PRTG Network Monitor vs WhatsUp Gold comparison

Paessler GmbH and Progress Software are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Paessler GmbH is ranked #5 with an average rating of 7.8, while Progress Software is ranked #26 with an average rating of 9.5. Paessler GmbH holds a 4.2% mindshare in NMS, compared to Progress Software’s 1.2% mindshare. Additionally, 91% of Paessler GmbH users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of Progress Software users who would recommend it.

PRTG Network Monitor

Read 101 PRTG Network Monitor reviews

7,245 Views
4,886 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

WhatsUp Gold

Read 24 WhatsUp Gold reviews

1,789 Views
1,432 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

PRTG Network Monitor

WhatsUp Gold

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 9, 2025

WhatsUp Gold and PRTG Network Monitor compete in the network monitoring solutions category. PRTG Network Monitor seems to have the upper hand with its robust features catering to comprehensive monitoring needs.

Features: WhatsUp Gold features include visual network mapping, application monitoring, and auto-discovery functions for monitoring devices effectively. PRTG Network Monitor offers a versatile sensor-based architecture, detailed monitoring setups and a flexible SNMP library for various systems.

Room for Improvement: WhatsUp Gold could enhance its protocol flexibility, improve advanced integration options, and extend support for non-Windows environments. PRTG Network Monitor would benefit from refining its user interface, enhancing mobile functionality, and simplifying complex setup processes.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: WhatsUp Gold is noted for its straightforward deployment process with strong support, suitable for teams with limited time. While PRTG Network Monitor offers efficient customer service, the deployment can be more involved, necessitating technical expertise for complex setups.

Pricing and ROI: WhatsUp Gold generally has a lower entry cost with flexible pricing plans appealing to smaller organizations. Despite a higher initial cost, PRTG Network Monitor's extensive features offer superior ROI, making it an investment for businesses prioritizing comprehensive monitoring.

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

Buyer's Guide

PRTG Network Monitor vs. WhatsUp Gold

April 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 848,576 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 Network Monitoring Software

5th

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

8th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

101

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Monitoring Software (8th)

WhatsUp Gold

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

26th

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

27th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (24th), Server Monitoring (14th)

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of PRTG Network Monitor is 4.2%, down from 5.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of WhatsUp Gold is 1.2%, down from 1.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software

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.

Read full review

Tom Condo

Supervisor Information Services Operations at Seminole County Public Schools

If CPU, memory, or disk space is over-utilized, it alerts us immediately via text or email if there is an issue

When it comes to the intuitiveness of the topology mapping feature, our network architect created a vision diagram of our entire network and then created the links tied into the WhatsUp active monitoring to different spots on our topology map. It's one of the more critical functions we do here. We have the map displayed in different places in our room and help desk. We get alerted via emails but we can also see it visually. It does what it says it's going to do. We find this feature very helpful. The interactive mapping interface for scrolling, zooming, and drilling down on an element to learn about a network issue is good. When we see a network there will sometimes be a spot that has one link. You can go into a particular part of the topology map, scroll in, and see exactly which module it is. All the information is provided. This feature really helps. You can see the correlation between that link and what failed. This feature is very helpful. The interface is fairly intuitive. Some of our users used SolarWinds and Nagios, and WhatsUp is easy in comparison. Once you get set up, the look, feel, and configuration are good. Our network architect had never used it before but he was able to create the Visio and map. It was very simple. He has no problems with it.

Read full review

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 is the ability to span multiple technologies and multiple vendors."

"The solution provides us response times to issues."

"I really love the activity library. It gives the flexibility to discover data and metrics about my interface and data server."

"We can see which fiber links have been used heavily and, if they are used heavily, we can introduce more links to particular buildings or particular areas."

"PRTG has improved our visibility and response time to issues related to remote sites."

"The solution is scalable."

"Stable solution for monitoring networks and bandwidth, with multiple functions and features such as NetFlow Collector, graphical monitoring, etc."

"The most valuable feature of PRTG Network Monitor is the different monitoring probes available."

More PRTG Network Monitor pros

"I use it on premises to monitor my network database. We monitor the link up/down and use the SNMP traps as well."

"The interface in the last few years it has been a lot greater, they are much more user-friendly. I like the interface."

"The user interface is good enough."

"The threshold alerting is the most valuable feature."

"The most valuable feature of WhatsUp Gold is NetFlow and the virtualized maps."

"Auto scanning is most valuable. It looks for rogue devices on your network."

"The most valuable features are network bandwidth monitoring and monitoring device health."

"The most valuable feature is the auto-discovery function."

More WhatsUp Gold pros

Cons

"Can be slow in the way it polls the different engines."

"The inventory of the device should be improved."

"Performance-wise, PRTG Network Monitor still needs improvement because a large number of SNMPv3 queries reduces tool performance."

"Needs ability to monitor standard notification time (notify after X time)."

"The operations dashboard is only available in PRTG's enterprise version, but I wish it could be accessed in the standard licensing. It would also be nice if PRTG had templates for dashboard monitoring, software monitoring, etc. It can help me set up a dashboard because now we don't have a template from PRTG, so we need to create one from scratch."

"In a very few cases, customers want more detailed reports, which we cannot meet."

