I started as an administrator and was also part of installing the system at another company, so I have experience as both a customer and a consultant. I am a partial integrator of PRTG Network Monitor. I use an alerting system.
PRTG Network Monitor Freeware
Paessler GmbHExternal reviews
215 reviews
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External reviews are not included in the AWS star rating for the product.
I used PRTG every day — reliable visibility and useful automation, just plan for growth
What do you like best about the product?
1. Fast to stand up: discovery gave me a working view of switches, firewalls and servers in under an hour — good for quick pilots.
2. Clear visualizations: maps and dashboards made it easy to communicate status to ops and non-technical stakeholders during weekly reviews.
3. Remote probes work: placing probes at regional sites kept polling local and kept our central server responsive over flaky WAN links.
4. Practical automation: I built a small script PRTG can run to restart a hung service; that eliminated repeated manual fixes for a known issue.
5. Useful historical data: daily/weekly reports and trends helped me validate ISP outages and plan capacity changes.
2. Clear visualizations: maps and dashboards made it easy to communicate status to ops and non-technical stakeholders during weekly reviews.
3. Remote probes work: placing probes at regional sites kept polling local and kept our central server responsive over flaky WAN links.
4. Practical automation: I built a small script PRTG can run to restart a hung service; that eliminated repeated manual fixes for a known issue.
5. Useful historical data: daily/weekly reports and trends helped me validate ISP outages and plan capacity changes.
What do you dislike about the product?
1. Sensor-based licensing can surprise you — costs rose faster than expected when we added interface counters and flow sensors.
2. The web UI can slow when many sensors or very complex dashboards are open at once; splitting dashboards helped but required extra setup.
3. Deeply custom reports required exporting data and some scripting; built-in templates cover common needs but aren’t infinitely flexible.
4. Mobile dashboards can feel sluggish loading large historic charts.
2. The web UI can slow when many sensors or very complex dashboards are open at once; splitting dashboards helped but required extra setup.
3. Deeply custom reports required exporting data and some scripting; built-in templates cover common needs but aren’t infinitely flexible.
4. Mobile dashboards can feel sluggish loading large historic charts.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
1. One-pane troubleshooting: I stopped hopping between tools; interface and flow stats let me find congested links and correlate them to server spikes quickly.
2. Reduced repetitive work: small automated actions handled common problems overnight, so the team could focus on higher-value incidents.
3. Strong vendor evidence: historical reports provided clear proof of multi-hour ISP outages and helped get SLA credits.
4. Fewer repetitive tickets: small automatic remediations handled common faults overnight, freeing our NOC to focus on higher-priority incidents.
5. Clear evidence for vendors: scheduled reports and historical data helped me document outages and get faster responses from ISPs
2. Reduced repetitive work: small automated actions handled common problems overnight, so the team could focus on higher-value incidents.
3. Strong vendor evidence: historical reports provided clear proof of multi-hour ISP outages and helped get SLA credits.
4. Fewer repetitive tickets: small automatic remediations handled common faults overnight, freeing our NOC to focus on higher-priority incidents.
5. Clear evidence for vendors: scheduled reports and historical data helped me document outages and get faster responses from ISPs
Inexpensive, Reliable, and Easy-to-Deploy Monitoring Solution with Stable Alerts
What do you like best about the product?
PRTG Network Monitor is very easy to get started with. I installed it, ran the auto-discovery, and within a day I had a working monitoring setup. The alerts are reliable — I get notified when something’s actually wrong instead of being flooded with false alarms. It covers almost everything I need in one tool: servers, network gear, applications, and even custom scripts.
The mobile app is great when I’m on-call, and the customizable dashboards let me create simple uptime views for management alongside detailed performance graphs for myself. Overall, it’s cost-effective, stable, and gives me real-time visibility across the network without adding complexity.
The mobile app is great when I’m on-call, and the customizable dashboards let me create simple uptime views for management alongside detailed performance graphs for myself. Overall, it’s cost-effective, stable, and gives me real-time visibility across the network without adding complexity.
What do you dislike about the product?
PRTG Network Monitor does the job, but the interface feels dated and can be clunky at times. Dashboards and reports aren’t very intuitive, and both the desktop and mobile apps could use improvements. Features like syslog monitoring, stronger cloud integration, and smoother automation are still missing.
Licensing is also a pain since every sensor counts, and one server can quickly eat up several. As environments grow large, performance can slow unless you fine-tune it, and setting up advanced monitoring takes some trial and error. Support and the product roadmap could also be more responsive.
