Network monitoring is essential to your business. It is a vital IT process enabling all network components to be monitored for performance and faultiness. Having network monitoring software will help you continuously maintain and optimize availability by constantly being proactive. Where can you find the best network monitoring software for your business? I curated a list for you to look over and choose from while providing you with the best insightful software information.

9 Best Network Monitoring Software

  1. SolarWinds – Best Network Performance Monitor
  2. Auvik – Best Cloud-Based Network Monitor
  3. Datadog – Best Network Performance Monitoring Software
  4. ManageEngine OpManager – Best Network Monitoring and Management
  5. Site24x7 Network Monitoring – Best Full-Stack Monitoring Solution
  6. Obkio – Best Simple Network Performance Monitoring SaaS Solution
  7. Atera – Best Cloud-Based Remote IT Management Platform
  8. Zabbix – Best Open-Source Network Monitoring Services
  9. Paessler PRTG – Best Network Monitoring Solution Software

1. SolarWinds – Best Network Performance Monitor

PRICING: 30-day free trial. Starting at $2,995/per year.

SolarWinds helps reduce network outages and improve network performance. There are features for multi-vendor network monitoring and SDn monitoring. It is a scalable solution and does well in large environments providing you with a proactive monitoring system.


KEY FEATURES:

  • Network packet analyzer
  • Network device scanner
  • Network device discovery
  • Wi-Fi monitor
  • SNMP monitor
  • Visual traceroute toll


REASONS TO BUY:

  • Device monitoring
  • Alerts
  • Graphs
  • Notifications when device is down
  • Reports for network interfaces
  • Easy-to-use


REASONS TO AVOID:

  • Some features are clunky
  • Upgrading can be tedious
  • Slow creating and managing reports
  • High cost

2. Auvik – Best Cloud-Based Network Monitor

PRICING: 14-day free trial. Starting at $150/per month.

Auvik is easy-to-use cloud-based network monitoring software that provides full support. By helping you prevent, detect, and resolve issues before they get out of hand. The automated security and performance updates will keep your network on track.


KEY FEATURES:

  • Automate network visibility
  • Automate IT asset management
  • Simply network performance monitoring
  • Automate configuration backup and recover
  • Analyze network traffic
  • Workflows
  • Monitor network


REASONS TO BUY:

  • Easy to add new sites and networks
  • Visual documentation of network mapping
  • Network layout
  • Traffic insight
  • SNMP alerts


REASONS TO AVOID:

  • Tedious setup process
  • Network map slow
  • Lack of filter options
  • Lack in integrations

3. Datadog – Best Network Performance Monitoring Software

PRICING: Starts at $5/per host/per month.

Datadog enables you to break down network traffic between different areas. It is unique in that it uses a tag-based approach that can track the performances of on-premise and cloud-based networks—allowing you and your team to have complete visibility into network traffic and other components.


KEY FEATURES:

  • Team collaboration tools
  • Full API access
  • Slice and dice graphs and alerts
  • Customizable monitoring dashboards
  • Infrastructure monitoring
  • Network performance monitoring
  • Container monitoring


REASONS TO BUY:

  • Out-of-the-box dashboards
  • Watchdog feature
  • 500+ vendor backed integrations
  • Proven for enterprise


REASONS TO AVOID:

  • Cost
  • Overwhelming for newcomers
  • Challenging to find the right metric or dashboard
  • Lacking documentation

4. ManageEngine OpManager – Best Network Monitoring and Management

PRICING: Free trial. Starting at $245/per installation

If you’re looking for hassle-free network monitoring and network management software, then ManageEngine OpManager is the right choice for your business. It will check for all networking devices’ health, performance, and availability. OpManager will thoroughly comb through every nook and cranny of your network hardware.


KEY FEATURES:

  • Network performance monitoring
  • Router monitoring
  • Switch monitoring
  • WAN RTT monitoring
  • VoIP monitoring
  • Network mapping


REASONS TO BUY:

  • Covers a wide set of vendors
  • Alerts and reports
  • Application and service-specific monitoring
  • Custom monitoring and scripting
  • Easily create custom dashboards


REASONS TO AVOID:

  • Lack of integration
  • User interface is not user friendly
  • Management of enterprise edition is complex

5. Site24x7 Network Monitoring – Best Full-Stack Monitoring Solution

PRICING: 30-day free trial. Starting at $9/per month.

Site24x7 will provide you with AI-powered monitoring performance and cloud spending optimization. Enabling your businesses to troubleshoot issues efficiently with end-user experience applications, servers, public clouds, websites, and network infrastructure.


