PRTG Network Monitor vs SolarWinds AppOptics comparison

Paessler GmbH and SolarWinds are both solutions in the IT Infrastructure Monitoring category. Paessler GmbH is ranked #8 with an average rating of 7.8, while SolarWinds is ranked #50 with an average rating of 8.0. Paessler GmbH holds a 4.3% mindshare in IM, compared to SolarWinds’s 0.3% mindshare. Additionally, 91% of Paessler GmbH users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 80% of SolarWinds users who would recommend it.

PRTG Network Monitor

Read 101 PRTG Network Monitor reviews

6,499 Views
4,437 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

SolarWinds AppOptics

Read 9 SolarWinds AppOptics reviews

504 Views
350 Comparison Views

80% willing to recommend

PRTG Network Monitor

SolarWinds AppOptics

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 9, 2025

PRTG Network Monitor and SolarWinds AppOptics are well-regarded in the network and application monitoring space. However, PRTG tends to stand out for its cost-effectiveness and user-friendliness, while SolarWinds is preferred for its extensive integration capabilities and comprehensive analytics, catering more to larger enterprises.

Features: PRTG is valued for its rapid deployment, extensive sensor library, and adaptability to various infrastructures. SolarWinds offers robust integration capabilities and detailed application performance insights, making it suitable for environments needing intricate monitoring setups.

Room for Improvement: PRTG users often point to the need for improved template management, distributed network monitoring, and a more intuitive map designer. SolarWinds users desire stronger integration with other tools, a centralized view, and pricing model refinements to enhance accessibility.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: PRTG is praised for its easy deployment in diverse environments with hybrid, on-premises, and cloud options. It generally requires less technical training compared to SolarWinds, which can be complex and might need specialized training. However, SolarWinds is noted for offering responsive support for technical queries.

Pricing and ROI: PRTG Network Monitor offers an all-inclusive licensing model, beneficial for organizations conscious of cost, and demonstrates strong ROI through quick returns. SolarWinds AppOptics, while potentially incurring higher costs due to separate purchases for various functionalities, offers detailed analytics and insights that can justify its cost for enterprises with specific needs.

To learn more, read our detailed PRTG Network Monitor vs. SolarWinds AppOptics Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

PRTG Network Monitor vs. SolarWinds AppOptics

April 2025

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Helped 848,253 peers since 2012

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

PRTG Network Monitor

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

8th

Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software

8th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

101

Ranking in other categories

Network Monitoring Software (5th)

SolarWinds AppOptics

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

50th

Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software

34th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (48th)

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the IT Infrastructure Monitoring category, the mindshare of PRTG Network Monitor is 4.3%, down from 4.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds AppOptics is 0.3%, down from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

IT Infrastructure Monitoring

Featured Reviews

Tochukwu Uzomba

Solutions Architect at Boch Systems Company Limited

Efficiently monitor networks across regions with seamless setup and robust feature set

PRTG Network Monitor is easy to set up. Within a few minutes, it is operational. It is an all-in-one monitoring solution without extra costs. For example, we set it up for an insurance company with branches across Africa. We are able to monitor from Lagos without installing anything in the branches, using the agentless feature. We just put in the IP address and the parameter, and we monitor from those ends. Additionally, all the sensors are very useful. Most people are interested in the bandwidth monitoring sensor to see what bandwidth the users are consuming. The pricing is affordable compared to SolarWinds.

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John Yuko

Assistant Manager ICT - Projects at I&M Bank Ltd

Unique features allow consolidating and combing metrics into a single dashboard, but don't monitor mobile solutions

I would like to see more granular information provided on Unix applications. Also, the integration with Unix services should be a bit more straightforward in terms having an agent to retrieve your credentials rather than having to enter or save them for SSH on SolarWinds. From the outset, we had to set some commands to log into the search console, and they are saved on the solution, which presents a challenge in terms of exposure. The solution is unable to monitor APK solutions completely because we'd then be forced to break down the APK and provide the APIs or go through the source code. They don't have a module that can analyze an application that is maybe under-used.

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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

"PRTG Network Monitor is easy to set up."

"This solution provides us with the needed feedback on our IT infrastructure. It allows us to grab all the information from a single point of view."

"It is great for service level agreements and can comply fully with internet monitoring or any interface."

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

"The most valuable features of PRTG Network Monitor are bandwidth utilization, user-friendliness, all past report simple retrievals, and timeout features. Additionally, if the solution does go down it is simple to bring it back."

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

"The most valuable feature of PRTG Network Monitor is the dashboards. We can check to see the resources and the uptime."

"PRTG Network Monitor is a very stable product."

More PRTG Network Monitor pros

"The product has a great dashboard."