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

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

More PRTG Network Monitor cons

"The licensing model could be improved. Right now, the levels are too far apart. This causes the solution to be more expensive than it needs to be."

"Improvements are needed in integration, especially for WhatsApp call and messages. Our region heavily uses WhatsApp Messenger for communication, and integration with this platform would be beneficial."

"I would like to see better integration with switches so that you can see what is connected to each port, what the traffic is, and have a network map automatically generated."

"Importing the maps and being able to customize them could be easier."

"The tool should focus on increasing its market share, as it is the only area of concern where improvements are needed."

"Integrations with other devices. I want to have a product that has full integration with my active directory so I can track user activity. I want to track my complete user activity, so I'm looking for a product to implement in the near future, which will have full integration with my network and active directory users. It became very difficult to track user activity."

"The technical support does not bother to respond."

"The new release cadence needs to be improved. It takes a while for them to add new features and functionality. There should be a quicker turnaround with new versions."

More WhatsUp Gold cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of PRTG Network Monitor is more expensive than other solutions, such as OP Network Manager."

"The pricing is reasonable for the features provided."

"On a yearly basis, I believe it's between £1,200 and £1,500."

"We have an unlimited license for this solution."

"I would like better pricing models for smaller businesses. The free version is fantastic, but it's too restrictive. If they could just get up to 200 sensors for a reasonable fee for on-premise, I would give PRTG my credit card right now."

"If you're looking for a cost effective software I’d suggest this product."

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

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

More PRTG Network Monitor pricing and cost advice

"There are some subscription charges that are quite heavy. I need to pay for support every year and these charges can be quite expensive. Aside from the initial cost for the tool, you need to pay additionally for support."

"Pricing is reasonable compared to other products."

"The pricing can be on the expensive side when considering competing products."

"This is a well priced solution."

"The choice of version depends on the number of points, or devices, that you want to monitor, and this makes the product expensive."

"It is per device, per year. The pricing is very clear. If you have a service agreement, you get all of your major upgrades and minor upgrades. It was under $10,000 to go all-in with all of the different add-ons for it."

"The most valuable feature is the cost compared to other solutions."

"There is a license needed to use WhatsUp Gold."

More WhatsUp Gold pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Network Monitoring Software solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

848,576 professionals have used our research since 2012.

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

49%

Computer Software Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing 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...

See all answers

What do you like most about PRTG Network Monitor?

The tool is integrated with our email for the alerts.

See all answers

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 WhatsUp Gold?

The interactive mapping interface for scrolling, zooming, and drilling down on an element to learn about a network issue is good. When we see a network there will sometimes be a spot that has one l...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for WhatsUp Gold?

Clients find the licensing calculator confusing, but we simplify this for them by collecting relevant information first. The licensing is based on devices, providing better cost-effectiveness than ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with WhatsUp Gold?

Improvements are needed in integration, especially for WhatsApp call and messages. Our region heavily uses WhatsApp Messenger for communication, and integration with this platform would be benefici...

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

Grafana Enterprise Stack vs PRTG Network Monitor

Compared 2% of the time

More PRTG Network Monitor Competitors

Grafana vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 13% of the time

Zabbix vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 9% of the time

SolarWinds NPM vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 8% of the time

Nagios XI vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 6% of the time

ManageEngine OpManager vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 6% of the time

More WhatsUp Gold Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

PRTG Network Monitor

April 2025

Download PRTG Network Monitor product report

Buyer's Guide

WhatsUp Gold

March 2025

Download WhatsUp Gold product report

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

Explore and manage your entire network infrastructure effortlessly with WhatsUp Gold's robust layer 2/3 discovery, creating a detailed interactive map from the edge to the cloud. Monitor devices, wireless controllers, servers, virtual machines, applications, and traffic flows across various environments. Real-time alerts ensure optimal performance, allowing you to meet or exceed SLAs. The platform offers customizable maps, dashboards, and alerts for easy network management. Quickly resolve issues with intuitive workflows, reducing Mean Time to Resolution (MTTR). WhatsUp Gold's integrated log management provides easy visibility and control of device log data, allowing monitoring, filtering, searching, and alerting on syslogs or Windows logs. Archive logs to comply with regulatory requirements and preserve historical data, all through a user-friendly interface. Streamline network monitoring and issue resolution with WhatsUp Gold, making network management efficient and hassle-free.

Progress Software

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

Artoni Trasporti, Austin Independent School District, Banca Marche, Burke County North Carolina, Cambridge University School of Clinical Medicine, Clayco, Community Integrated Care, Desca, Deutsche Bergbau, Flexi-Van, Gropper, Hamleys, Hammonds Furniture, Knowledge IT, Idras S.P.A., Sibeg, Swann Engineering, Trivium Lindenhof

Buyer's Guide

PRTG Network Monitor vs. WhatsUp Gold

April 2025

Free Report: PRTG Network Monitor vs. WhatsUp Gold

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

DOWNLOAD NOW

848,576 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our PRTG Network Monitor vs. WhatsUp Gold report.

See our list of best Network Monitoring Software vendors and best IT Infrastructure Monitoring vendors.

We monitor all Network Monitoring Software reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.