Azure Network Watcher vs PRTG Network Monitor comparison

Microsoft and Paessler GmbH are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Microsoft is ranked #42 with an average rating of 8.5, while Paessler GmbH is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.6. Microsoft holds a 0.5% mindshare in NMS, compared to Paessler GmbH’s 3.1% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Paessler GmbH users who would recommend it.

Azure Network Watcher

Read 13 Azure Network Watcher reviews

1,318 Views
1,265 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

PRTG Network Monitor

Read 113 PRTG Network Monitor reviews

13,085 Views
9,160 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Azure Network Watcher

PRTG Network Monitor

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 29, 2026

PRTG Network Monitor and Azure Network Watcher are competitors in the network monitoring category. Based on their features, Azure Network Watcher seems to excel in environments heavily invested in cloud due to its native capabilities.

Features: PRTG Network Monitor offers extensive notification features, diverse sensors for network insights, and adaptability across environments. Azure Network Watcher provides network diagnostic tools, integrated firewall capabilities, and cloud-native features enhancing its utility in cloud deployments.

Room for Improvement: PRTG Network Monitor could enhance intuitive data presentation, desktop application usability, and scalability. Azure Network Watcher needs improvements in AI features, visualization clarity, and better documentation to facilitate analytics and integration.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: PRTG Network Monitor is versatile and deployable on-premises, hybrid, and cloud environments, but users report slow support responses. Azure Network Watcher is aimed at public cloud setups with generally quicker support response times.

Pricing and ROI: PRTG Network Monitor has varied pricing, often seen as costly for larger setups, yet users experience good ROI via cost savings. Azure Network Watcher is reasonably priced, especially for basic use, with ROI benefits from efficient cloud resource management.

To learn more, read our detailed Azure Network Watcher vs. PRTG Network Monitor Report (Updated: April 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Azure Network Watcher vs. PRTG Network Monitor

April 2026

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Azure Network Watcher

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

42nd

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

5.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

PRTG Network Monitor

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

5th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

113

Ranking in other categories

IT Infrastructure Monitoring (4th), Cloud Monitoring Software (8th)

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Azure Network Watcher is 0.5%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of PRTG Network Monitor is 3.1%, down from 4.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
PRTG Network Monitor	3.1%
Azure Network Watcher	0.5%
Other	96.4%

Network Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

Bijoyendra Roychowdhury

Program Manager at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees

Network monitoring provides comprehensive analytics while the interface requires further development

The quality of Azure Network Watcher is quite good in terms of the in-depth analysis you can create from these matrices. There are other monitoring tools such as New Relic, AppDynamics, and Dynatrace which provide very detailed network tracing. Cloud providers such as Azure or AWS do not have that kind of GUI-based capability at this point, but using PowerShell or Python, you can develop it yourself. From the GUI perspective, it still needs to evolve in terms of quality and standard, though overall, it is quite good for troubleshooting. Regarding areas for improvement, when comparing to other network tools beyond Azure Monitor or Azure Network Watcher, those tools can identify single failed packets. This level of granularity is not currently possible with cloud providers as they only go to a certain level rather than the granular level needed for deep troubleshooting, though they do provide hints with available matrices.

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madhan kumar hs

software engineer at Capgemini

Alerting precision has reduced incident response times and improved department-level network visibility

The auto-pause sensor during the maintenance window is good without any false alerts, and it prevents me from getting flooded with alerts during planned maintenance, helping department heads understand their own network usage better. It has reduced incident response time by giving clearer ownership of each alert, ensuring alerts go to the proper recipient. SNMP testers and auto-pause are among the best features of PRTG Network Monitor, which is particularly useful for different departments such as HR and finance, where alerts can be filtered accordingly. The alerting features and dashboard of PRTG Network Monitor are very helpful, especially in our industry. However, the dashboard can look cluttered on smaller screens, which is one negative aspect. PRTG Network Monitor has impacted us positively; we have stopped getting flooded with alerts during planned maintenance or unplanned outages. Compared to others, this gives specific alerts very quickly and helps department heads understand their own network usage better, thus reducing incident response time so that each alert has clear ownership.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The most valuable feature of Azure Network Watcher is the cloud-native application firewall. It is helpful for securing databases."