"The sum solution, NTA, and DPA."

"I have found the most valuable feature is application performance management."

"Some of the most valuable features of SolarWinds are the topology discovery and network performance analysis."

"Technical support is always live and they're supportive."

"The reporting of the solution is very good."

Cons

"Sometimes, our PRTG Network Monitor system crashes and a lot of sensors go down."

"The thing that we do struggle with a bit is in the historic data. If I want look over 30 days, because it averages out onto one graph, you can't zoom in and drill down information."

"They could improve the process of updating the license."

"PRTG's application monitoring sensor is not strong."

"I would like to see more updates available in this solution."

"The technical support from PRTG needs significant improvement."

"I would like to have a VM version that can be installed on a cloud such as Azure. We're using Azure, and we're eliminating on-premise servers. It would be helpful to have a PRTG version that can be installed on the Azure cloud."

"PRTG Network Monitor could improve by having descriptions for the tab usages. The dashboards or interface could be easier to understand."

More PRTG Network Monitor cons

"The integration with Unix services should be a bit more straightforward."

"I would like to see more integration with other tools that are available on the market."

"AppOptics would benefit from having a much more centralized view."

"The solution should be more user-friendly."

"In terms of the technology, I think they need to put some more advanced troubleshooting into SolarWinds, in terms of AI capabilities. That's the next generation, especially in the cases of APIs which have already adopted AI capabilities into their products."

"The implementation needs improvement. It needs to get modernized with the newer cloud scenario in both public and private deployment models."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of PRTG Network Monitor is reasonable for the features that the solution provides. They charge you per monitoring, not per node, it is per port that you need for a device."

"Our licensing costs are 10,000 euros over three years."

"When you buy PRTG, everything comes in one bundle. Licensing is very easy."

"If you are not too sure about it, try the free version. Then, if you like it, you can go to the paid version and roll it out."

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

"It is expensive."

"The pricing is comparable."

"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."

More PRTG Network Monitor pricing and cost advice

"Since it's a negotiable rate, I would rate the pricing as a five out of five."

"I believe the current licensing cost is reasonable."

"Mostly, it's a perpetual license. We don't have any customers using the subscription right now—it's mostly a perpetual license that the customers purchase. The licensing is based on the number of elements, whereas other solutions are node-based."

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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…

Read full review

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

50%

Computer Software Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

Educational Organization

57%

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

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 do you like most about PRTG Network Monitor?

The tool is integrated with our email for the alerts.

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

The prices are very high for PRTG Network Monitor. That's why I'm using the free100 sensor license.

See all answers

What do you like most about SolarWinds AppOptics?

The product has a great dashboard.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SolarWinds AppOptics?

The solution should be more user-friendly.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for SolarWinds AppOptics?

I used the solution for monitoring servers and network equipment.

See all answers

Comparisons

Zabbix vs PRTG Network Monitor

Compared 7% of the time

LibreNMS vs PRTG Network Monitor

Compared 7% of the time

PRTG Enterprise Monitor vs PRTG Network Monitor

Compared 6% of the time

SolarWinds NPM vs PRTG Network Monitor

Compared 6% of the time

Centreon vs PRTG Network Monitor

Compared 5% of the time

More PRTG Network Monitor Competitors

Dynatrace vs SolarWinds AppOptics

Compared 30% of the time

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor vs SolarWinds AppOptics

Compared 21% of the time

New Relic vs SolarWinds AppOptics

Compared 14% of the time

Zabbix vs SolarWinds AppOptics

Compared 13% of the time

Zenoss Cloud vs SolarWinds AppOptics

Compared 11% of the time

More SolarWinds AppOptics Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

PRTG Network Monitor

April 2025

Download PRTG Network Monitor product report

Buyer's Guide

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

April 2025

Download SolarWinds AppOptics product report

Also Known As

No data available

AppOptics, SolarWinds TraceView, Librato

Overview

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

AppOptics is a SaaS-based simple, powerful and affordable Infrastructure & Application monitoring for custom on-premises, cloud, and hybrid systems.

Your business runs on applications, and when they go down or run slowly, it can impact the business in lost productivity, customers, or revenue. To add to the complexity, your IT environment is changing, and workloads can be spread across data centers, and cloud resources. You need to monitor the availability and performance of applications and infrastructure, regardless of where they are, so you can identify potential issues early and address them before they impact users

SolarWinds

Sample Customers

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

TraxoCovea Insurance BTE TechnologyDatarista

Buyer's Guide

PRTG Network Monitor vs. SolarWinds AppOptics

April 2025

Free Report: PRTG Network Monitor vs. SolarWinds AppOptics

Find out what your peers are saying about PRTG Network Monitor vs. SolarWinds AppOptics and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.

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