N-able N-central vs. Nmap

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
N-able N-central
Score 9.5 out of 10
N/A
MSPs and IT professionals use N-able™ N-central® to monitor and manage devices and complex networks remotely. N-central provides visibility and efficiency as the user's needs scale. N-central can help users: 1. Proactively monitor everything on a customer network—not just servers and workstations—and troubleshoot. 2. Stay on top of threats with features like MFA, antivirus, integrated endpoint detection and response, data backup, disk encryption, email protection,…N/A
Nmap
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
Nmap is a free, open source network discovery, mapper, and security auditing software. Its core features include port scanning identifying unknown devices, testing for security vulnerabilities, and identifying network issues.
$49,980
one-time fee
Pricing
N-able N-centralNmap
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Nmap OEM Small/Startup Company Redistribution License - Quarterly Term Maintenance Fee
$7,980
Every Three Months per license
Nmap OEM Mid-Sized Company Redistribution License - Quarterly Term Maintenance Fee
$11,980
Every Three Months per license
Nmap OEM Enterprise Redistribution License - Quarterly Term Maintenance Fee
$13,980
Every Three Months per license
Nmap OEM Small/Startup Company Redistribution License - Annual Maintenance Fee
$14,980
per year per license
Nmap OEM Mid-Sized Company Redistribution License - Annual Maintenance Fee
$19,980
per year per license
Nmap OEM Enterprise Redistribution License - Annual Maintenance Fee
$23,980
per year per license
Nmap OEM Small/Startup Company Redistribution License - Perpetual License
$49,980
one-time fee per license
Nmap OEM Small/Startup Company Redistribution License - 5 year prepay Maintenance Fee
$59,920
Every Five Years per license
Nmap OEM Mid-Sized Company Redistribution License - 5 year prepay Maintenance Fee
$79,920
Every Five Years per license
Nmap OEM Mid-Sized Company Redistribution License - Perpetual License
$79,980
one-time fee per license
Nmap OEM Enterprise Redistribution License - 5 year prepay Maintenance Fee
$95,920
Every Five Years per license
Nmap OEM Enterprise Redistribution License - Perpetual License
$98,980
one-time fee per license
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
N-able N-centralNmap
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsAll perpetual licenses include a six-month trial period during which you can cancel for any reason and receive a full refund of all money paid (including maintenance). The term license is only a 3-month commitment and cal also be terminated with full refund during the first 30 days of the initial quarter.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
N-able N-centralNmap
Features
N-able N-centralNmap
Monitoring Tasks
Comparison of Monitoring Tasks features of Product A and Product B
N-able N-central
7.4
6 Ratings
1% above category average
Nmap
-
Ratings
Remote monitoring9.76 Ratings00 Ratings
Network device monitoring8.36 Ratings00 Ratings
Management Tasks
Comparison of Management Tasks features of Product A and Product B
N-able N-central
9.0
7 Ratings
25% above category average
Nmap
-
Ratings
Patch Management9.07 Ratings00 Ratings
Network Performance Monitoring
Comparison of Network Performance Monitoring features of Product A and Product B
N-able N-central
-
Ratings
Nmap
5.3
17 Ratings
41% below category average
Automated network device discovery00 Ratings5.011 Ratings
Network monitoring00 Ratings10.012 Ratings
Baseline threshold calculation00 Ratings9.06 Ratings
Alerts00 Ratings3.04 Ratings
Network capacity planning00 Ratings6.07 Ratings
Packet capture analysis00 Ratings2.07 Ratings
Network mapping00 Ratings10.016 Ratings
Customizable reports00 Ratings1.010 Ratings
Wireless infrastructure monitoring00 Ratings2.08 Ratings
Hardware health monitoring00 Ratings5.06 Ratings
Best Alternatives
N-able N-centralNmap
Small Businesses
Panda Systems Management
Panda Systems Management
Score 7.5 out of 10
NinjaOne
NinjaOne
Score 9.1 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Action1
Action1
Score 9.5 out of 10
PingPlotter
PingPlotter
Score 8.9 out of 10
Enterprises
TeamViewer
TeamViewer
Score 8.6 out of 10
PingPlotter
PingPlotter
Score 8.9 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
N-able N-centralNmap
Likelihood to Recommend
8.7
(25 ratings)
10.0
(18 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.1
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
7.3
(7 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
1.0
(8 ratings)
8.4
(7 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.4
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
N-able N-centralNmap
Likelihood to Recommend
N-able
N-Able is perfect for an MSP environment. It gives all the standard functionality an IT professional needs out of the box and can be configured to show almost anything required. For example, we have configured a dashboard to show when our backups need attention for each customer. This is achieved by running a small script on repeat via N-Central everyday/evening, and the result gives us information on the dashboard to help us identify exactly what is working and what needs looking into.
Read full review
Open Source
If you're a sysadmin, or anyone who's had to deploy network services, you've almost certainly had to use Nmap at some point or other. Need to see what devices are on your LAN? Nmap can tell you that. Want to check which ports your web server has open to the internet? Nmap is your friend.
Nmap is a powerful command-line tool and has many options that require some reading of documentation to get the best out of (although generally straightforward). If the thought of working at the command-line scares you (presumably not if you're reading this review), then you may want a much simpler tool, or at least check out Zenmap GUI.
Read full review
Pros
N-able
