PRTG Network Monitor vs. Splunk Enterprise

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
PRTG
Score 8.6 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
Splunk Enterprise
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
Splunk is software for searching, monitoring, and analyzing machine-generated big data, via a web-style interface. It captures, indexes and correlates real-time data in a searchable repository from which it can generate graphs, reports, alerts, dashboards and visualizations.N/A
Pricing
PRTG Network MonitorSplunk Enterprise
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
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
PRTGSplunk Enterprise
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
PRTG Network MonitorSplunk Enterprise
Considered Both Products
PRTG
Chose PRTG Network Monitor
The big use was the user interface that PRTG offers for net-flow traffic. Whatsup and Splunk both trap net-flow information but PRTG's was a bit easier to weed through to figure out the issues. I did mention quick and dirty and PRTG can be installed and run perfectly on a …
Chose PRTG Network Monitor
In comparison with two other similar tools I have used in the past, I would put PRTG in the middle strictly in terms of features/performance, but at the top when overall value is considered. While SolarWinds does have some features that PRTG lacks, it comes at a much higher …
Chose PRTG Network Monitor
Again, it's one of the best deals for the dollars. There is very little it is not capable of and it's robust enough to serve the needs of most enterprise environments I've worked in. PRTG has a robust set of sensors and if those are not enough you can import your own MIBs.
Splunk Enterprise

No answer on this topic

Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
PRTG Network MonitorSplunk Enterprise
Network Performance Monitoring
Comparison of Network Performance Monitoring features of Product A and Product B
PRTG Network Monitor
7.1
55 Ratings
15% below category average
Splunk Enterprise
-
Ratings
Automated network device discovery7.449 Ratings00 Ratings
Network monitoring7.754 Ratings00 Ratings
Baseline threshold calculation6.747 Ratings00 Ratings
Alerts7.755 Ratings00 Ratings
Network capacity planning6.739 Ratings00 Ratings
Packet capture analysis5.528 Ratings00 Ratings
Network mapping7.639 Ratings00 Ratings
Customizable reports7.448 Ratings00 Ratings
Wireless infrastructure monitoring7.438 Ratings00 Ratings
Hardware health monitoring6.952 Ratings00 Ratings
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
Comparison of Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) features of Product A and Product B
PRTG Network Monitor
-
Ratings
Splunk Enterprise
7.4
54 Ratings
5% below category average
Centralized event and log data collection00 Ratings6.553 Ratings
Correlation00 Ratings6.052 Ratings
Event and log normalization/management00 Ratings6.153 Ratings
Deployment flexibility00 Ratings7.549 Ratings
Integration with Identity and Access Management Tools00 Ratings7.549 Ratings
Custom dashboards and workspaces00 Ratings8.554 Ratings
Host and network-based intrusion detection00 Ratings7.037 Ratings
Data integration/API management00 Ratings8.35 Ratings
Behavioral analytics and baselining00 Ratings7.74 Ratings
Rules-based and algorithmic detection thresholds00 Ratings7.84 Ratings
Response orchestration and automation00 Ratings6.94 Ratings
Reporting and compliance management00 Ratings7.94 Ratings
Incident indexing/searching00 Ratings8.95 Ratings
Best Alternatives
PRTG Network MonitorSplunk Enterprise
Small Businesses
NinjaOne
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Score 9.2 out of 10
AlienVault USM
AlienVault USM
Score 8.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Nmap
Nmap
Score 8.8 out of 10
Splunk Enterprise Security (ES)
Splunk Enterprise Security (ES)
Score 8.4 out of 10
Enterprises
Nmap
Nmap
Score 8.8 out of 10
Microsoft Sentinel
Microsoft Sentinel
Score 8.5 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
PRTG Network MonitorSplunk Enterprise
Likelihood to Recommend
8.5
(55 ratings)
7.0
(70 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(2 ratings)
10.0
(17 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(1 ratings)
9.0
(3 ratings)
Availability
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
8.5
(17 ratings)
8.4
(17 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(2 ratings)
Product Scalability
-
(0 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
PRTG Network MonitorSplunk Enterprise
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.
Read full review
Splunk
Pros: Splunk is very well suited if you have multiple log sources of related data. All of them can be correlated and tasks can be automated based on the requirement. Other than alerts, Splunk can also run a specific script of your choice, based on some defined conditions. Cons: If you have a few logs but a large number of log sources, Splunk can be very expensive.
Read full review
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.
Read full review
Splunk
  • Real-time + Scheduled alerts - i-e you can set up alerts which are actively monitoring your logs
  • Pretty good response time for search results. With our key/value logging, Splunk makes it blazing fast to query the data.
  • Dashboards provide insights into historical data
  • Love how Splunk indexes all of the data and provides keys to search on
Read full review
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.
Read full review
Splunk
  • At times some queries can run slowly if indices are not on a portion of the query you use.
  • Setup time initially can be difficult if your logs aren't stored in common locations or in a common way to write the log.
  • Ability to ingest logs from different locations without having to change code to put logs in a certain place (pro and con).
  • Searches can be a bit more difficult to look through if your log isn't pulled in a manner that is easy to read through splunk.
Read full review
Likelihood to Renew
Paessler
It is now an essential tool for monitoring and maintaining the health of our network and systems.
Read full review
Splunk
We are using Splunk extensively in our projects and we have recently upgraded to Splunk version 6.0 which is quite efficient and giving expected results. We keep track of updates and new features Splunk introduces periodically and try to introduce those features in our day to day activities for improvement in our reporting system and other tasks.
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.
Read full review
Splunk
You can literally throw in a single word into Splunk and it will pull back all instances of that word across all of your logs for the time span you select (provided you have permission to see that data). We have several users who have taken a few of the free courses from Splunk that are able to pull data out of it everyday with little help at all.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
Paessler
No answers on this topic
Splunk
When properly setup and configured, Splunk is extremely reliable.
Read full review
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.
Read full review
Splunk
Splunk maintains a well resourced support system that has been consistent since we purchased the product. They help out in a timely manner and provide expert level information as needed. We typically open cases online and communicate when possible via e-mail and are able to resolve most issues with that method.
Read full review
Online Training
Paessler
No answers on this topic
Splunk
The online course was simple clear and described the main capabilities of the solution. There is also an initial module that can be done for free so anyone can familiarize themselves with the functionality of this solution. On the other hand, however, there could be more free online courses. Maybe even with a certificate, this would broaden the group of people who are familiar with the platform while increasing familiarity with the solution itself.
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Implementation Rating
Paessler
No answers on this topic
Splunk
Smooth without too many major issues.
Read full review
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].
Read full review
Splunk
I wanted to learn a new language that I can quickly master and implement. Splunk is easy, fun to use and best of all, it can be developed in hours not days or weeks. Splunk is fundamentally a programming language that is minimal but yet powerful enough to collect, analyze and visualize data.
Read full review
Scalability
Paessler
No answers on this topic
Splunk
Splunk can scale in to the petabyte per day range which of course is awesome
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.
Read full review
Splunk
  • Overall very positive. It has provided visibility to what is going on within our network.
  • One drawback is the time it takes to get up to speed with the application, but this is up to the user, and Splunk education is excellent.
  • In my field, IT Security, there are few other friends to have in your back pocket better than Splunk. They are just that good.
Read full review
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