PRTG Network Monitor vs Spiceworks comparison

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PRTG Network Monitor

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 24, 2024

Spiceworks and PRTG Network Monitor compete in the IT management and network monitoring categories. While Spiceworks offers a free and community-supported option ideal for smaller businesses, PRTG provides a robust monitoring toolset tailored for larger infrastructures, despite its higher cost.

Features: Spiceworks is valued for its comprehensive IT help desk, network inventory, and active directory integration, making it suitable for startups and SMBs. Its asset management feature and strong community support are major benefits. PRTG Network Monitor is distinguished by its network monitoring capabilities, providing detailed metrics through customizable sensors. Its scalability and ease of use further enhance its appeal for managing larger networks.

Room for Improvement: Spiceworks faces challenges with scalability and performance in extensive environments. It lacks advanced monitoring capabilities and support for multiple site integrations. PRTG Network Monitor requires a significant investment for licensing and expertise for its custom sensors. Enhancements are needed in its desktop application, cloud integration, and support for modern network technologies.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Spiceworks is primarily on-premise and appreciated for its straightforward setup and community support, though it lacks formal customer service. PRTG Network Monitor offers diverse deployment options including hybrid and private cloud environments. It provides detailed documentation and a supportive community, though technical expertise is required for optimal deployment, and it lacks direct customer service contact.

Pricing and ROI: Spiceworks is free, making it attractive for businesses seeking cost-effective IT management with immediate ROI through minimal setup time. PRTG Network Monitor has a free version with limitations; its paid versions can be costly, especially for scaling. However, users find value in its features and flexibility, and the perpetual license offers ongoing use without recurring expenses.

To learn more, read our detailed PRTG Network Monitor vs. Spiceworks Report (Updated: January 2025).

PRTG Network Monitor vs. Spiceworks

January 2025

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Helped 831,265 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

6th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

101

Ranking in other categories

Network Monitoring Software (5th), Cloud Monitoring Software (8th)

Spiceworks

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

42nd

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Help Desk Software (16th), IT Asset Management (11th)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the IT Infrastructure Monitoring category, the mindshare of PRTG Network Monitor is 4.5%, down from 5.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Spiceworks is 0.5%, up from 0.5% 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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Fernando Cezario

Level 2 Support at Tigs

Allows for separate accounts for different enterprises, enabling efficient management of computers across various sites and clients

One area of improvement is the user-friendly interface for the website. With Spiceworks, like, when I open the websites, I have to Zoom in. I need to zoom in on those websites sometimes because it makes it horrible to use. Previously, Spiceworks required server installation for enterprise use. Now, Spiceworks promotes its own cloud solution through the RCM, which is both good and bad. While I preferred the old, on-premise version, the current cloud option requires less technical expertise for deployment. However, I'm unsure if everyone is comfortable with this transition, and it's a significant factor in our continued use.

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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 solution is easy to manage and the reports are very accurate."

"It is very flexible, and we can monitor many aspects of IT as well as ERP and CRM services. It has a very powerful interface and APIs for customization."

"The solution has excellent redundant features."

"The reporting module is easy to configure."

"The technical support seems to be quick, clever, and has a comprehensive knowledge base online, which is fantastic."

"The bandwidth monitoring is a very attractive feature, it can tell you the bandwidth utilization while it is attempting to connect to the host for feedback."

"Technical support is helpful."

"It is user-friendly. It is easy to set up health checks within PRTG and use scans. It is like a self-service tool, and anyone can configure their own settings within PRTG."

More PRTG Network Monitor pros

"The solution is very stable. It's reliable and efficient."

"Spiceworks is generic and free."

"The solution can find all asset details automatically, whether it's a Mac address, computer name, IP address, models, etc. It's very helpful."

"Tickets by e-mail, with actions by hastag."

"It shows the users that are currently logged in, which is not something that Active Directory by default will ever let you know up front."

"It was easy to integrate Spiceworks with our existing setup."