"It provides good visibility."

"The most valuable features I have found are typology, visualization, and capture."

"The most valuable feature of Azure Network Watcher is using the gateways with the connections. The monitoring is useful for the logs and application insights into the data. The traffic filtering issues when it comes to deploying those applications are helpful."

"I like the visibility."

"The stability is very good. I rate it a ten out of ten."

"This is a stable system providing stable performance."

"The solution is stable, there are no bugs or glitches and it doesn't crash or freeze, it's reliable."

More Azure Network Watcher pros

"Network Discovery is a feature that our customers like a lot."

"It is nice to have one place where all the information is right there in front of us."

"The most advantageous aspect of PRTG Network Monitor is that you can start quite fast because there are many sensors you can use, and it's ready to use."

"The initial setup was surprisingly easy, the way the menus are all laid out."

"PRTG is relatively intuitive and fairly straightforward. It has net flow monitoring and that works all right. I would describe it as a decent middle-of-the-road solution."

"What I've found most valuable is the custom sensor, which allows you to write scripts or code to monitor a specific metric in your environment."

"PRTG Network Monitor has positively impacted my organization as we are not seeing any critical issues or major impacts for our applications, our servers, and our networks nowadays."

"The reporting module is easy to configure."

More PRTG Network Monitor pros

Cons

"The solution could use some additional components of the network culture, not only VMs. I'd like to see some additional security features because what they currently have concentrates only on the network."

"Azure Network Watcher could improve by having other built-in applications, for example, an application to log activities for inbound and outbound traffic."

"Sometimes, you encounter a VPN tunnel, network, or routing issue, but finding out more about the blockage is challenging."

"It's not the most friendly or straightforward to set up. I don't see the value versus the way you have to set it up at first."

"The initial setup and initial learning curve could be improved to be easier."

"Azure is good, however, the Fortinet GUI is more intuitive and I like it more than anything else."

"Technical support from Microsoft needs significant improvement compared to other product vendors."

"User experience could be improved."

More Azure Network Watcher cons

"From time to time, you need to reboot the PRTG probe server."

"Its price can be better. Its price is a problem for us because it is in dollars, and there is a high conversion rate. In terms of new features, it can have BGP monitoring. It should also have a dashboard and maps editor."

"The product could be improved by being cross-platform friendly."

"There seems to be a big jump from the basic scan to the really thorough scan. There is a big jump in the quantity of sensors it uses for certain things. One minute you might get ten and then the next you get 200. There seems to be a big jump between the two at times."

"The solution could be better and faster when it comes to performance."

"Its price can be better. Its price is a problem for us because it is in dollars, and there is a high conversion rate."

"It needs to have more monitoring on end-user devices."

"The solution could be improved by increasing the way that it polls the different engines which we feel is quite slow."

More PRTG Network Monitor cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is good. It's not too expensive."

"Price-wise, I have no information on how much Azure Network Watcher costs."

"The price of the solution is reasonable."

"Azure Network Watcher is a little bit expensive."

"PRTG is now available as PRTG Enterprise Monitor, and the price varies depending on the total number of sensors the customer buys"

"We are using the basic PRTG that we can download for free. For now, we only need to monitor less than 100 devices. For more than 100 devices, we would need to buy a license. PRTG is much cheaper than SolarWinds."

"One thing I like is that when you buy sensors, it's a perpetual license, so once you buy 2,000 sensors, you've got 2,000 sensors; it's not a recurring cost."

"We have an unlimited license for this solution."

"At the moment I'm only using 500 sensors. I pay yearly, so it's a cost that's easily swallowed."

"When you have a lot of devices, PRTG Network Monitor can be costly."

