5 BEST Bandwidth Monitoring Software & Tools (2023)

Monitoring your system’s bandwidth is important. But wait a minute! Bandwidth is not your regular internet speed that many users often mistakenly associate with. To better understand the concept, Bandwidth is the amount of information you can send within a stipulated time frame through your internet connectivity.

Bandwidths are calculated in Mbps or Megabits per second. Well, bandwidths certainly play a significant role in influencing the speed of the internet but placing them in the same box is incorrect. In simpler terms, bandwidth and internet speed are not the same. Henceforth, it is crucial to monitor the performance of your bandwidth.

Choosing a bad or improper bandwidth monitoring tool will certainly affect your network’s performance. You may experience productivity issues, and your work will be affected big times. If the network speed is not monitored in real-time, it will negatively impact your performance level. Therefore, you must consider using a reliable bandwidth monitoring tool since it plays a significant role in rerouting the traffic in your network as per the scenario.

Continue reading to learn about the best networking tools to monitor your bandwidth. Read more…

Best Network Bandwidth Monitoring Software & Tools

Provider Name	Real-time Monitoring	Network Traffic Analysis	Alerts	Free Trial	Starting Price	Link
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer	Yes	Yes	Yes	30 days	$1168	Learn More
NetWorx Traffic Monitoring Tool	Yes	Yes	Yes	30 days	$2080	Learn More
Paessler PRTG Bandwidth Monitor	Yes	Yes	Yes	30 days	$1899	Learn More
ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer	Yes	Yes	Yes	30 days	$595	Learn More
Progress WhatsUp Gold	Yes	Yes	Yes	30 days	$2740	Learn More

1) SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

SolarWinds Network Traffic Analyzer (NTA) comes with bandwidth monitoring, traffic analysis, network congestion, and much more. It identifies bandwidth bottlenecks with its monitoring tool and lets you view usage by protocols, apps, and IP address groups.

You can also prevent outages and slowdowns when you monitor the bandwidth by app and IP. This network analyzer retains all the flow data of your network sources, including ports’ data. Such a capability provides you with accurate information on traffic for better management.

Features:

Real time monitoring: It has a real-time network bandwidth usage notifier. NTA allows out-of-the-box modification and builds new bandwidth utilization alerts. This tool can immediately identify the top users who are hogging all the bandwidth so you can intervene if needed.
Reports and insights: NetFlow Traffic Analyzer can transform utilization data automatically into tables, charts, and reports. This provides history and current data for better understanding. You get complete tabs on apps and clients using your bandwidth and can also use NetFlow Traffic Analyzer to create in-depth network protocol analyzer reports. It also has Cisco NetFlow Monitoring that offers reports up to one minute with granularity.
Network traffic analysis: It offers network traffic visualization tools, cross-stack data correlation, and QoS insights for quick insight into bandwidth usage. Furthermore, it lets you collect and analyze flow data from several vendors and analyze bandwidth and traffic patterns using protocol monitoring.
Capacity Planning: Monitoring traffic also helps in optimizing capacity planning. As you can identify the top user, you can optimize the present network usage.
Alerts and Notifications: This tool can send alerts based on predefined CBQoS alerts and top talkers. It notifies you when the top talker crosses a specified amount of usage.
Troubleshooting: NTA sends emails to your inbox with information alerts like “High Receive Percent Utilization and High Transmit Percent Utilization with Top Talkers”. You can then diagnose and troubleshoot this high bandwidth usage.
Security: This platform identifies malicious and malformed traffic via port 0 monitoring. The traffic that addresses to port 0 is always malicious or malformed, as it is reserved for internal use only. You can also set port 0 alerts for instant visibility and use them for identifying DDoS attacks.
Optimize WAN links: Dashboards provide visibility into inter-office traffic patterns across geographical regions on VPNs, helping analyze optimization opportunities.

Pros

Easy to deploy with automatic discovery of networking devices.
Single console to monitor bandwidth usage across multiple sites
Helps right-size network capacity investments and reduces costs
Provides granular data to pinpoint inefficient devices/interfaces

Cons

There might be dashboard delays sometimes.
Upgrading the software can be time-consuming.

