Looking for the perfect Network Software for your business? It’s out there – especially as 2024 rolls in and technology soars to an all-time high!
How do you sort through the sea of options? What will work best for your company’s size, requirements, and budget? We have rounded up the best of the best the software world has to offer.
When selecting our top picks, there were a few must-haves we used to judge by. The initial installation is critical, as is the user-friendliness of the interface. Reporting when using the software to manage your delicate networks should be relatively easy, allowing organizations of any size to see potential threats. And finally, cost is always important.
Here is our list of the best network software:
- Atera – FREE TRIAL This remote monitoring and management package includes automated network monitoring and technician supervision tools. This is a SaaS package. Get a 30-day free trial.
- ManageEngine OpManager Offers comprehensive visibility into device health, availability, and performance in real-time.
- Site24x7 Cloud-based system that aids in automatically discovering network-connected devices, and includes network connectivity and availability testing, with its main feature of website application monitoring.
- LogicMonitor This is a cloud-based system that offers three core packages, one of which is the Network Monitoring module.
- Datadog This SaaS platform provides monitoring and management units, including Network Performance Monitoring and Network Device Monitoring units.
What is Network Software?
If you know you need network software but are in need of a little bit of clarity – we understand. Network software is used to monitor and manage an organization’s network to keep it healthy and working properly. The software can help you detect warning areas and analyze your network for speed, accuracy, and security. Even a little bit of downtime – thanks to a faulty network – can cause a business to crumble in security, revenue, and productivity.
The Best Network Software
Our methodology for selecting network monitoring tools and software
We reviewed various monitoring tools and analyzed the options based on the following criteria:
- An autodiscovery system to log all network devices
- A network topology mapper
- The ability to collect live network devices statuses by using SNMP
- A facility to analyze network performance over time
- Graphical interpretation of data, such as charts and graphs
- A free trial period, a demo, or a money-back guarantee for no-risk assessment
- A good price that reflects value for money when compared to the functions offered
Understanding the importance of network management software, here are our top picks for 2024.
1. Atera – FREE TRIAL
Atera offers all of the software that a managed service provider (MSP) needs this includes remote monitoring and management (RMM) systems. These tools include a live network monitor.
Key Features:
- Cloud-based MSP-focused tool
- SNMP Manager integration
- Real-time alerts via email
- Multi-tenant environment support
Why do we recommend it?
Atera is a platform of monitoring and management tools that includes automated network monitoring. This package also provides a ticketing system that enables users to ask for help and it can also be used to automatically distribute maintenance tasks to team members. The ticketing system includes task tracking for team management.
The service is a cloud-based system that requires agents to be installed on-site. The network agent acts as an SNMP Manager and gathers reports from device monitors that are built-in by the manufacturer.
The live network monitor uses throughput information reported by the device agents to plot a throughput graph. The network monitoring dashboard is colorful and easy to read.
One section of the dashboard shows a list of alerts. These relate to two sources of analysis. The first of these is a problem detected by one of the device agents. The second is a series of performance thresholds that are placed on the metrics that Atera gathers.
The performance thresholds are set at levels so that technicians have time to fix gathering problems before the network performance impairment is noticeable by the users.
The alerts can be sent to technicians as emails, so the operators don’t have to pay any attention to the network monitoring screen, they only need to look at a specific client’s network if an alert is raised. This mechanism makes it possible for one technician to manage many networks simultaneously.
Who is it recommended for?
This package is available in two versions: one for IT departments and a multi-tenanted version for managed service providers. Each version is offered in four plans, all of which include network monitoring. The system is charged per technician, making it accessible to businesses of all sizes.
Pros:
- Lightweight cloud-based tool
- Built with MSPs in mind, and includes RMM and PSA tools built-in
- The framework is highly customizable, making Atera extremely flexible
- Can scale and support multiple databases in a multi-tenant environment
- Packaged pricing makes Atera accessible to any size business
Cons:
- Atera is MSP focused, smaller organizations may not use all multi-tenant features
Atera is a subscription service with three plan levels. Prices are set for monthly or yearly payments with the annual payment plan working out cheaper per month. You can get a free trial to assess Atera.
EDITOR'S CHOICE
Atera is our top choice for managed service providers (MSPs) needing a comprehensive remote monitoring and management (RMM) solution. This cloud-based platform, with its requirement for on-site agents, excels in network monitoring and management. The live network monitor, with its intuitive and colorful dashboard, offers real-time throughput information and alert systems.
What makes Atera stand out is its ability to send alerts via email, allowing technicians to manage multiple networks efficiently without constant screen monitoring. The service’s adaptability, scalability, and packaged pricing make it accessible and practical for businesses of any size, though it’s particularly tailored to MSPs with multi-tenant capabilities.
