PRTG Network Monitor vs. Pulseway

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
PRTG
Score 8.5 out of 10
N/A
PRTG 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.
$1,750
perpetual license
Pulseway
Score 8.9 out of 10
Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
Pulseway is an IT monitoring and management solution that enables users to monitor, manage and control all systems and servers from a smartphone, tablet or browser. For system administrators, Pulseway sends a notification, so they can see an issue and sort it in seconds. Pulseway features: Automation: Auto-remediation workflows, so that IT issues are fixed before users even notice them. Mobile Access: Customers can monitor, manage, connect with…
$0.80
per month per installation
Pricing
PRTG Network MonitorPulseway
Editions & Modules
PRTG 500
1,750
perpetual license
PRTG 1,000
3,200
perpetual license
PRTG 2,500
6,500
perpetual license
PRTG 5,000
11,500
perpetual license
PRTG XL 1
15,500
perpetual license
PRTG Enterprise
Custom Pricing
subscription license
Enterprise
$0.80
per month per installation
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
PRTGPulseway
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoYes
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsNo hidden fees or contracts. Term-based discounts.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
PRTG Network MonitorPulseway
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
PRTG Network MonitorPulseway
Network Performance Monitoring
Comparison of Network Performance Monitoring features of Product A and Product B
PRTG Network Monitor
7.0
55 Ratings
16% below category average
Pulseway
-
Ratings
Automated network device discovery7.349 Ratings00 Ratings
Network monitoring7.554 Ratings00 Ratings
Baseline threshold calculation6.647 Ratings00 Ratings
Alerts7.555 Ratings00 Ratings
Network capacity planning6.539 Ratings00 Ratings
Packet capture analysis5.228 Ratings00 Ratings
Network mapping7.539 Ratings00 Ratings
Customizable reports7.348 Ratings00 Ratings
Wireless infrastructure monitoring7.338 Ratings00 Ratings
Hardware health monitoring6.752 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
PRTG Network MonitorPulseway
Small Businesses
NinjaOne
NinjaOne
Score 9.2 out of 10
NinjaOne
NinjaOne
Score 9.2 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Nmap
Nmap
Score 8.8 out of 10
Intermapper
Intermapper
Score 8.5 out of 10
Enterprises
Nmap
Nmap
Score 8.8 out of 10
SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
Score 8.8 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
PRTG Network MonitorPulseway
Likelihood to Recommend
8.4
(55 ratings)
8.0
(12 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(1 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Support Rating
8.5
(17 ratings)
9.6
(2 ratings)
User Testimonials
PRTG Network MonitorPulseway
Likelihood to Recommend
Paessler
If there are a number of different protocols and devices to monitor PRTG is really an all in one solution. There are network specific solutions, telephony solutions, server solutions, etc - but this tool can do anything. Even if you don't use this tool as your main "monitoring solutions" every IT professional should have access to this tool for at least troubleshooting purposes. If you are looking for something specific built for a task you may be able to find [a] more direct and easy tool to use that would be easier and quicker to setup as customization is not needed.
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Pulseway
If you have to manage a large number of computers, especially spread over multiple clients or a large physical area. This is one of the main products that allows us to act as a Managed Service Provider (MSP) and actually manage our clients devices and not just react to issues as clients call them in. Clients really love the proactive approach it allows us to take.
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Pros
Paessler
  • Very, very configurable. You can create all kinds of monitors for all kinds of things. Plus it has loads of suggestions out of the box. It can get complicated but monitoring is complicated. Pretty decent interface and good support - active community.
  • I really liked how easy it was to add alerts by SMS. So easy to setup.
  • I like their sizing models (for purchase). We're actually small enough that we are free. But it's not free as in stripped down - it's free because we don't use many "sensors" and don't honestly have the need.
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Pulseway
  • It monitors computers and notifies us of any issues with any computer.
  • It allows remote control of computers, such as requesting a computer to reboot itself.
  • It is very highly configurable to monitor exactly what we need to monitor. For example, on server, we can have it notify us any time the server is shutdown or rebooted. On the other hand, for a desktop computer, we don't have to be bothered with notifications when a user decides to reboot his computer.
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Cons
Paessler
  • The probe service can be quite resource-intensive. This can cause false-positive readings from some sensors sometimes.
  • The software gets updated very regularly. Whilst this is usually a good thing to fix bugs etc, it does meantime downtime of the monitoring quite often while they are installed.
  • The ability to create Maps from Libraries. Very specific issue but a lot of people have been asking for it for years and it is still not available.
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Pulseway
  • It would be nice if they increased their scope of supported third-party apps.
  • It would be great if they would create an ios app for their ticket system.
  • If they could possibly build in a location service for tracking devices, that would be helpful.
  • If they had two-factor authentication, it would be nice.
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Likelihood to Renew
Paessler
It is now an essential tool for monitoring and maintaining the health of our network and systems.
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Pulseway
No answers on this topic
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.
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Pulseway
Pulseway is very user friendly. The system is labeled in terms and grouped together by function so that anyone can understand and locate the functions that they need. We use this system to monitor a file server that we have that can have an unstable power supply. This allows us to easily see that the system is offline and get it back to operational with minimal downtime.
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Support Rating
Paessler
I am giving this a 6 simply because I have never had to contact support. The online documentation is adequate for most things, and the user-maintained knowledgebase is excellent. The few times I have run into issues that were not easily resolvable with intuitive UI, I was able to find the answers that I needed either in the PRTG-provided documentation, the knowledgebase, or with a quick online web search.
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Pulseway
I haven't really needed much support for Pulseway, so I can't really say a whole lot about their support. Pulseway has been pretty much trouble-free for us. There are regular updates and new features. The updates never seem to break anything or cause problems. It just works.
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Alternatives Considered
Paessler
I have deployed and tested three products for evaluation I found [PRTG Network Monitor] very easy to deploy, the deployment literally took not more than one hour including basic configuration and network discovery. After deployment few configuration changes and creation of maps, reports and little tweaking is required. [Then] it would go through its process of recommendation that took some time to complete, while [on] other hand other software's took lot of time to install and configure. And features were also missing, which resulted in decision in favor of [PRTG Network Monitor].
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Pulseway
Pulseway has the most features, the best looking app with the best design and better usability than any others we evaluated. We liked the uniformity of the app design across all platforms (Windows, Android, Apple) and the notifications displayed on each platform. The price was a major contributor to our selection of Pulseway compared to the competition.
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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.
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Pulseway
  • Problems can be dealt with more rapidly because I have access to systems from anywhere. I don't have to carry a computer with me nor do I have to find a location with potentially non-secure wifi to gain access to my systems.
  • I can handle 99% of my system admin tasks using Pulseway and never have to touch a system or connect to the console.
  • Pulseway gives so much control over a system that I don't need to spend extra money on other software to perform management tasks.
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ScreenShots

Pulseway Screenshots

Screenshot of Cross-device functionalityScreenshot of Auto-Remediate IT IssuesScreenshot of Visibility Across the Entire NetworkScreenshot of Remote Control to Any SystemScreenshot of Systems and Application patchingScreenshot of Detailed Custom Report