What is our primary use case?
Our use case for PRTG Network Monitor was end-to-end monitoring, but we couldn't achieve it, particularly the monitoring from the perspective of looking at the complete dashboard of the entire infrastructure, though it's a server virtualization network. For example, monitoring any device, even a swiping machine or a camera, or any device which comes and adopts an IP address should be monitored using PRTG Network Monitor, so that was our use case in the beginning.
Eventually, we then wanted the tool to also monitor our applications, so our current use case for PRTG Network Monitor is to monitor applications residing on our infrastructure, apart from devices that use or adopt IP addresses.
What is most valuable?
There was only one feature I liked about PRTG Network Monitor a lot, and that was bandwidth monitoring, though, in the newer versions of the tool, that feature is now a bit lacking.
Pricing for PRTG Network Monitor is also not as expensive.
It's a good tool, even for beginners.
What needs improvement?
A room for improvement in PRTG Network Monitor is its sensors. Its application technology sensor, such as the IAS, .NET, etc., needs some improvement because it doesn't work as expected. For example, the IAS sensor doesn't give immediate information, and the information you get from it isn't of good value.
The web GUI of PRTG Network Monitor also needs improvement because errors keep popping up if it's not been updated to the latest version.
What I'd like to see in the next release of the tool is end-to-end topology mapping for the business model, and that should be required. There has to be a technical map. Technical mapping and topological creation are missing in PRTG Network Monitor, so I would like to see those in the future.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using PRTG Network Monitor effectively for five years now, though I also used it in 2010, but only for very basic monitoring. Nowadays, I'm using the tool more extensively and doing a lot of monitoring on it.
Buyer's Guide
PRTG Network Monitor
November 2024
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
In terms of the stability of PRTG Network Monitor, I would rate it a three out of five because this works on the web browser, but it requires too many updates. You have to update it frequently. For example, as soon as it's not running on the latest version, it starts giving you errors on the browsers, so it has a big room for improvement in terms of its web GUI.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
PRTG Network Monitor is a scalable tool, and I'm rating it three out of five in terms of scalability.
How are customer service and support?
We were in discussion with the PRTG Network Monitor technical support team quite intensively, but they weren't able to answer all our questions. We find them okay and up to the mark because they know what the tool can do and cannot do, so they were very, very precise, so at least their knowledge about their product was good.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We used a different solution before using PRTG Network Monitor, but that wasn't an apple-to-apple comparison. For example, we used an IP monitor from SolarWinds, but that was just a Ping or ICMP utility.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup for PRTG Network Monitor was not that complex, but you need to understand how it works, so it's not very difficult, yet it's not very easy. The setup for the tool is on the moderate side. On a scale of one to five, I'd give the setup a rating of three because if you'd like to effectively use PRTG Network Monitor, you need to set it up correctly.
It took almost a week to set the tool up correctly, but the actual installation was done in one day, with the bare minimum configuration and discoveries because it has a good discovery feature.
What about the implementation team?
We deployed PRTG Network Monitor through our in-house team.
What was our ROI?
I've already seen ROI from PRTG Network Monitor.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
PRTG Network Monitor is not that expensive, so I like it cost-wise. There's no additional cost apart from the standard licensing fees. On a scale of one to five, with one being the cheapest and five being the most expensive, I would rate the cost of PRTG Network Monitor a two.
What other advice do I have?
I'm using the latest version of PRTG Network Monitor because my company keeps updating the tool.
In my company, teams in Support and IT use PRTG Network Monitor and quite effectively look at the dashboard very often, so around one hundred people use it. Deployment was done in multiple places so seven to eight people in different regions took care of the deployment separately. At the moment, my company has no plans of increasing the usage of PRTG Network Monitor.
My advice to others looking into implementing PRTG Network Monitor is that if you're looking from a holistic infrastructure deployment and monitoring perspective, it's a good tool to use and to start with. PRTG Network Monitor is a good tool for beginners, so if you're a beginner, use it. If you're not a beginner, then you would need a tool with very exclusive end-to-end features.
I'm rating PRTG Network Monitor six out of ten.
My company is a customer of PRTG Network Monitor and has no partnership with the vendor.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.