KEY FEATURES:

  • Auto-discovery
  • Multi-vendor support
  • Device templates
  • Network mapping
  • Health dashboard
  • SNMP trap processing
  • Sensor monitoring
  • Support for custom MIBs
  • VoIP monitoring


REASONS TO BUY:

  • Certificate monitoring
  • Cloud resource auto discovery options
  • Easy to integrate
  • Monitor almost any service
  • Fair price point


REASONS TO AVOID:

  • Lack of cloud monitoring functions
  • Lack of VM monitoring
  • Lack of features within application monitoring

6. Obkio – Best Simple Network Performance Monitoring SaaS Solution

PRICING: 14-day free trial. Starting at $29/per month.

Obkio is a simple network performance monitoring tool that will enable you to monitor your business’s network, allowing you to understand your network’s performance or its potential to improve.


KEY FEATURES:

  • SNMP device monitoring
  • Smart notifications
  • End-to-end monitoring
  • Troubleshoot intermittent issues
  • Baseline performance degradation
  • Anomaly detection
  • Distributed for SaaS and SD-WAN
  • Public monitoring agents


REASONS TO BUY:

  • Dashboard is intuitive
  • Easy to use
  • High-quality product
  • Accurate internet performance monitoring
  • Great graphical interface


REASONS TO AVOID:

  • No public API
  • Limited integrations
  • Complex deploy agent for laptop and remote work

7. Atera – Best Cloud-Based Remote IT Management Platform

PRICING: Free trial available.

Atera will enable you to monitor unlimited devices and networks at a low rate. It provides integrated and robust solutions for MSPs, IT consultants, and IT departments. Everything that you need for your business is included in one integrated solution.


KEY FEATURES:

  • Remote access
  • Patch management
  • IT automation
  • Real-time alerts
  • PSA
  • Reporting and analytics
  • Helpdesk and ticketing
  • Mobile app
  • Custom scripting
  • Work from home
  • Network discovery


REASONS TO BUY:

  • Monitors devices on the network
  • Warns when devices are offline
  • Remote support
  • Easy-to-use
  • Customize system alerts

REASONS TO AVOID:

  • Limited support for Mac
  • No support for Android
  • Lack of categorizing tickets
  • Cannot see entire device name in iOS app

8. Zabbix – Best Open-Source Network Monitoring Services

PRICING: Free trial. Starting at $1,600/per year.

Zabbix can be used for any sized business. This open-sourced monitoring service can monitor your network, cloud, application, server, and services. It will detect any advanced problem that it finds while alerting and remediating.


KEY FEATURES:

  • Network monitoring
  • Server monitoring
  • Cloud monitoring
  • Application monitoring
  • Business monitoring
  • Integrations
  • Deployment


REASONS TO BUY:

  • Alarm monitoring
  • Performance graphs
  • Server health checks
  • Website monitoring
  • Windows services


REASONS TO AVOID:

  • Auto-discovery can be tricky
  • Outdated interface
  • Complex for new users
  • Plugins require SSH access



9. Paessler PRTG – Best Network Monitoring Solution Software

PRICING: Starting at $1,799/per server license/per year.

PRTG network monitoring solution will monitor your overall infrastructure, including LAN, WAN, Application Monitoring, Cloud Services, and more. A map designer creates a dashboard while integrating network components. Allowing you to monitor all areas of your network.


KEY FEATURES:

  • Integrated technologies
  • Maps and dashboards
  • Flexible alerting
  • Multiple user interfaces
  • Cluster failover solution
  • Distributed monitoring
  • In-depth reporting


REASONS TO BUY:

  • Monitors network devices
  • Keeps services running
  • Alerts staff when devices are offline
  • Flexibility in monitoring


REASONS TO AVOID:

  • Lack of cloud service monitoring
  • Outdated user interface
  • Maps are difficult to create

References & Links

  • https://www.softwaretestinghelp.com/network-monitoring-tools
  • https://www.comparitech.com/net-admin/network-monitoring-tools/
  • https://www.paessler.com/
  • https://www.trustradius.com/products/prtg-network-monitor/reviews
  • https://www.zabbix.com/
  • https://www.trustradius.com/products/zabbix/reviews?qs=pros-and-cons
  • https://www.atera.com/
  • https://www.trustradius.com/products/atera/reviews?qs=pros-and-cons#reviews
  • https://obkio.com/
  • https://www.capterra.com/p/186876/Obkio/#reviews
  • https://www.site24x7.com/
  • https://www.trustradius.com/products/site24x7-all-in-one-monitoring/reviews
  • https://www.manageengine.com/network-monitoring/
  • https://www.trustradius.com/products/manage-engine/reviews
  • https://www.datadoghq.com/
  • https://www.trustradius.com/products/datadog/reviews?qs=pros-and-cons#reviews
  • https://www.auvik.com/
  • https://www.trustradius.com/products/auvik/reviews?qs=pros-and-cons#reviews
  • https://www.solarwinds.com/
  • https://www.trustradius.com/products/solarwinds-network-performance-monitor/reviews