PRTG Network Monitor Freeware
Paessler GmbHExternal reviews
157 reviews
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User friendly Paessler PRTG Monitoring tool
What do you like best about the product?
PRTG is a very informative and well structed designed dashboard. This makes it easy to monitor, simple, and effective for our IT infrastructure team. It is useful for us to track a wide range of applications, devices, and cloud services, and it also helps us to make proactive decisions and resolve the issue before users may impacts field users. These features make it more insightful into clear performance and availability.
What do you dislike about the product?
PRTG is a powerful tool; the first learning curve can be a step for a first-time user due to the vast number of features. Additionally, it is a licensing platform model based on these sensors, which makes it a more costly environment. And also, the interface feels a bit slow during a large number of deploys.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Paesslet PRTG is very useful for me to identify application breakdowns the slowdowns of the application, or performance issues overall in the applications in the real world. It was difficult to figure out the root cause analysis from point to point in application performance issues like downgrades, downtime. It makes it easier for me to get instant alerts and monitoring dashboards to troubleshoot much faster. And it saves me many manual efforts in monitoring since everything is automated. This helps me benefit by reducing downtime and giving better visibility of overall application health. It ensures a smoother end-user experience.
"Powerful, Flexible, and User-Friendly Monitoring"
What do you like best about the product?
Easy to get started — auto-discovery made setup quick and I had monitoring running within a day.
Alerts are accurate and reliable, I only get notified for real issues instead of endless false alarms.
One tool covers almost everything: servers, switches, applications, and even custom scripts.
Cost-effective, stable, and gives real-time visibility without adding unnecessary complexity.
Alerts are accurate and reliable, I only get notified for real issues instead of endless false alarms.
One tool covers almost everything: servers, switches, applications, and even custom scripts.
Cost-effective, stable, and gives real-time visibility without adding unnecessary complexity.
What do you dislike about the product?
Desktop and mobile apps could use improvements in usability.
Missing features like better syslog handling, deeper cloud integration, and easier automation.
Licensing based on sensors can get expensive quickly since one server consumes multiple sensors.
Support and roadmap updates could be more responsive.
Missing features like better syslog handling, deeper cloud integration, and easier automation.
Licensing based on sensors can get expensive quickly since one server consumes multiple sensors.
Support and roadmap updates could be more responsive.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Helps identify server and network issues before they affect end users.
Saves time by consolidating bandwidth, device, and application monitoring into one tool.
Reliable alerts cut down on false positives, allowing me to focus on fixing real issues.
Improves stability and reduces downtime by giving full visibility across the environment.
Saves time by consolidating bandwidth, device, and application monitoring into one tool.
Reliable alerts cut down on false positives, allowing me to focus on fixing real issues.
Improves stability and reduces downtime by giving full visibility across the environment.
PRTG Network Monitor — Practical, fast-to-deploy monitoring for small to mid-sized ops teams
What do you like best about the product?
1. Fast time‑to‑value: automatic discovery and a large library of preconfigured sensors let you start monitoring servers, switches, interfaces and common services in hours, not days.
2. Clear, actionable visibility: intuitive dashboards, maps and dependable alerts make it easy for on‑call staff and NOC teams to spot and prioritize real issues at a glance.
3. Friendly for small teams: the Windows installer and solid documentation kept our rollout smooth — we had meaningful monitoring running the same day without hiring extra staff.
4. Reliable core functionality: uptime, bandwidth, CPU/memory and service checks are robust and help surface trends before they become incidents.
2. Clear, actionable visibility: intuitive dashboards, maps and dependable alerts make it easy for on‑call staff and NOC teams to spot and prioritize real issues at a glance.
3. Friendly for small teams: the Windows installer and solid documentation kept our rollout smooth — we had meaningful monitoring running the same day without hiring extra staff.
4. Reliable core functionality: uptime, bandwidth, CPU/memory and service checks are robust and help surface trends before they become incidents.
What do you dislike about the product?
1. Sensor‑based licensing: costs can climb quickly once you count interfaces, VMs and multiple service checks — plan your sensor estimate up front.
2. Windows‑only core: the primary deployment is Windows-centric, which can limit multi‑platform collector strategies for cloud‑first or heterogeneous environments.
3. Customization and integrations: building bespoke sensors, scripting and API workflows is more manual and less polished than some integration‑focused alternatives.
4. UX gaps in editing: map/dashboard editing can feel dated (limited undo/copy‑paste and HTML-centric tweaks), which slows iterative refinement.
2. Windows‑only core: the primary deployment is Windows-centric, which can limit multi‑platform collector strategies for cloud‑first or heterogeneous environments.
3. Customization and integrations: building bespoke sensors, scripting and API workflows is more manual and less polished than some integration‑focused alternatives.
4. UX gaps in editing: map/dashboard editing can feel dated (limited undo/copy‑paste and HTML-centric tweaks), which slows iterative refinement.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
1. Early detection and reduced downtime: PRTG gives reliable alerts on failing links, overloaded interfaces and resource spikes so we fix problems before users notice, lowering MTTR.
2. Centralized operational visibility: it consolidates network and server health into a single pane, simplifying troubleshooting and daily ops for a small team.
3. Practical NOC-ready displays: straightforward dashboards and maps let us present useful status views on TVs and shareable dashboards without heavy customization.
4. Cost/scale trade-off clarity: for teams that want quick, dependable monitoring with minimal staffing, PRTG delivers strong ROI — but larger or highly integrated environments should validate sensor counts, hardware sizing and API needs through a short pilot.
2. Centralized operational visibility: it consolidates network and server health into a single pane, simplifying troubleshooting and daily ops for a small team.
3. Practical NOC-ready displays: straightforward dashboards and maps let us present useful status views on TVs and shareable dashboards without heavy customization.
4. Cost/scale trade-off clarity: for teams that want quick, dependable monitoring with minimal staffing, PRTG delivers strong ROI — but larger or highly integrated environments should validate sensor counts, hardware sizing and API needs through a short pilot.
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
Versatile Monitoring for Data Engineers: Not Just for Networks
What do you like best about the product?
As a data engineer, I use PRTG nearly every day to keep tabs on both our core infrastructure and data pipelines. Its interface is straightforward—with just a bit of setup, I was monitoring API performance, message queue depths, and resource usage across hybrid cloud and on-prem environments. PRTG’s breadth of built-in sensors plus the ability to add custom ones gives me a lot of flexibility to monitor exactly what matters for our ETL processes. Integrating PRTG data into our dashboards via its API and webhook support has made our troubleshooting much faster, especially when we need to correlate issues across different systems.
What do you dislike about the product?
Implementation was smooth for IT basics, but custom data pipeline monitoring required more scripting knowledge and the documentation for advanced sensors could be clearer for non-ops users. While customer support is responsive, some of our issues (like setting up custom alerts for data workflow failures) have needed multiple follow-ups. Exporting long-term logs into our analytics platform is more manual than I’d hoped. Also, direct integrations with popular modern data tools are limited, so frequent customization is part of the routine.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
PRTG helps us monitor the health and performance of both our core infrastructure and our data pipelines. By setting up custom sensors, we can track queue depths, API uptime, database servers, and ETL bottlenecks all in one dashboard. This central view lets us catch and resolve issues before they disrupt business-critical data flows, saving troubleshooting time and improving uptime.
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.
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