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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Paessler PRTG

    Score8.4 out of 10
    N/APRTG Network Monitor is the flagship offering from German software company Paessler, for monitoring local and wide area networks (LANs & WANs), servers, websites, apps, and more.

    $2,149

    per year

    SolarWinds Papertrail

    Score8.9 out of 10
    N/AAustin based SolarWinds acquired log management tool Papertrail in April, 2015.N/A
    Pricing
    Paessler PRTGSolarWinds Papertrail
    Editions & Modules
    PRTG 500
    $2,149
    per year
    Hosted 500
    $2,149
    per year
    PRTG 1,000
    $3,899
    per year
    Hosted 1000
    $3,899
    per year
    PRTG 2,500
    $8,099
    per year
    Hosted 2500
    $8,099
    per year
    PRTG 5,000
    $14,199
    per year
    Hosted 5000
    $14,199
    per year
    PRTG 10000
    $17,899
    per year
    PRTG Enterprise
    Custom Pricing
    subscription license
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Paessler PRTGSolarWinds Papertrail
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Paessler PRTGSolarWinds Papertrail
    Considered Both Products
    Paessler
    No answer on this topic
    SolarWinds
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    98%
    Would buy again
    41 Answers
    100%
    Would buy again
    13 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    98%
    Delivers good value for the price
    40 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    13 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    42 Answers
    92%
    Happy with the feature set
    12 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    93%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    28 Answers
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    12 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    38 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    13 Answers
    Features
    Paessler PRTGSolarWinds Papertrail
    Network Performance Monitoring
    Comparison of Network Performance Monitoring features of Paessler PRTG and SolarWinds Papertrail
    Feature
    Paessler PRTG
    7.3
    67 Ratings
    8% below category average
    SolarWinds Papertrail
    -
    Ratings
    Automated network device discovery7.260 Ratings00 Ratings
    Network monitoring9.666 Ratings00 Ratings
    Baseline threshold calculation8.557 Ratings00 Ratings
    Alerts8.867 Ratings00 Ratings
    Network capacity planning6.448 Ratings00 Ratings
    Packet capture analysis6.234 Ratings00 Ratings
    Network mapping5.547 Ratings00 Ratings
    Customizable reports5.857 Ratings00 Ratings
    Wireless infrastructure monitoring6.249 Ratings00 Ratings
    Hardware health monitoring9.264 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Paessler PRTGSolarWinds Papertrail
    Small Businesses
    Auvik
    Score8.8 out of 10
    Logstash
    Score8.6 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    PingPlotter
    Score9 out of 10
    SolarWinds Kiwi Syslog Server
    Score8.1 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Nmap
    Score8.7 out of 10
    SolarWinds Loggly
    Score7.7 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Paessler PRTGSolarWinds Papertrail
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.8
    (68 ratings)
    8.6
    (19 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.9
    (5 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    8.3
    (7 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.0
    (19 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Paessler PRTGSolarWinds Papertrail
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Paessler
    integrates seamlessly with Windows servers via WMI and PowerShell, providing deep insights into resource usage, performance metrics, and system health. It's excellent at tracking CPU, memory, disk space, and event logs, enabling rapid troubleshooting and proactive maintenance. PRTG Network Monitor also effectively monitors Fortigate devices, providing detailed data on firewall health, traffic patterns, bandwidth utilization, VPN status, and security alerts. This visibility helps detect and resolve network security issues promptly.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    As a 3rd party endpoint, SolarWinds Papertrail did exactly what it needed to. My hesitation is on the technical aptitude of the colleague receiving the recommendation, as the overall level of command line skill/understanding would have to be high. Web applications are a great solution here, but MOST of them already provide some sort of logging output. The scenario would definitely be in the situation where logging wasn't readily available in the current solution space. IF something like SolarWinds Papertrail was needed, it's probably the de facto thing that I would recommend.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Paessler
    • Switch monitoring and finding out if there are communication issues or throughput alerts are reached
    • Big picture view of the whole infrastructure and what is functioning and what is not
    • Uptime tracking is great and lets us know for how long a device is down or overall uptime
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    • Free configuration on how Papertrail will alert you
    • Easy to setup with your server/application
    • Very intuitive and easy to use
    • Fair pricing policy/plan
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Paessler