"The most valuable features are the inventory and personalization."

"Spiceworks' dashboard allows you to drill down to the notes, where I can take an inventory of the network and see the devices I need to monitor."

More Spiceworks pros

Cons

"This solution is a good product so far, but I haven't been using it long enough to know how it could be improved."

"With custom sensors, there is a lot of work which needs to be done in the background, just for it to be tailor-made for the specific thing that we are actually monitoring. We take a lot of time with the custom sensors. I would like to see the customer sensor be more robust and a bit more varied."

"When using PRTG Network Monitor it is beneficial if you have prior experience with it, the user interface could improve."

"The automation should be improved."

"Having a Unix implementation or Unix installation could be an improvement. Right now, it's based just on Windows, and that's a problem for some customers."

"There's always room for improvement. The high availability feature is good, but it's an area that PRTG could marginally improve. For example, in PRTG, both servers have a different IP, but it would make things a lot easier if they were bound by a single IP."

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

"In our organization, we encounter performance issues with our PRTG probe service. I saw documentation from the vendor or Paessler mentioning that there are limitations for WMI sensors. Other than that, we are okay with PRTG."

More PRTG Network Monitor cons

"I would like the solution to allow for more direct interaction with computers. I can open tickets and I can see their status, but I can't interact directly with the computers themselves."

"Since Spiceworks is a free tool, it's not very scriptable or customizable."

"It would be nice to have remote access to the solution via a tablet. They also need remote control from a PC. Right now, to complete the technical support process, you have to have a tool to access the PC, and check the problems."

"One of the biggest ways in which Spiceworks could improve is by developing better and more automated workflows. For example, in another solution called ServiceDesk by ManageEngine, you can have levels of approval in the event that there is a request for new software, or when someone requests a VPN or WiFi connection. This kind of multi-stage approval feature provided by ServiceDesk does not appear to exist in Spiceworks, and it is one of their main shortcomings for me."

"The SNMP sniffer requires a lot of work to get right."

"Sometimes, it can be difficult to integrate what you need."

"The network mapping could be improved. Putting together an actual bonafide network map would be really nice."

"With Spiceworks, like, when I open the websites, I have to Zoom in. I need to zoom in on those websites sometimes because it makes it horrible to use."

More Spiceworks cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"While I am not the person who deals with pricing, I would say that we pay around 1000 pounds a year."

"The licensing fees are billed annually and there are no costs in addition to this."

"We pay for PRTG Network Monitor annually. The price is approximately 10,000 rupees annually."

"The price is actually on the cheaper side. If you're going with the unlimited license code, it's very cheap compared to competitors unless you're going for something free, like Zabbix. But you get what you pay for, and it doesn't have the full suite of products or tools like SolarWinds or a ScienceLogic."

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

"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."

"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."

"All monitoring system is close to the same pricing scheme."

More PRTG Network Monitor pricing and cost advice

"The product is free! Get it now."

"Seeing that it is a low-cost solution, I would advise you to go ahead with Spiceworks and experiment with it to see if you can get things working properly, especially if you currently don't have any existing service desk software in place."

"The tool is cheap."

"It's free."

"It might be about $300 annually for a bigger company. If you pay annually, it's better and cheaper."

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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

Educational Organization

54%

Computer Software Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

10%

University

Real Estate/Law Firm

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?

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

What do you like most about Spiceworks?

The solution is easy to use and easy to manage.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Spiceworks?

The tool is cheap.

What needs improvement with Spiceworks?

The GUI must be improved. The GUI looks old-fashioned. The vendor must do some web development for it.

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Product Reports

Download PRTG Network Monitor product report

PRTG Network Monitor

January 2025

Download Spiceworks product report

December 2024

Learn More

Paessler GmbH

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.

From network inventory and network monitoring to help desk software, and mobile device management (MDM) to cloud services detection, Spiceworks helps you manage everything about your IT workday from one easy place.

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

Broward Center for the Performing Arts, Symantec, Webroot, EMC, Pertino