Per 250 Devices (Annual)
- All features
- Distributed monitoring capabilities
Limitations: Higher cost
Pros
- + User-friendly interface
- + Good value for the features offered
- + Integrated approach with optional modules
- + Supports both Windows and Linux installs
Cons
- - Add-on costs can increase total price
- - Initial setup can require some tuning
- - Reporting could be more customizable
Verdict
"A strong contender offering a balanced mix of features, usability, and affordability, suitable for a wide range of organization sizes."
#2
Paessler PRTG Network Monitor
By Paessler
An all-in-one monitoring solution using a sensor-based model covering network, server, application, and cloud monitoring.
Platforms & Use Cases
Platforms: Windows Server, Web-based UI, Mobile Apps
Best For: SMB, Mid-Market, Enterprise Departments
Key Features
- ✓Sensor-based Monitoring: Monitors specific aspects using individual sensors (SNMP, WMI, Flow, Packet Sniffing, etc.). (Flexible)
- ✓All-Inclusive Licensing: All features are included; pricing depends only on the number of sensors. (Simple)
- ✓Network Autodiscovery: Automatically scans networks to find devices and suggests relevant sensors. (Efficient)
- ✓Customizable Dashboards & Maps: Visualizes network status and performance data effectively. (User-friendly)
- ✓Flexible Alerting: Multiple notification methods (email, SMS, push, scripts) and threshold options. (Comprehensive)
Scorecard (Overall: 8.8 / 10.0)
Pricing
PRTG 500
$1799.00 / Per License (Perpetual)
- Up to 500 sensors
- All monitoring features
Limitations: Sensor count limit
PRTG XL1
$15999.00 / Per License (Perpetual)
- Unlimited sensors (1 probe)
- All monitoring features
Limitations: Single core probe limitation
Free Tier
Contact Vendor
- Up to 100 sensors free forever
Limitations: 100 sensor limit
Pros
- + Easy to set up and use
- + Simple, all-inclusive pricing model
- + Wide range of sensor types
- + Generous free tier available
Cons
- - Sensor-based pricing can become expensive for very large environments
- - Primarily Windows-based server requirement
- - Map editor could be more intuitive
Verdict
"Excellent all-around monitor, particularly strong for SMBs and mid-market due to its ease of use and straightforward pricing, with scalability for larger deployments."
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#1
SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor (NPM)
By SolarWinds
Comprehensive network monitoring solution offering fault, performance, and availability monitoring, along with advanced features like NetPath and PerfStack.
Platforms & Use Cases
Platforms: Windows Server, Web-based UI
Best For: Enterprise Networks, Complex Infrastructure, MSP
Key Features
- ✓Multi-vendor Network Monitoring: Monitors performance and availability metrics for routers, switches, firewalls, servers, and more from various vendors. (Extensive)
- ✓Intelligent Mapping: Automatically discovers network devices and creates topology maps. (Automated)
- ✓NetPath: Provides hop-by-hop analysis of network paths for troubleshooting connectivity issues. (Advanced)
- ✓PerfStack: Correlates performance data across the stack (network, systems, applications) for faster root cause analysis. (Integrated)
- ✓Customizable Alerting: Offers flexible and sophisticated alert conditions and notification options. (Advanced)
Scorecard (Overall: 8.8 / 10.0)
Pricing
Subscription/Perpetual
$2995.00 / Starting Per License (Perpetual)
- Core monitoring
- Alerting
- Reporting
- Mapping
Limitations: Higher tiers needed for advanced features, Based on element count
Pros
- + Extensive feature set
- + Powerful troubleshooting tools (NetPath, PerfStack)
- + Scalable architecture
- + Strong multi-vendor support
Cons
- - Can be complex to configure
- - Higher cost compared to some competitors
- - Requires Windows Server
Verdict
"A top-tier choice for organizations needing deep network visibility and powerful troubleshooting capabilities across large, complex environments."
Final Thoughts
The network monitoring software landscape offers a diverse range of solutions, from comprehensive enterprise suites like SolarWinds NPM and Nagios XI to user-friendly all-in-one tools like PRTG and WhatsUp Gold, and flexible open-source options like Zabbix and Checkmk. Cloud-based platforms like Datadog, LogicMonitor, and Auvik provide modern alternatives, especially for hybrid environments and MSPs. Selection depends heavily on organizational size, technical expertise, budget, and specific monitoring needs (depth vs. breadth, on-prem vs. cloud).