  • Remote tasks - entry-level techs can run basic tasks without physically touching a piece of equipment.
  • Remote support - remote controlling user devices is easy and saves a lot of time with having to initiate a remote session.
  • Management of devices, particularly patch management and anti-virus management - you can automatically approve and deploy patches and schedule automatic AV scans.
Read full review
Open Source
  • NMap provides a very fast and a very thorough network "sweep" that allows you to quickly map out exactly what's on your network.
  • NMap is highly configurable. The "canned" choices are very good in most instances, but using various switches and options, you can create a very specific scan and get exactly the results you're looking for.
  • NMap is easy to use. Even a new administrator will be able to use the graphical version (Zenmap) with efficiency right away.
Read full review
Cons
N-able
  • Customer support just points to online guides and I feel they aren't helpful.
  • During the trial they turn on a lot of features. In my experience, if you play around with the features, they charge you for them. Keep this in mind if you move forward with N-Able - they will charge for "trialed" services.
  • In my experience, some services that you're being charged for can't be disabled or monitored by you or your team. You only see them on the monthly invoice.
  • In my opinion, the "Scripting Automation" doesn't provide value. You're either going to be writing your own batch or Powershell to make scripting work.
  • In my opinion, monitoring software deployments is painful.
  • The default monitoring template can't be duplicated, edited, or referenced. You'll find that the default monitors in an unusual way and will throw needless recurring alerts into your ticketing system. To avoid this, you need to create a template from scratch which takes many hours to set up.
  • In my opinion, they're more concerned about a quick buck than customer service. "Buyer beware" company.
Read full review
Open Source
  • The GUI version on Nmap could use some improvement with the options that are available to do scans. For example, they could make it easier to select options for the different types of scanning for people who are beginners
  • There are no abilities to schedule a scan in the Nmap tool.
  • An intensive scan sometimes takes too much time to complete.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
N-able
Overall we have liked our solar winds experience, however, as our company has grown to support larger enterprises, this product does not have the functionality that our teams need in order to fully support them. The lack of granularity with backups and lack of ability to support nutanix environments is slowly drawing us into the use of other tools.
Read full review
Open Source
No answers on this topic
Usability
N-able
The user interface is fairly straight forward, with logic groupings for objects. I did not deploy this software, but am one of the daily administrators. Once you get the correct agent package (Which can be a challenge) the integration into AD is not bad. The UI could be more customized, but that may have been a design choice.
Read full review
Open Source
Nmap uses are very practical and I don't think there is a better tools for what Nmap does. It is open-sources that therefore there is no cost to use it. It offers a number of benefits, including but not limited to network mapping, port scanning and more. It is very reliable as a network scanning tool.
Read full review
Support Rating
N-able
Every time we have reached out to SolarWinds they are quick to respond, even offering support chat 24/7. Their support team is great and works with you to find solutions to issues. They have taken items we had issues with before and used those to create updates so that the issue is handled better in the future.
Read full review
Open Source
There is a very large support community and a robust selection of add-ons and scripts. Once you get the use down this is one of the most powerful tools and you can find anything you are looking for as far as examples on the web. While not having official support its not lacking by any means.
Read full review
Implementation Rating
N-able
Make sure if you your using a vm you follow the instructions for provisioning to the letter or it will be starting from square one
Read full review
Open Source
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
N-able
Our version of SolarWinds was old and running on old hardware, but it was way easier to setup and do things with. It did not do everything N-able does such as patch management, or at least we didn't have a module to do so if one existed. However it definitely seemed easier to use and possibly more stable.
Read full review
Open Source
Alternatives to Nmap (other IP scanners) are often much more limited in what they can do; They often only allow you to scan a specific subset of ports or a limited number of IP addresses in one command. Nmap is unrestricted in that regard. What makes Nmap stand out above the rest, is the complete network analysis package you get with it. It allows IP scanner, network deep-dives, hardware analysis, vulnerability analysis, encryption detailing, and so much more, in one free application
Read full review
Return on Investment
N-able
  • We have lost hundreds of hours on the phone/emailing support with no resolution for any of our issues
  • We had to move all of our services away which was very painful
  • Staff satisfaction was low having to deal with this company
Read full review
Open Source
  • Nmap with Wireshark is free, so it's been a great combo team to gather info and test.
  • It's allowed us to avoid fines from false positives and to fix actual issues ourselves.
  • Great for finding hosts, helps keep the network secure.
Read full review
ScreenShots

N-able N-central Screenshots

Screenshot of N-able N-central DashboardScreenshot of Remote desktop access with Take Control