Pricing:

Editions Available (with pricing):

There is only one universal edition available. You can have a free trial for 30 days. Post the trial period, you can place your requirements along with add-ons for the pricing.
Regular subscription starts at $1168. For customized options (with add-ons), pricing starts at $2120.

Visit SolarWinds >>

2) NetworX Traffic Monitoring Tool

NetWorX is a network monitoring solution that offers comprehensive visibility into bandwidth utilization. As networks scale to thousands of devices globally, it becomes challenging for administrators to manually monitor bandwidth consumption across interfaces and applications. NetWorX collects real-time traffic data without requiring any agents. It analyzes trends to proactively identify issues and optimize resource allocation.

NetWorX integrates with routers, switches, and firewalls to gather granular bandwidth statistics. It stores historical metrics, which can then be viewed using customizable dashboards and reports.

Features:

Automatic device discovery: Automatically detects network devices of any vendor and types on the fly without agents.
Interface monitoring: Granular visibility into usage of physical/logical ports and VLANs across all devices.
Application visualization: Identifies top bandwidth-consuming apps client devices to troubleshoot bottlenecks.
Bandwidth forecasting: Analyses historical trends to forecast growth and plan infrastructure needs in advance.
Configuration review: Validate configs and track changes made to quickly detect misconfigurations.
Cross-network search: Find relevant devices, configurations or issues across extensive, distributed inventory.

Pros

Agentless monitoring reduces deployment overhead
Extremely powerful and feature-rich dashboard
Warning alerts and notifications
Comprehensive visibility across heterogeneous networks

Cons

There is limited functionality as far as cloud monitoring is concerned.
VM monitoring process also needs improvement.
The process of creating a maintenance schedule needs to be worked upon.

Pricing:

Editions Available (with pricing):

Home Edition: $25 (5 devices), $49 (10 devices)
Business Edition: $49 (5 devices), $99 (10 devices)

Each of these editions comes with a 30-day Free Trial Period with all the features intact.

Link: https://www.softperfect.com/order/

3) Paessler PRTG Bandwidth Monitor

PRTG Network Monitor is a software solution developed by Paessler AG that allows users to monitor network performance and bandwidth usage. With PRTG, administrators can gain valuable bandwidth utilization insights to ensure networks operate efficiently.

This tool will simplify your task; it will monitor your network traffic, devices, services, and applications to ensure no troubleshoots arise. This tool also offers instant notification to ensure that you are aware of the problems with the network.

Features:

Bandwidth usage on interfaces: Sensors track the amount of data transferred in and out of network cards over time.
Traffic flow between devices: PRTG can display the bandwidth/throughput between any two points in the network infrastructure.
Dashboard and reports: The main dashboard shows the current stats of all devices. Custom reports showing historical bandwidth data can be automatically generated on a schedule.
Alerts – Thresholds trigger emails or other alerts if bandwidth exceeds limits, ensuring admins are promptly notified of network performance issues.
Multiple technology supported: Supports almost every crucial technology. It also supports most of the flow protocols like sFlow, NetFlow, jFlow, and IPFIX.
PRTG map designer: Using the PRTG Map Designer, you will be able to develop a dynamic dashboard with ease. You will also be able to track live status from real-time maps.

Pros

Customizable report designs as per user needs
Large device library for effortless setup
PRTG app allows easy and fast editing.

Cons

The tool must be made more user-friendly for LINUX-based systems.
The dashboard still has areas for improvement.
Need to work on triggers and their functionalities.

Pricing:

Editions Available (with pricing):

PRTG Network Monitor ($1899/license) (Perpetual) (1 server)
PRTG Enterprise Monitor ($17599/year) (annually) (Unlimited server)
PRTG Hosted Monitor ($1699/year) (annually and monthly) (1 server)

For a demonstration, you can contact the sales department directly.

Visit Paessler >>

4) ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer

ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer is a comprehensive network monitoring and analytics solution built specifically for flow-based bandwidth monitoring and traffic analysis. It analyzes flow data from sources like NetFlow, sFlow, and IPFIX to provide complete visibility into network bandwidth performance and utilization.

