Progress WhatsUp Gold vs. PRTG Network Monitor

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Progress WhatsUp Gold
Score 7.9 out of 10
Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
WhatsUp Gold developed by Ipswitch (acquired by Progress Software May 2019) offers network performance monitoring and mapping. It supports core monitoring features, including automated workflows and network capacity planning, and monitors across hybrid environments.N/A
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
Pricing
Progress WhatsUp GoldPRTG Network Monitor
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
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
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Progress WhatsUp GoldPRTG
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Progress WhatsUp GoldPRTG Network Monitor
Considered Both Products
Progress WhatsUp Gold
Chose Progress WhatsUp Gold
From a initial setup, WhatsUp takes Splunk down. I had WhatsUp up within minutes of monitoring and rebooting. From a PRTG perspective, setup was about the same. Now PRTG doesn't have all the bells and whistle WhatsUp has but for tracking and monitoring Netflow and Syslog …
Chose Progress WhatsUp Gold
Ease of deployment and use the product. Friendly user interface and quick network discovery with a large number of monitors.
Chose Progress WhatsUp Gold
WhatsUp Gold gives you a much better in-depth analysis and understanding of both your network and endpoint devices but the emphasis should be laid more on report generation. WhatsUp Gold has the ability to generate a report (e.g device uptime, bandwidth utilization, device …
PRTG
Chose PRTG Network Monitor
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 …
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
We still use SolarWinds alongside PRTG. SolarWinds has a lot more features and functionality than PRTG.
Chose PRTG Network Monitor
This product was far cheaper than the SolarWinds packaged solutions I have used in the past, and provides nearly as much value, though you may have to put more work in initially to realize that value. I thought it was far more useful than WhatsUp, whose value went down …
Chose PRTG Network Monitor
The mobile app and ease of use set PRTG apart from the others. PRTG can be up and running in a much shorter time than any other product I have used or evaluated. Templates can be set up so once a system is detected the appropriate sensors will be created automatically.
Chose PRTG Network Monitor
PRTG is a great tool for real-time traffic monitoring. It gives you a perfect graphical representation of bandwidth utilization on any of the network interface. With its ability to detect packet loss and utilization in real time, it gives us an oversight of our network.
Most of …
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Progress WhatsUp GoldPRTG Network Monitor
Network Performance Monitoring
Comparison of Network Performance Monitoring features of Product A and Product B
Progress WhatsUp Gold
-
Ratings
PRTG Network Monitor
7.0
55 Ratings
16% below category average
Automated network device discovery00 Ratings7.449 Ratings
Network monitoring00 Ratings7.654 Ratings
Baseline threshold calculation00 Ratings6.747 Ratings
Alerts00 Ratings7.655 Ratings
Network capacity planning00 Ratings6.639 Ratings
Packet capture analysis00 Ratings5.428 Ratings
Network mapping00 Ratings7.639 Ratings
Customizable reports00 Ratings7.448 Ratings
Wireless infrastructure monitoring00 Ratings7.438 Ratings
Hardware health monitoring00 Ratings6.852 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Progress WhatsUp GoldPRTG Network Monitor
Small Businesses
NinjaOne
NinjaOne
Score 9.2 out of 10
NinjaOne
NinjaOne
Score 9.2 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Intermapper
Intermapper
Score 8.6 out of 10
Nmap
Nmap
Score 8.8 out of 10
Enterprises
SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM)
Score 8.8 out of 10
Nmap
Nmap
Score 8.8 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Progress WhatsUp GoldPRTG Network Monitor
Likelihood to Recommend
8.3
(13 ratings)
8.4
(55 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
4.2
(2 ratings)
8.5
(17 ratings)
User Testimonials
Progress WhatsUp GoldPRTG Network Monitor
Likelihood to Recommend
Progress Software Corporation
[Progress WhatsUp Gold (formerly Ipswitch WhatsUp Gold)] is good for what it is. An inexpensive but accurate monitor for alerting on systems and services. However, it is time consuming to configure, The GUI leaves a lot to be desired and the formatting for txt alerts stinks (I just use it now as an alert to check my email to view the actual alert.)
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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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Pros
Progress Software Corporation
  • Monitoring the connection; performance, switching, and issues. We use a broadband connection for our primary and a cellular backup for the secondary. While we use routing protocols to make this switch and WhatsUp isn't used for Syslog monitoring. it alerts us within seconds.
  • Backup configurations and archiving. WhatsUp does this particularly well. I use it for both Cisco routers and switches.
  • The diagram feature is nice. Though I don't use it as much because of the size of our structure, it does come in handy for mapping routes of all traffic.
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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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Cons
Progress Software Corporation
  • Navigating the new WhatsUp Gold 2018 is a bit complicated and not user-friendly. The best part about using a software is the user's ability to use it with ease.
  • You cannot click sites being monitored from Map Dashboard View. This feature was previously possible in the older version.
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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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Likelihood to Renew
Progress Software Corporation
No answers on this topic
Paessler
It is now an essential tool for monitoring and maintaining the health of our network and systems.
Read full review
Usability
Progress Software Corporation
No answers on this topic
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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Support Rating
Progress Software Corporation
We have never had an issue with support. It has always been quick and understandable
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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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Alternatives Considered
Progress Software Corporation
Progress WhatsUp Gold (formerly Ipswitch WhatsUp Gold) is more network focused than some of the other products we looked at, which had basic capabilities but were not as strong on the reporting or programmatic resolution of issues. Progress WhatsUp Gold (formerly Ipswitch WhatsUp Gold) is cost effective compared to some of the other upmarket solutions.
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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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Return on Investment
Progress Software Corporation
  • Alerts IT team members when things go down after regular business hours. IT team is able to fix the issue before users arrive the next day.
  • Saves on system downtime and lost productivity
  • Remote monitoring means less staff hours spent checking for potential problems.
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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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ScreenShots

Progress WhatsUp Gold Screenshots

Screenshot of WhatsUp Gold Alert CenterScreenshot of WhatsUp Gold Cloud InfrastructureScreenshot of WhatsUp Gold Configuration ManagementScreenshot of WhatsUp Gold Custom MapScreenshot of WhatsUp Gold DashboardScreenshot of WhatsUp Gold Device Properties