Licensing is also a pain since every sensor counts, and one server can quickly eat up several. As environments grow large, performance can slow unless you fine-tune it, and setting up advanced monitoring takes some trial and error. Support and the product roadmap could also be more responsive.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
It helps us spot network and server issues before they impact users. It saves me from jumping between different tools since I can see bandwidth, devices, and applications all in one place. The reliable alerts mean I spend less time chasing false alarms and more time fixing real problems, which keeps the environment stable and reduces downtime.
Reliable, Flexible, and Easy-to-Use Monitoring Solution
What do you like best about the product?
PRTG is incredibly intuitive right out of the box. Installation is quick, and the auto-discovery features make initial setup a breeze. I was able to start monitoring core systems within minutes, which isn't something I can say about many other monitoring tools.
The flexibility in how you organize devices is a huge win. You can structure views based on location, department, or however your environment is built. It makes navigation and troubleshooting much easier for both junior and senior IT staff.
I also appreciate how many different types of sensors are available—from standard server and network metrics to more advanced options like power supply and environmental monitoring. It's an all-in-one solution for us.
The flexibility in how you organize devices is a huge win. You can structure views based on location, department, or however your environment is built. It makes navigation and troubleshooting much easier for both junior and senior IT staff.
I also appreciate how many different types of sensors are available—from standard server and network metrics to more advanced options like power supply and environmental monitoring. It's an all-in-one solution for us.
What do you dislike about the product?
PRTG recently moved to a subscription-only model, which changes the game a bit for budgeting. We were using a perpetual license before, so adjusting to this model wasn’t ideal.
Also, while custom sensors are supported, they do require a bit of technical skill to implement correctly—especially if you're working with JSON, XML, or API-based data sources. It would be great to see more user-friendly tools around this in the future.
Also, while custom sensors are supported, they do require a bit of technical skill to implement correctly—especially if you're working with JSON, XML, or API-based data sources. It would be great to see more user-friendly tools around this in the future.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
PRTG gives us real-time visibility into all our critical systems—servers, network devices, applications, and even physical infrastructure. It's helped us shift from a reactive to a proactive approach to IT operations.
The alerting system ensures we’re notified before issues become serious, which has greatly reduced downtime and improved service reliability across departments.
The alerting system ensures we’re notified before issues become serious, which has greatly reduced downtime and improved service reliability across departments.
Reliable, Scalable, and Smart Monitoring for Modern IT Infrastructures.
What do you like best about the product?
PRTG stands out for its ability to bring clarity to even the most complex networks. Its sensor-based monitoring lets me tailor exactly what I need to track, from traffic flows to application uptime, without bloating the system with unnecessary checks. The ability to create custom views for different teams—whether for helpdesk, DevOps, or management—means everyone gets what they need from a single platform. Also, the dynamic maps with live data make it incredibly easy to visualize our environment and detect anomalies in real-time.
What do you dislike about the product?
Although PRTG offers immense flexibility, the configuration for advanced use cases—like distributed deployments or integration with third-party alerting systems—can require deeper technical understanding and time investment. Also, while licensing by sensor makes sense in theory, it sometimes forces tough decisions on what to monitor when scaling up.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Before PRTG, we were reactive—often hearing about issues from end users. Now, with proactive alerts and data-driven visibility, we stay ahead of potential failures. It has significantly reduced our troubleshooting time, especially with intermittent network glitches. More importantly, the reporting tools help us forecast capacity and justify infrastructure investments with confidence. PRTG isn't just a monitoring tool—it's become a strategic asset for our IT planning and risk management.
Transforming Network Visibility and Reliability with PRTG
What do you like best about the product?
PRTG has transformed the way we oversee our IT environment. The platform gives us a single, clear view of everything that matters — from servers and switches to applications, cloud services, and traffic flows. The dashboard is both clean and customizable, allowing me to set up different views for different teams, so everyone sees the metrics most relevant to their responsibilities.
The variety of sensors is impressive, making it possible to monitor virtually any device or service with minimal setup effort. Alerts are highly configurable and reliable — they notify us instantly when thresholds are crossed, and the escalation rules ensure critical issues never get ignored. This proactive approach has saved us from unexpected outages and given the team more confidence in day-to-day operations.
The variety of sensors is impressive, making it possible to monitor virtually any device or service with minimal setup effort. Alerts are highly configurable and reliable — they notify us instantly when thresholds are crossed, and the escalation rules ensure critical issues never get ignored. This proactive approach has saved us from unexpected outages and given the team more confidence in day-to-day operations.
What do you dislike about the product?