Download: Download a 30-Day Free Trial
Official Site: https://www.atera.com/
OS: Cloud-Based
2. ManageEngine OpManager – FREE TRIAL
ManageEngine OpManager is a top network monitoring tool due to its comprehensive visibility into device health, availability, and performance in real-time. It excels in monitoring both physical and virtual servers, ensuring optimal performance for Hyper-V, VMware, Citrix, Xen, and Nutanix HCI servers.
Key Features:
- File Integrity Monitoring: Continuously tracks and records changes to critical system files to ensure data integrity and security.
- Customizable Dashboards: Allows the creation of tailored dashboards for specific views of critical metrics.
- Real-Time Network Monitoring: Monitors network performance in real-time to quickly identify and resolve issues.
- Automated Alerts: Sends notifications based on predefined thresholds to address potential problems promptly.
- Application Performance Monitoring: Tracks the performance of various applications to ensure optimal functionality.
- Integration with Other Tools: Easily integrates with a variety of other IT management and monitoring tools.
- Scalability: Adapts to the needs of both small businesses and large enterprises.
- User-Friendly Interface: The interface is intuitive and easy to navigate, even for beginners.
OpManager also offers in-depth wireless network stats, enabling users to monitor WiFi strength and traffic across access points, routers, and switches. Its WAN monitoring capabilities leverage Cisco IPSLA technology, allowing for effective visualization and troubleshooting of WAN link outages and performance issues.
The tool provides advanced network visualization through Layer2 maps, virtual topology maps, and 3D views, making network management more efficient. With integrated troubleshooting and configuration management, OpManager simplifies network performance monitoring, providing detailed insights and quick resolution of network issues.
Pros:
- Effective File Integrity Monitoring: Provides continuous tracking of changes to critical system files, enhancing security and data integrity.
- Highly Customizable: Offers extensive customization options for dashboards and reports, catering to diverse user needs.
- Real-Time Network Insights: Real-time monitoring allows for quick detection and resolution of network issues.
- Proactive Alerting System: Automatically triggers alerts based on set parameters, helping in rapid issue resolution.
- Comprehensive Application Monitoring: Ensures that critical applications are running smoothly with minimal downtime.
- Seamless Integration: Integrates well with other tools, enhancing overall IT management efficiency.
- Scalable Solution: Suitable for organizations of all sizes, allowing easy scaling as your business grows.
Cons:
- Learning Curve: The vast array of features can be overwhelming for new users.
Start by downloading a 30-day free trial.
3. Site24x7 – FREE TRIAL
The Site24x7 package includes several modules, such as network connectivity and availability testing, but one of its main features is website application monitoring. It is a cloud-based system that aids in automatically discovering network-connected devices. Better comprehension and clarity can be achieved by drawing the equipment inventory more easily, thanks to the inclusion of the network topology map feature. Consequently, the program creates the inventory and maps automatically whenever new equipment is discovered.
Key Features:
- Capable of automatically discovering networks
- Tracks all devices connected over a network in real-time
- Alert options and robust reporting
- Collects devices and maps them for quick analysis
One of the best software in the market for tracking network performance and availability. It is a complete suite of monitoring services from which you can choose different plans as well. Using it, you can quickly identify performance issues, trigger alerts, and troubleshoot them.
The tool would take care of all the network component monitoring, so you wouldn’t need to pay extra for other tools to do so. Further, you can monitor all of your network equipment from a single console, including your firewall appliances, load balancers, switches, and routers.
All the editions of Site24x7 have the same feature but vary in capacity. Businesses of all sizes can use the tool for monitoring networks and running connection testing services. Large businesses that might require more capacity can pay higher fees to access it.
Pros:
- Apart from monitoring networks, the tool supports watching over real users and infrastructure from a single dashboard
- Watches over traffic and user behavior to deliver better performance
- Performs analysis by collecting status information using SNMP agents
- Easier to track unusual patterns, traffic, and user behavior
Cons:
- A feature-rich platform that will require time to fully understand its functionalities
Access the 30-day free trial.
4. LogicMonitor
Known for being an all-around great solution for network software, LogicMonitor has most of what you need. The software is quickly installed, using its LogicMonitor Collector to collect your network devices automatically. It almost immediately begins to monitor those devices using an interface that is both comprehensive yet easy to digest.
Key Features:
- Cloud-based application monitoring
- Customizable dashboard interface
- Hybrid cloud environment support
- Comprehensive reporting module
Why do we recommend it?
LogicMonitor is a SaaS platform that offers three core packages and one of those is the Network Monitoring unit. This service includes autodiscovery and network topology mapping. It can reach outside a LAN to monitor SD-WANs and SASE networks. The package can also gather logs from network devices.