"We are using the premium version of PRTG Network Monitor. The price of the solution is a bit higher than competitors but it is worth the extra money. However, it would be helpful if the price was lower."

"We used a product called SolarWinds in the past, and its cost was high. Whereas, PRTG came in at a third of SolarWind's cost."

More PRTG Network Monitor pricing and cost advice

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Comparison Review

it_user174738

IT Developer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

May 31, 2015

Nagios vs. Zabbix vs. PRTG vs. Spiceworks vs. Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor

I have researched a quite a few network monitoring tools which can be used for various monitoring purposes of not only the servers, but the intermediate routers as well. There are majorly three types of these softwares. Ones which are completely open-source, you can do almost anything you want…

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

23%

Construction Company

10%

Government

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

10%

Computer Software Company

Comms Service Provider

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Large Enterprise	7

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	59
Midsize Enterprise	19
Large Enterprise	50

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Network Watcher?

I do not have the exact setup cost information on hand, but it is available in the public Azure portal. You can access the calculator there to get detailed pricing information.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Azure Network Watcher?

The main area for improvement is AI-based features. Currently, many intelligent tools are coming from third parties, and Azure Network Watcher needs to improve in this area. The focus should be on ...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Azure Network Watcher?

Azure Network Watcher is used for monitoring network traffic. It provides insight into egress and ingress traffic, which helps determine whether consumption can be controlled. Most Azure services c...

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What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?

PRTG network monitor is one of the best tool i have ever used for the monitoring. It have auto discovery option. it avoid the configuring the device in PRTG. It automatically discover the device an...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for PRTG Network Monitor?

The pricing was higher at the beginning, but the recurring licensing cost is affordable and reasonable. Overall, the pricing, setup cost, and licensing is fair for our industry. They have quoted us...

See all answers

What needs improvement with PRTG Network Monitor?

The reporting features look very technical and that can be improved. If they can change the report so everyone can understand it, that would be helpful.

See all answers

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Compared 4% of the time

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Compared 4% of the time

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Compared 3% of the time

SolarWinds NPM vs PRTG Network Monitor

Compared 3% of the time

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Compared 3% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Azure Network Watcher

April 2026

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Buyer's Guide

PRTG Network Monitor

April 2026

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Overview

Azure Network Watcher is a comprehensive network monitoring and diagnostic service offered by Microsoft Azure. It provides a range of tools and capabilities to help users monitor, diagnose, and gain insights into their Azure network infrastructure. With Network Watcher, users can capture and analyze network traffic, monitor network performance, troubleshoot connectivity issues, and gain visibility into network topology. It also offers features like packet capture, flow logs, connection monitoring, and VPN diagnostics to ensure the smooth operation of Azure networks. Network Watcher enables users to proactively identify and resolve network issues, optimize network performance, and enhance the overall reliability and security of their Azure network environment.

Microsoft

PRTG Network Monitor runs on a Windows machine within your network, collecting various statistics from the machines, software, and devices which you designate. PRTG comes with an easy-to-use web interface with point-and-click configuration. You can easily share data from it with non-technical colleagues and customers, including via live graphs and custom reports. This will let you plan for network expansion, see what applications are using most of your connection, and make sure that no one is hogging the entire network just to torrent videos.

To monitor a large IT environment, it's important to be able to scale PRTG up. Paessler PRTG Enterprise Monitor includes all the proven capabilities of PRTG Network Monitor, which are enhanced by exclusive ITOps Board for a service-oriented, central overview of multiple PRTG servers.

Paessler GmbH

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Jameson Bank, Sidnix, RungeICT, MedicalAnimal, Truck-lite, GamingGrids, The Covell Group, Forsythn County Schools, NetMass, Musgrove Park Hospital, Lanes Health, Columbia Southern University, Vodafone, Intrust Bank

Buyer's Guide

Azure Network Watcher vs. PRTG Network Monitor

April 2026

Free Report: Azure Network Watcher vs. PRTG Network Monitor

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