The learning curve is noticeable, particularly for those who are new to network monitoring or managing large infrastructures. While everyday usage feels intuitive, more advanced features like custom dashboards or detailed reporting require additional time to master. For larger environments, the sensor-based licensing model can become costly, which is worth considering when planning for scale. That said, the overall value outweighs these challenges.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Before adopting PRTG, we relied on multiple tools to piece together a view of our systems, which often left gaps. Now, with a unified platform, troubleshooting has become faster and more accurate. Our mean time to resolution has improved significantly, and we’re now able to address issues before they affect end users.
The historical reporting has been equally valuable, allowing us to spot trends, anticipate bottlenecks, and plan capacity with confidence. For leadership, the ability to present clear and data-backed reports has improved IT’s alignment with business strategy. For our IT staff, the shift from reactive firefighting to proactive monitoring has not only saved time but also reduced stress.
The historical reporting has been equally valuable, allowing us to spot trends, anticipate bottlenecks, and plan capacity with confidence. For leadership, the ability to present clear and data-backed reports has improved IT’s alignment with business strategy. For our IT staff, the shift from reactive firefighting to proactive monitoring has not only saved time but also reduced stress.
Dependable backbone monitoring with a few practical tradeoffs
What do you like best about the product?
PRTG makes it straightforward to bring new devices and services under monitoring with minimal effort, which significantly shortens the time to get value out of the platform. Its wide sensor library covers most infrastructure needs, and the customization options allow us to tailor monitoring to unique use cases. The interface is intuitive, making day-to-day operations seamless even for new team members. In addition, the vendor’s support team has consistently provided fast and knowledgeable assistance whenever needed.
What do you dislike about the product?
Managing very large environments can become resource-intensive, and the licensing structure based on sensors requires careful planning to avoid overspending. Advanced reporting and visualization are functional but less refined compared to specialized tools, which can slow down more complex analysis.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
The platform provides a unified view of our entire infrastructure—network links, VPN connections, servers, and applications—so issues are detected before they disrupt operations. With automated alerts and historical insights, our team can act quickly, reduce downtime, and allocate IT resources more efficiently. By consolidating multiple monitoring needs into a single tool, PRTG has streamlined our processes and improved service availability across the organization.
PRTG made our monitoring predictable — keep a clean sensor hygiene and automate onboarding.
What do you like best about the product?
1. Pragmatic, appliance-style monitoring that our NOC used every day — discovery and device templates let me onboard a new site in under an hour.
2. Remote probes use encrypted tunnels and worked reliably across poor WAN links, so we collected accurate metrics without huge central load.
3. The API is solid: I automated device provisioning and deprovisioning from our CMDB, which eliminated manual mistakes and saved several hours per week.
4. Notifications are flexible — email, webhook, scripts — so we could push structured incidents to Slack and trigger safe remediation steps automatically.
5. Maps and live dashboards turned into our operational status board; engineers and managers alike knew where to look during incidents.
2. Remote probes use encrypted tunnels and worked reliably across poor WAN links, so we collected accurate metrics without huge central load.
3. The API is solid: I automated device provisioning and deprovisioning from our CMDB, which eliminated manual mistakes and saved several hours per week.
4. Notifications are flexible — email, webhook, scripts — so we could push structured incidents to Slack and trigger safe remediation steps automatically.
5. Maps and live dashboards turned into our operational status board; engineers and managers alike knew where to look during incidents.
What do you dislike about the product?
1. Sensor licensing forces discipline. If you don’t consolidate metrics into useful KPIs, license consumption spikes quickly.
2. Out-of-the-box retention management is basic; we had to implement down sampling/archive scripts to manage long-term storage and keep UI snappy.
3. When many people open large dashboards simultaneously the web UI can lag; role-based focused dashboards helped but take design effort.
4. Some custom sensors (REST/script) needed hardening and retries for production reliability — they work, but expect to test thoroughly.
5. Support times varied based on region — proactive testing of HA and upgrades in our lab was necessary before production changes.
2. Out-of-the-box retention management is basic; we had to implement down sampling/archive scripts to manage long-term storage and keep UI snappy.
3. When many people open large dashboards simultaneously the web UI can lag; role-based focused dashboards helped but take design effort.
4. Some custom sensors (REST/script) needed hardening and retries for production reliability — they work, but expect to test thoroughly.
5. Support times varied based on region — proactive testing of HA and upgrades in our lab was necessary before production changes.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
1. Reduced mean time to repair: single-pane view of network, server and service signals let us find root cause faster (link vs server vs application).
