Likelihood to Recommend 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.
Read full review We've found WPM to be a fit for every web application that we wanted to monitor. If you have a web app that you'd like monitoring/alerting for then WPM may work for you. So far our only struggles have been when after logging in the app launches a new tab.
Read full review Pros 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. Read full review Testing web applications Ability to log in to secure sections of websites in order to test user authentication Provides a detailed history of steps taken and provides print screens of each step. If an error occurs you can see the web page to better diagnose issues. Read full review Cons 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. Read full review The recorder is clunky and must be run on a local machine. It does not support frames. Read full review Likelihood to Renew It is now an essential tool for monitoring and maintaining the health of our network and systems.
Read full review Usability 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.
Read full review Support Rating 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.
Read full review Solarwinds support is top-notch, and while we rarely have to call them, they are always very helpful when we do.
Read full review Alternatives Considered 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].
Read full review At the time we purchased WPM we were not aware of alternatives and therefore did not compare them.
Read full review Return on Investment 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. Read full review Better reporting of down states to allow for SLA reporting Better alerting during certain failure conditions which allows the IT org to respond faster More thorough history to review past errors and see screenshots of the errors. Read full review ScreenShots