The dashboard is easy to customize to fit specific business needs. Each metric including disc space usage and network packet rates are in drag-and-drop widgets that can be placed anywhere on the dashboard for easy viewing.
When it comes to reporting, LogicMonitor has the ability to alert whoever is responsible for certain security or network problems, without your help. Reports can be built on any measure and saved into folders for easy access.
However, you must know what you are looking for to properly use the reporting module. For beginners, the reporting module may not be the best option.
Who is it recommended for?
This unit is available as a standalone unit or as part of the Unified Infrastructure Monitoring package, which also gives you server, database, VM, and storage monitoring. LogicMonitor doesn’t specify the charge rate for its service, whether it is per network or per device. So, its suitability for small businesses is difficult to judge.
Pros:
- Monitors application performance via the cloud
- Can monitor assets in hybrid cloud environments
- The dashboard can be customized and saved, great for different NOC teams or individual users
- Better suited for enterprises and MSPs
Cons:
- The trial is only 14 days, would like to see a longer testing period
Logic Monitoring pricing depends on which modules you choose. The Unified Infrastructure Monitoring package includes the Network Monitoring unit, so you don’t need both. The other core package is the Cloud and Container Monitoring and this would work in conjunction with either the other two packages. There are three additional modules available: Log Analysis, Synthetic Monitoring, and Application Traces.
LogicMonitor’s interface is easy to use and completely customizable, with an easy way to measure each metric you will need. Pricing is available for any size of business and organization, as well as a 14-day free trial for new users. Even though the reporting module is difficult to use, LogicMonitor still receives one of the highest scores on our list: four out of five stars.
5. Datadog
Datadog has made it to our list due to its easy-to-use interface and reporting modules. Installing can be a bit hectic to get started, however, which may cause a lag in your network monitoring efforts.
Key Features:
- TimeBoards and Screenboards dashboards
- Real-time cloud-based monitoring
- Supports 400+ integrations
- Scalable for any environment size
Why do we recommend it?
Datadog provides a menu of monitoring and management tools on its SaaS platform and it has two modules for network monitoring. These are the Network Device Monitoring system, which polls devices for SNMP reports, and the Network Performance Monitoring service, which tracks traffic patterns. These two services complement each other.
Datadog gives you access to two different types of dashboards including TimeBoards and Screenboards. TimeBoards are great for troubleshooting network problems while ScreenBoards are perfect for showing status. You have major flexibility here for what you choose to view on the interface.
Datadog focuses on real-time monitoring, so a traditional reporting method isn’t available. However, Datadog has capabilities for analysis that are more than traditional, even offering a way to create a query based on specific criteria. There isn’t a way to print or export these reports for safe-keeping though.
Who is it recommended for?
Both network monitoring systems are charged per device, which makes them suitable for all sizes of businesses. The Network Device Monitoring tool has an add-on option for NetFlow statistics reading, which is priced per million records processed. You also need to subscribe to the Datadog Infrastructure Monitor for these network monitoring tools to work.
Pros:
- Excellent graphic options for monitoring multiple metrics
- Highly customizable dashboards, great for NOC teams
- Cloud-based monitoring, can be accessible from anywhere
- 400+ integrations can support nearly any database deployment
- Highly scalable – can work in any size environment
Cons:
- Would like to see a longer trial period
Datadog’s pricing is great at only $15.00 per month with a 14-day free trial of the software.
However, other costs may add up depending on what you currently have on hand. You must have a software agent installed first, prior to using Datadog. If you don’t, you will need to purchase one which could cost you up to two-hundred-dollars.
Datadog has been rated a three-and-a-half out of five stars for its easy-to-use functionality and analysis.
However, with its learning curve and lack of traditional reporting, it loses some points in our book. It is still a great choice for small businesses looking to be alerted when the network experiences trouble or large companies who already have the IT necessary to use the automation tools.
Conclusion
There you have it – the perfect mix of network management, an easy-to-use interface, and pricing for all your network needs. While there are other great tools available, these are three of the best on the market for 2024.
Still not convinced?
Please be sure to check out our other reviews to find the best network monitoring software for your business.
Network Software FAQs
What are some popular network software products?
Some popular network software products include SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor, Cisco Prime Infrastructure, Nagios, Wireshark, and Splunk.
What are some common features of network software?
Common features of network software include network discovery and mapping, real-time monitoring and alerts, performance and availability reporting, configuration management, and remote access and control.
What are some common network software integration challenges?
Common network software integration challenges include compatibility issues with existing hardware and software, complex configurations and dependencies, and lack of interoperability between different network software products.