2. Cut repetitive work: automated onboarding and a handful of safe remediation scripts removed recurring manual tasks and reduced on-call noise.
3. Clear, defensible SLA evidence: historical graphs and reports made it straightforward to show vendor/ISP breaches and secure corrective action.
4. Predictable operations: templates, RBAC and retention rules turned monitoring from “something that grows wildly” into a governed service.
2. Cut repetitive work: automated onboarding and a handful of safe remediation scripts removed recurring manual tasks and reduced on-call noise.
3. Clear, defensible SLA evidence: historical graphs and reports made it straightforward to show vendor/ISP breaches and secure corrective action.
4. Predictable operations: templates, RBAC and retention rules turned monitoring from “something that grows wildly” into a governed service.
Renowned for network monitoring
What do you like best about the product?
PRTG has made network monitoring far more efficient for us. The clean and customizable dashboard lets me keep an eye on all critical devices, services, and bandwidth usage in one place. Real-time alerts ensure I’m aware of potential issues before they escalate, which has saved us from several outages. I also appreciate the variety of sensor options, which makes it adaptable to different infrastructure needs.
What do you dislike about the product?
For someone new to network monitoring, the depth of features can feel a bit overwhelming at first. The initial setup and fine-tuning of sensors require a bit of a learning curve. Additionally, while the interface is intuitive, some advanced reporting and customization features take time to master.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
PRTG gives us complete visibility into the health and performance of our network, from hardware devices to applications and traffic flows. Having all this data in a single pane of glass means faster root cause analysis and reduced downtime. It also supports capacity planning by helping us spot trends in resource usage. The automated alerts and historical data reports have improved both our responsiveness and long-term decision-making.
Complete Enterprise IT Monitoring Solution
What do you like best about the product?
Proactive Alerts which helps IT team to take appropriate action to reduce the outages impact and take proactive actions.
What do you dislike about the product?
As such there are nothing however cost which lead customers to explore all other options.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
AS It team member / consultant its proactive alerts are helping maximum uptime proactive action improve IT operation efficiency.
Monitoring technology enables swift setup and rapid network issue detection
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
The most advantageous aspect of PRTG Network Monitor is that you can start quite fast because there are many sensors you can use, and it's ready to use. You can rapidly monitor all the network of the company because it has a discovery function that enables you to find numerous devices in your network and start working with it immediately by pushing one button.
I am satisfied with the alerting system because it has multiple options available. You can use email alerts or push notifications on your cell phone, as well as SMS short text messages on your cell phone, and they also have a desktop program where you can see alerts immediately.
PRTG Network Monitor is quite easy to install. You simply need to install the program on a Windows environment.
What needs improvement?
PRTG Network Monitor definitely has room for improvement. They need to change their strategies because it has become relatively expensive compared to what it used to be. They previously had a perpetual model, which meant that you bought a license and if you missed the end of the time, it still worked; you just lost the possibility of some upgrades. Now it's a subscription model where you need to subscribe for at least three years, and it has become quite expensive, with a rise of more than 100%.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with PRTG Network Monitor technology for almost two years.
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
I am using the Auto-Discovery function of PRTG Network Monitor sometimes. It is quite effective, but it's just a good start. If you are trying to monitor some new environment or a new network, you can add a new network in your company and use the discovery function to find all the devices in the network and start resolving them afterward.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's stable if set up correctly because in the beginning there could be many alerts that are not very important, but if you set it up properly, it's really stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
PRTG Network Monitor is really scalable because you have one core server that typically requires one license, and you can install multiple probes. There are no limitations regarding the number of probes; you can install them in each network, even if they are not connected, and it works.
How are customer service and support?
They have good web pages with extensive information about the product and potential issues. I actually haven't had to contact them for support.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have only experience with PRTG Network Monitor and have not used any competitors.
How was the initial setup?
PRTG Network Monitor is quite easy to install. You simply need to install the program on a Windows environment.
What was our ROI?
As a technician, I don't have specific ROI information. However, it is really helpful and definitely saves us money because we can find issues in our network before they become big problems.
What other advice do I have?
With PRTG Network Monitor, you can monitor devices such as servers, switches, routers, and other active units on the network. It's focused on monitoring computer networks and many other aspects.
My experience with PRTG Network Monitor is mainly in the network environment, including virtualization with VMware.
I am using mainly SNMP technology which offers some customizations, though it's quite limited. I have tried some script-based sensors, which have been quite helpful.
On a scale of 1-10, I rate PRTG Network Monitor an 8.
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