NetFlow Analyzer was created and offered by ManageEngine, the enterprise management division of the software company Zoho Corporation. Under their ManageEngine brand, they develop IT management software across security, networking, cloud, applications, and more.

Features:

Traffic analysis: Identifies top applications, users, and websites consuming bandwidth through exhaustive analysis of flow records for troubleshooting bottlenecks.
Bandwidth monitoring: Provides interface-level bandwidth utilization of physical/logical ports on all network devices for capacity planning and optimization.
Monitor traffic in routers/switches: This tool extensively monitors the flow of traffic in different switches, routers, Firewalls, and WLCs. It also offers in-depth security analysis to prevent chances of network issues.
CISCO AVC monitoring: With the CISCO AVC Monitoring feature, you will be able to delve deeper into the network traffic, thus observing their performance and taking necessary steps to improve their performance.
Deep Packet Inspection: This feature makes it easier for you to read or capture network packets from the server. You can also use this tool to translate these raw packets accordingly.
Geo-location tracking: Maps source and destination IPs on network traffic to identify geographic source and bandwidth expenditure, which helps plan infrastructure.
Security/DHCP monitoring: Provides visibility into unidentified applications/protocols in use and rogue devices communicating over the network for threat detection.
Traffic volume forecasting: Analyses historical trends to predict future bandwidth needs and capacity requirements to plan network upgrades timely.
Role-based access: Fine-grained user roles and privileges ensure the safety of sensitive internal network data as per the organization’s security policies.

Pros

Comprehensive network monitoring and diagnostics for managing bandwidth performance
Highly scalable for networks of any size, from small businesses to large enterprises
Strong support and responsive customer service from ManageEngine

Cons

There is still scope for improvement in the interface.Some functional aspects are lagging.
Some widgets are missing from the dashboard. A better functional dashboard is needed.

Pricing:

Editions Available (with pricing):

Standard ($8595 for 500 Interfaces)
Professional ($595 for 10 Interfaces)
Enterprise ($1,045 for 10 Interfaces)

Each of these editions comes with a 30-day Free Trial Period with all the features intact.

Visit ManageEngine >>

5) Auvik

Auvik is a network monitoring solution that provides comprehensive visibility into bandwidth utilization across diverse network infrastructures. As networks expand in size and complexity, it becomes challenging for administrators to manually monitor bandwidth consumption across thousands of devices.

Auvik integrates with routers, switches, and firewalls to gather granular bandwidth data without requiring any agents. It stores bandwidth and interface statistics, which can then be analysed using intuitive dashboards and reports. Various graphical representations of data help admins track anomalies, optimize resource allocation, and plan infrastructure upgrades well before issues arise.

Features:

Device discovery: Automatically detects network devices and collects interface-level data without requiring agents for complete visibility.
Interface monitoring: Provides bandwidth usage details of physical ports, VLANs, and aggregated links on all devices.
Application visualization: Identifies top bandwidth-consuming apps and clients to troubleshoot bottlenecks.
Usage trends: Long-term historical reporting assists in capacity planning by analyzing growth patterns.
Configuration auditing: Validates configurations and tracks changes to detect misconfigurations.
Alerting: Smart alerts notify on bandwidth thresholds, failures, or usage spikes via email, SMS, etc.
Context-based search: Find relevant devices, configurations, or issues across extensive inventory quickly.
Reporting APIs: Customizable REST APIs allow third-party integration for centralized monitoring.

Pros

Agentless monitoring reduces deployment effort
Intuitive UI for fast issue identification
Proactive capacity planning prevents costly upgrades
Comprehensive visibility across heterogeneous networks
Automatic device and change management

Cons

Requires always-on internet connectivity
The learning curve for advanced customizations
Additional licensing for very large networks

Pricing: Contact Customer Support for Pricing

Visit Auvik >>

6) Progress WhatsUp Gold

WhatsUp is a network and bandwidth monitoring tool developed by Ipswitch. It allows network administrators to monitor their network bandwidth usage and performance. WhatsUp provides real-time visibility into network availability, traffic flow, and device configurations.

