Network monitoring is one of the toughest challenges for network or IT administrators. It is a crucial IT process where the administrators continuously monitor various networking components, such as firewalls, servers, routers, VMs, and switches, for faults to ensure their optimal performance and availability. This task of monitoring helps enterprises of all domains and sizes improve their online presence. And the best free network monitoring software goes a long way in helping you perform this function more efficiently and effectively. With the help of the best network monitoring tools, you can proactively identify and solve network problems. It helps you prevent downtime and failures in the future. However, the top network monitoring tools in the marketplace often cost a bomb. Therefore, we dived deep into the world of network monitors and found some cost-effective yet feature-rich free and open-source programs to monitor the network. Before going through this monitoring tool’s list, let us look at some essential features you should consider when selecting a tool. Knowing what to look for in network monitoring software helps you choose the best one for your requirements.
Essential Features of the Best Free Network Monitoring Software
Below are some core features that the top free open-source network monitoring tools should possess.
Ability to perform network monitoring automaticallyDevice discovery routine to automatically create an asset inventoryAlerts when any problem occursDisplays the live status of every device with a network mapping serviceCommunicates with the network devices via SNMP
Let us now have a rundown of the best and free network monitoring tools having all or most of the above features.
Well-Researched List of the Best Free Network Monitoring Software
The following are our top picks when it comes to selecting the best free software for network monitoring.
1. SolarWinds ipMonitor
Let us kickstart our list of the best free network monitoring software with SolarWinds ipMonitor. It is a highly attractive choice if you wish to monitor not more than 50 interfaces. Ideal for small businesses, SolarWinds ipMonitor boasts top-notch visualizations to give you a high-quality user experience. Moreover, the following features contribute to making it one of the best network monitoring tools.
Key Features of SolarWinds ipMonitor
Lightweight, fast, and easy-to-useNetwork devices and server monitoring from a centralized locationSystem problem alertsNetwork device status trackingDiscovery of devices connected to your networkAutomatically creates a network topology map according to collected devices
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2. Network Bandwidth Analyzer
Next on our list is the Network Bandwidth Analyzer, one of the top network monitoring tools. It helps you reduce network outages by quickly detecting, diagnosing, and resolving problems with network performance. Additionally, features like easy viewing of IPv6 and IPv4 flow records are also a reason for including this software on our list. Furthermore, the following are some other noteworthy features of this software.
Key Features of Network Bandwidth Analyzer
Easy monitoring of Juniper J-Flow, IPFIX flow data, Huawei NetStream, and Cisco NetFlow to identify the bandwidth-hungry apps and protocolsAlerts you about application traffic activity changesSends an alert if the network monitoring software is not sharing the network performance dataCollects and converts the traffic data into a useable formatSupports VMware vSphere switchBoasts support for Cisco NBAR2Easy creation of a schedule, in-depth delivery of bandwidth reports, and network traffic analysisSupport for monitoring and management of wireless networksCBQoS policy optimization to measure how effective the pre and post-policy traffic levels are
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3. Paessler PRTG Network Monitor
We have Paessler PRTG Network Monitor in the third position on our list of the best free network monitoring software. It is a user-friendly, feature-rich, and fast software you can use to scan connected devices by IP range (it saves you time from manually configuring everything). Talking about the features, below is what makes Paessler PRTG Network Monitor one of the best network monitoring tools.
Key Features of Paessler PRTG Network Monitor
Network autodiscoveryStatus error alertsCapable of monitoring wireless networksNetwork, application, traffic, and cloud monitoringColor-coded and user-friendly interfaceMonitoring of internet connections between locations and remote sitesDrag and drop editor to effortlessly create custom reports and viewsIntegration with third-party applications like Slack
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4. Zabbix
We cannot skip Zabbix when discussing the best free open-source network monitoring software. It uses historical data to predict future behavior. Moreover, this software provides crucial information, such as network utilization, disk space consumption, and CPU load. Furthermore, automatic detection of device configuration changes and the below features make Zabbix one of the top free network monitoring tools.
Key Features of Zabbix
Expandable and flexible Windows data collectionMultiple metric gathering protocols and methodsEasy monitoring of network bandwidth usageAutomatic discovery of networks coming under the purview of Zabbix agentsSupport for both SNMP protocol and protocol agentsAvailability of a mobile application and many templatesAutomatic detection of device configuration changesPredicts bandwidth usage trends, network downtimes, and moreActive detection of network connection anomaliesGeneration of custom report remediation scriptsEvent correlation feature to reduce the notification noiseCustomized escalation scenarios
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5. Nagios Core
Next, we would like to name Nagios Core as one of the best free network monitoring software with open-source availability. The most attractive thing about this software is its user interface. It sticks to a basic design and web-based GUI to help you analyze the condition of your key services and network infrastructure effortlessly. Moreover, you should go through the following features of this software before making up your mind about downloading it.
Key Features of Nagios Core
Power-packed Nagios Core 4 monitoring engine to ensure top-notch monitoring server performancePowerful dashboards to monitor third-party data and informationIts GUI enables layout, design, and preference customizationMulti-tenant abilitiesLets you easily view and resolve network issuesThe dashboard provides a customizable overview of network devices, hosts, and servicesAutomated and integrated capacity planning graphsMany infrastructure management tools, such as mass acknowledgment, auto decommissioning, etc.Configuration snapshots feature to save, archive, and revert your configuration
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6. ManageEngine OpManager
Let us now take a look at ManageEngine OpManager. It is among the best network monitoring tools for its real-time monitoring of multi-vendor network device performance. Moreover, it boasts many outstanding features, such as active management of physical servers, such as storage arrays, RAID, VMs, etc. Furthermore, the following highlights of this software justify its position on our list.
Key Features of ManageEngine OpManager
Over 9500 templates for monitoring network devicesSends advanced notifications and alerts through SMS and emailsCustom dashboard through more than 100 performance widgetsEasy network management through a mobile applicationContextual integrations for complete monitoring of network infrastructureEffective monitoring of latency, packet loss, and WAN/VoIPAvailability of automatic troubleshootingMulti-user collaboration and SSL offload
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Summing Up the Best Free Network Monitoring Software
In this article, we did a rundown of the best network monitoring tools. You can go through the above software and compare their features with your requirements to select the best one. If you think our list of the best free network monitoring tools misses out on any deserving software, you can mention its name in the comments section. Also, share your views about this article through comments.