    • Licensing on a per entity basis can be cumbersome for devices which have a ton of monitoring points like network switches\routers. Each sensor may count against a license, which could be a lot of you were monitoring every TX\RX of an SFP for example
    • A better method to easily template\copy monitors across devices
    • The navigation in the web GUI could be a little more straightforward in terms of the hierarchy
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    • The CLI was a bit clunky and required some Linux-y thought to get right (obviously more designed with scripting in mind)
    • Tracking logs in real time (think something like `tail`) wasn't wildly intuitive
    • Accessing/searching archives required a lot of CLI-style pulling/extracting/reg-exing
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Paessler
    I would renew it because the platform has brought us many technical and economic benefits that make the cost-benefit ratio very good. Additionally, to do so does not require large investments in training, licensing or infrastructure, and at the administration level, extensive knowledge is not required to be able to bear it.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    We are definitely going to continue using Papertrail. It's been a lifesaver.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Paessler
    The tool is very intuitive to use and it is Windows-based (everybody knows how to use Windows) so it's easy to get into. Every time is setup in a hierarchy so if you have a good initial hierarchy design, it will really reduce administrative effort down the road.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    It's extremely easy to use. I and new colleagues have never had any issues configuring this tool or setting it up, it works almost out of the box with very simple instructions to follow to configure it to our own environment. I would highly recommend it on that ability alone.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Paessler
    PRTG does everything we need it to do and more. Ease of use, ease of management and maintenance and clarity of monitoring of hundreds of different types of device and service gives this a large advantage over other products on the market that I have tried. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who needs a network monitoring product in their environment and even to people who don't know they need a solution yet!
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    I honestly have never had the need to use the support team, as we have not run into any issues so far. If we did however, judging from how the tool itself works, I don't doubt that the team would provide excellent support for any issues that we may possibly run into.
    Incentivized
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    Implementation Rating
    Paessler
    It's very important that de project's teams have different member of the TI. We have learned too late the importa of Security Analyst at the design architecture moment. We have to rebuild part of the implementation for made this big mistake.
    Incentivized
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    SolarWinds
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Paessler
    PRTG offers more versatility in monitoring when compared to the other solutions we tested. The other solutions were also limited as far as customization options, which made them less adaptable to our networks. When compared to Auvik, for instance, we prefer PRTG as it offers immediate notifications through the desktop client - not limited to email notifications as with Auvik. We also appreciate the fact that PRTG can be self/on-prem hosted vs Auvik's cloud model. This makes for an easier deployment and less firewall adjustments to allow traffic to cloud-hosted solutions.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    CloudWatch, by itself, is terrible at search. CloudWatch Insights works great and has powerful search capabilities, but it's more difficult to set up alerts. Also, because Insights charges per search, you have the potential to accumulate a large bill if you need to do many searches. I like that SolarWinds Papertrail has a known monthly cost.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Paessler
    • The ability to analyze multiple pieces of information in one place, especially with historical data, has saved our IT department time and headaches. It would be so much more difficult to trace an issue without PRTG, just relying on event logs and an open task manager window.
    • The cost is not cheap, so it's an expense that hits the bottom line like everything else. Figure in hardware costs as well, ideally a server outside of your main environment.
    • I keep saying this, but the historical data piece is worth so much. There's really no good way to collect all of that information in one place without something like PRTG. And that definitely saves time and money in the long run.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    • SolarWinds Papertrail cost compared to the benefits it provides is a win.
    • When the logs are flooded, and the monthly limits are reached, the failure to post new logs may be a significant drawback.
    • The great search/filter capabilities is key for speedy and precise debugging of incidents that may happen during testing and operation.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    SolarWinds Papertrail Screenshots

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