This monitoring tool offers you support for PowerShell and VBScript languages. You can use this tool for database monitoring using different SQL queries. It provides a detailed layout of your network by scrutinizing your virtual, wired, and wireless environments.

Features:

Deep Monitoring: Performs deep monitoring of critical folders and files to determine whether they have been changed or altered.
Dynamic Performance Maps: The presence of Dynamic Performance Maps helps address performance problems faster.
Ability to discover devices: With this tool, you can automatically discover the devices available on your network.
Configurable NOC viewer: Configurable NOC viewer scrutinizes potential and current issues by cycling through different data screens.
SNMP deep query: The tool uses SNMP for deep query of every device to have a clear understating of the inventory.

Pros

Excellent cloud visibility and cloud monitoring
Alert reminders are near-perfect
The installation process is easy, and so is the manageability part

Cons

Network monitoring process have room for improvement.
Initial scanning can be slow on very large networks
No application-layer monitoring

Pricing: Contact Customer Support for Pricing

Link: https://www.whatsupgold.com/editions

FAQ

To monitor bandwidth per device on your network, you can use tools like NetFlow or IPFIX for more sophisticated monitoring. On a home network, enable the bandwidth monitoring feature in your router’s settings. Most consumer routers let you view data usage per device connected to your network. Other free options include installing bandwidth monitoring software like NetWorx or NetScan on your PC. They let you see the bandwidth consumption of individual devices connected to your local network.

There are many free ways to monitor your network without spending money on commercial tools. On Windows, the built-in Resource Monitor shows the bandwidth usage of processes and apps in real time. On a Mac, the Activity Monitor performs the same function. For network-wide monitoring, you can analyze router logs manually or use free Network Monitoring Software like PRTG or Zabbix. They offer basic monitoring of bandwidth, traffic, and device connectivity for free. Options like GlassWire are also free for personal use to monitor individual PCs.

The best way to identify traffic flow patterns on an existing network is to install a network usage monitoring appliance. Tools like Cisco Stealthwatch or Netscout can capture and analyse network traffic passively without affecting performance. For a smaller network, open-source tools like Wireshark or TCPdump on routers/switches can help track traffic flows based on ports and protocols.

To see which apps are using the most bandwidth on individual devices, check your operating system’s built-in tools – on Windows, use the Resource Monitor. On Mac, use Activity Monitor. On a network-wide level, check router logs and reports to see which devices are uploading/downloading the most data. Commercial network monitoring tools also let you configure filters to track bandwidth consumed by different protocols and ports used by apps.

Once you pick a suitable network bandwidth monitoring tool, it allows you the option to have a close look at the bandwidth performance. It will help you identify any issues that may cause a disruption to your internet performance. A reliable tool will help you handle issues that may well be caused due to some external factors, configuration problems, or human errors and fix them before the situation gets ugly. With the right kind of tool, the problems associated with bandwidth, faulty networks, and lack of network speeds are resolved.

Verdict

By now, you have understood the best options for bandwidth monitoring and network traffic measurement. However, if you ask me to have my top 3 picks from the list, I will go with SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer, ManageEngine Net Flow Analyzer, and Site24x7 Network Traffic Monitoring tool. Although there remains room for improvement for these and every other tool discussed, these three tools are more feature-rich and certainly meet my purpose of usage.

Best Network Bandwidth Monitoring Software & Tools

Provider Name	Real-time Monitoring	Network Traffic Analysis	Alerts	Free Trial	Starting Price	Link
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer	Yes	Yes	Yes	30 days	$1168	Learn More
NetWorx Traffic Monitoring Tool	Yes	Yes	Yes	30 days	$2080	Learn More
Paessler PRTG Bandwidth Monitor	Yes	Yes	Yes	30 days	$1899	Learn More
ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer	Yes	Yes	Yes	30 days	$595	Learn More
Progress WhatsUp Gold	Yes	Yes	Yes	30 days	$2740	Learn More