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PRTG Network Monitor vs SolarWinds NPM comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 24, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
6.9
PRTG Network Monitor boosts efficiency by improving issue detection, reducing costs, and enabling reliable operations for small offices.
Sentiment score
7.4
SolarWinds NPM delivers quick ROI with cost savings, enhanced efficiency, and improved network visibility for proactive management and profitability.
The return on investment is significant as the solution effectively reduces costs while being worth its expense.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.8
PRTG Network Monitor's customer service is mixed, with both praise for responsiveness and criticism for response times and support quality.
Sentiment score
6.9
SolarWinds NPM's support is knowledgeable but faces issues in response speed, sales tactics, and customization support options.
Tutorials are available so I can manage any issue with PRTG Network Monitor easily.
The setup process is well-documented, making it easy to deploy.
We had contact with SolarWinds regarding the implementation, and they were helpful.
They have good technical support.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
PRTG Network Monitor is scalable and flexible, supporting various environments but requires careful planning for growth and licensing.
Sentiment score
6.9
SolarWinds NPM is scalable and adaptable, with flexible deployments but may need dedicated hardware for optimal performance.
PRTG Network Monitor has the ability to scale and add new devices.
On a scale of one to ten, scalability is rated as 9.5.
SolarWinds NPM is scalable and effective in handling large network infrastructures.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.9
PRTG Network Monitor is generally reliable, with minor configuration issues, requiring proper hardware and maintenance for optimal performance.
Sentiment score
7.5
Properly managed SolarWinds NPM is stable, with fewer issues in updated versions, relying on infrastructure planning and resource allocation.
 

Room For Improvement

PRTG Network Monitor needs improvements in templates, flexibility, apps, integrations, performance, support, security, monitoring, reporting, and costs.
SolarWinds NPM faces challenges with accuracy, user interface, scalability, support, stability, resource use, and pricing concerns.
They need to improve application performance monitoring, error tracing mechanisms, and log management.
PRTG Network Monitor should provide syslog monitoring since it is not available at this time.
SolarWinds needs to upscale on observability and add full-fledged observability features, including security features.
 

Setup Cost

PRTG Network Monitor's tiered pricing is economical but can be costly for large-scale use, with flexible licensing options.
SolarWinds NPM offers competitive pricing but can be costly; complex licensing and additional fees may impact smaller businesses.
Pricing is by the number of devices, not by sensor.
The prices are very high for PRTG Network Monitor.
The solution is considered expensive.
Pricing-wise, SolarWinds NPM is more expensive than PRTG.
 

Valuable Features

PRTG Network Monitor provides efficient deployment, real-time monitoring, customization, and supports various environments with advanced features and responsive support.
SolarWinds NPM offers easy deployment, intuitive monitoring, customizable dashboards, multi-vendor support, scalability, and community-driven enhancements for proactive management.
PRTG Network Monitor already provided me with 100 free sensors, which is enough for my network monitoring.
The pricing is affordable compared to SolarWinds.
The most valuable feature for us is the database performance analyzer, which we use a lot.
SolarWinds NPM has specific modules for monitoring different network capabilities, which provides rich features for carrying out specific tasks.
 

Categories and Ranking

PRTG Network Monitor
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
5th
Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring
6th
Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software
8th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
101
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SolarWinds NPM
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
4th
Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring
4th
Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software
6th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
157
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of PRTG Network Monitor is 4.2%, down from 5.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds NPM is 5.2%, down from 6.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Monitoring Software
 

Q&A Highlights

it_user585186 - PeerSpot reviewer
Mar 17, 2017
 

Featured Reviews

Tochukwu Uzomba - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
MohitKumar - PeerSpot reviewer
High-level, comprehensive, and proactive monitoring in a user-friendly interface
The solution needs to integrate with additional SDN technologies that are part of the hyper market. The solution supports many vendors by default and just included Meraki SDN with the new release, but continued expansion is important. We created a custom method to pair with unsupported vendors but that can produce a lag in performance so future releases should expand SDN support. The solution does a good job of automating features but could expand that even more.
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Comparison Review

it_user174738 - PeerSpot reviewer
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…
 

Answers from the Community

it_user585186 - PeerSpot reviewer
Mar 17, 2017
Mar 17, 2017
I used both products. Without even thinking twice I will go with PRTG. Solarwinds will take you weeks to finish configuration and tweaking to your environment. I didn't like the user interface, too much data, difficult to navigate. It is way more expensive than PRTG. And they will charge you for every add on extra. I love PRTG. The installation is fast simple and clean. User interface easy to n...
2 out of 16 answers
it_user457173 - PeerSpot reviewer
Jan 12, 2017
Sorry you are? Regards, Ben Lee +65 9858 5697 SolarWinds Channels Manager, Sales (Singapore, Malaysia & Brunei)
it_user203934 - PeerSpot reviewer
Jan 12, 2017
I used both products. Without even thinking twice I will go with PRTG. Solarwinds will take you weeks to finish configuration and tweaking to your environment. I didn't like the user interface, too much data, difficult to navigate. It is way more expensive than PRTG. And they will charge you for every add on extra. I love PRTG. The installation is fast simple and clean. User interface easy to navigate. You can build your customized dashboards. They have 100s ready to go sensors and you can add your own. You can monitor almost whatever you want servers, networking, devices, circuits, ports on the switches, firewalls...They will charge you just for number of sensors you are using. Solarwinds is a monster, PRTG is much simple and doing better job than solarwinds. Definitely PRTG
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
54%
Computer Software Company
7%
Government
5%
Financial Services Firm
4%
Educational Organization
57%
Computer Software Company
6%
Manufacturing Company
5%
Financial Services Firm
4%
 

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...
What do you like most about PRTG Network Monitor?
The tool is integrated with our email for the alerts.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for PRTG Network Monitor?
PRTG comes in different bands: there are options with 500, 1500, 2500, and so on. Pricing is by the number of devices, not by sensor.
What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?
It actually depends on the exact purpose or kind of devices (network devices, servers, something else). Some tools are better for only network devices while others are better for a cloud monitoring...
What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?
We are partners with SolarWinds and we sell a lot of Network management to large enterprises also because of scalability, products like Network Performance Monitor & Netflow Traffic Analyzer ar...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor, SolarWinds Network Bandwidth Analyzer
 

Overview

 

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
Microsoft, Federal Express, Hewlett-Packard, and MasterCard
Find out what your peers are saying about PRTG Network Monitor vs. SolarWinds NPM and other solutions. Updated: December 2024.
831,020 professionals have used our research since 2012.