Having the right software to monitor your company’s IT infrastructure is crucial to keeping your network in good health. You’ll need monitoring software that can alert you to any issues on your network and keep them from getting worse by showing you areas where improvements can be made. There are different types of network monitoring software available, so it’s important to choose one that will be the most helpful to you and your business. Here are eight of the best options available to help you monitor your company’s IT systems.

9 Best Windows Network Monitoring Software

  1. Progress WhatsUp Gold– Best server monitor
  2. SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor- Popular Windows client
  3. Paessler PRTG Network Monitor- Powerful and user-friendly
  4. Nagios Core- Most Feature-rich Server monitor
  5. NetCrunch- Beautiful and Feature-rich
  6. Zabbix- High-Performance Real-time Monitoring
  7. ManageEngine OpManager- Offers a Single Console Solution That Manages The IT Of Any Organization
  8. LogicMonitor- Seamlessly Monitor’s Everything Networks, Applications and Cloud

1. Progress WhatsUp Gold- Best server monitor

PRICING: $2740 for 25 devices

WhatsUp Gold is a top-rated network monitoring tool that can keep an eye on your network, computers, and servers through one powerful interface. It is packed with great features, some of which include remote installations and automatic computer discovery. The app can also send you alerts by email or SMS text message, so you know right away when something goes wrong. Finally, WhatsUp Gold has flexible license and pricing options to get just what you need at a price point that makes sense for your company’s budget.

KEY FEATURES

  • Auto discovery and topology mapping
  • Network traffic analysis
  • Virtualization monitoring
  • Alerts

REASONS TO BUY

  • Ease of use
  • Great monitoring and alerting systems
  • Nice virtual representation

REASONS TO AVOID

  • It has to be installed on-premises
  • Expensive for smaller companies

» MORE: Best Free Network Monitoring Software

2. SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor- Popular Windows client

PRICING: $2,845 onetime payment

The SolarWinds suite provides some of the best software monitoring and network performance on any operating system. A favorite among IT professionals and managed service providers, SolarWinds has a large collection of network monitoring tools, storage management applications, server-monitoring services, and more. On top of all that, it also includes one great feature—the community forum. This active forum where users can share tips on resolving complex network issues is unmatched in its usefulness for solving problems for small businesses with limited in-house IT resources.

KEY FEATURES

  • Alert settings
  • Performance analysis
  • Wireless Polling

REASONS TO BUY

  • Easy integration with other tools
  • Great user community
  • Easy to setup

REASONS TO AVOID

  • Must be installed on a windows environment

» MORE: Top Software for Monitoring Networks in Small Businesses

3. Paessler PRTG Network Monitor- Powerful and user-friendly

PRICING: $1,799/onetime payment

Paessler PRTG is a robust tool that can be configured to suit just about any network monitoring need. One thing we particularly like is Paessler’s capability to connect and monitor physical sensors, in addition to virtual devices. It has both an agent-based model and a passive traffic sniffer for processing huge amounts of data, plus it supports SNMP for those who prefer not to use agents.

KEY FEATURES

  • Traffic monitoring
  • Real-time alert system
  • Custom reporting

REASON TO BUY

  • Provides a log of events at any moment in the past
  • Accurate with notifications
  • Efficient monitoring
  • The free version is of high quality

REASONS TO AVOID

  • Must be deployed on-premise
  • Window-based
  • Prices are high

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4. Nagios Core- Most Feature Rich Server monitor

PRICING: Free entry

It’s not just for monitoring your network traffic; it can also monitor servers, switches, devices, and applications. It’s easy to install and configure with a web interface to view your data in real-time. You can also use Nagios Core from a mobile device with their app called Nagios Mobile (for Android).

KEY FEATURES

  • Sends alert
  • Comprehensive monitoring
  • Advanced graphs and visualizations

REASONS TO BUY

  • Effective data collection
  • Very Flexible
  • Network analysis

REASONS TO AVOID

  • Reporting templates are limited and cannot be edited.

» MORE: Top Software for Network Security Monitoring

5. NetCrunch- Beautiful and Feature-rich

PRICING: $1,500/onetime payment

NetCrunch provides full network performance management and monitoring in one complete solution. This tool monitors latency, packet loss, traffic statistics, bandwidth utilization, and active connections for any TCP/IP network on a single screen. Some of its features include real-time bandwidth usage for VoIP monitoring and support for SNMP traps from 3rd party tools. It also provides a simple dashboard to view the uptime of critical servers and applications using Ping or ICMP tests and ping sweeps over IP ranges. NetCrunch is a great network monitoring tool for professionals looking for advanced features at affordable prices.

KEY FEATURES

  • Activity dashboard
  • Alert/notification
  • Reporting/statistics

REASONS TO BUY

  • Amazing autodiscovery
  • Ease of use
  • Control over alerts

REASONS TO AVOID

  • Web access does not have the administrative capability.

» MORE: Software for Remote Network Monitoring

6. Zabbix- High-Performance Real-time Monitoring

PRICING: $1,600/yr

Zabbix is open source software for monitoring, alerting, and analyzing your IT infrastructure. It can collect, track, and display statistics such as CPU load, memory usage, free disk space, and more complex data like response time distribution graphs to show up problems. With a little configuration, you can set up emails to be sent when certain values are over a threshold or if response times are too slow. Zabbix can also work with other services such as MySQL databases and SNMP devices and execute external scripts on events. No matter how big or small your network is, Zabbix will provide you with an easy way to monitor your network’s performance in real-time.

KEY FEATURES

  • Network monitoring
  • Analytics/Reporting
  • Access controls/Permissions

REASONS TO BUY

  • The reporting function is excellent
  • pro-active monitoring tool
  • Conducts server health checks

REASONS TO AVOID

  • Delay in integrating new services
  • Does not provide enough information for troubleshooting

» MORE: Time Monitoring Apps

7. ManageEngine OpManager- Offers A Single Console Solution That Manages The IT Of Any Organization

PRICING: $245/onetime payment

ManageEngine OpManager is one of the most popular network monitoring software for managing IT environments. It provides comprehensive visibility of your critical applications and devices to improve performance, availability, and end-user experience. With a simple installation wizard and intuitive user interface, you can monitor networks from different locations through web browsers. You can easily schedule reports in pre-defined time intervals and generate them on-demand.

KEY FEATURES

  • Traffic monitoring
  • Real-time alert
  • Compliance management

REASONS TO BUY

  • Easy to use and configure
  • Monitors servers that go down

REASONS TO AVOID

  • The monitoring multiple device features works only with the enterprise edition.
  • Require on-premise installation

» MORE: Software for Monitoring Network Traffic

8. LogicMonitor- Seamlessly Monitiors Everything Networks, Applications and cloud

PRICING– $375

LogicMonitor has many neat features, including an agentless monitoring option, which runs off your workstation’s browser, and is great for single-PC setups. With multi-VM support and 25 network monitoring templates, LogicMonitor even takes care of visualizing some of your data in graphs and charts.

KEY FEATURES

  • Network monitoring
  • Alerts
  • Custom dashboard and workspaces

REASONS TO BUY

  • Agentless operation
  • Brilliant layout and interface

REASONS TO AVOID

  • Reporting features are limited
  • It might be not very easy for new users

» MORE: Top Software for Monitoring Child Attendance

Sources:

  • https://www.getapp.com/it-management-software/it-asset-management/
  • https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-network-monitoring-software?

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