7 Best FREE Network Mapping Tools & Software (2024)

Many network mapping tools are slow at device detections, have high inaccuracies, and lack proper integrations. Choosing the wrong network mapping service can create many issues, including poor network performance and imperfect network device configurations.

That’s why choosing from the best network mapping tools is essential. These tools help you perform network control, diagnostics, visualization, and monitoring. Our team extensively researched over 45 services to handpick the 8 best network mappers for your needs. Our evaluations were based on price, security, device support, integrations, etc.

Best Network Mapping Tools & Software for Network Topology Map

Name Supported Platforms Key Features Free Trial Link
👍 Network Topology Mapper Windows, macOS, and Linux • Alerts for specific events
• Instant New Device Detection
14 Days Learn More
Site24x7’s Network Mapping Windows, macOS, and Linux • View your network connections
• Identifies issues in devices instantly
30 Days Learn More
OpManager Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS • Scalable network monitoring
• Support for up to 250+ devices.
30 Days Learn More
Paessler PRTG Network Monitor Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS • AI-enabled network monitoring
• Creates real-time network maps
30 Days Learn More
Nagios XI Windows, Linux, and macOS • Advanced user management
• Easy integration with third-party APIs
30 Days Learn More
Expert Advice:

You should choose a network map software that lets you easily modify your network/devices. We advise you to select a tool that maintains high performance, works on various devices, and is cost-effective. You should always prefer tools with robust integrations with third-party services and applications.

1) SolarWinds Network Topology Mapper

Best for multi-level network mapping

SolarWinds NTM features allow you to discover network devices and create a precise and accurate map. It offers various graphing, reporting, and visualization tools for network infrastructure problems. The automated discovery feature provides in-depth insights and pinpoints bottlenecks in your system.

SolarWinds can create standard network topology diagrams to give complete network visibility. Furthermore, it allows you to create a custom tool for discovering devices. Its advanced network map generator supports many discovery methods, such as ICMP, WMI, VMware, and Hyper-V.

#1 Top Pick
Network Topology Mapper
5.0

Supported Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux.

Integrations: Microsoft Visio, Orion Network Atlas, Orion Network Performance Monitor.

Pricing: Plans start at $1711 (one-time purchase)

Free Trial: Yes, 14 Days

Visit SolarWinds

Features:

  • You can create various topology diagram layouts and reports according to industry standards.
  • Map Navigator in NTM can make accurate network diagrams easily, allowing network management.
  • It helps resolve network problems with logical diagrams highlighting complex relationship bottlenecks.
  • The alert feature notifies you when a specific event, condition, or threshold occurs.

Pros

  • Automatically creates network segmentation and topology diagrams to provide complete network visibility.
  • It supports essential protocols like Payment Card Industry (PCI) and Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX).
  • Instantly detects new devices and their IDs, updating the network map in real-time.

Cons

  • The initial setup is slow, time-consuming, and resource intensive.

Visit SolarWinds >>

14 Days Free Trial


2) Site24x7’s Network Mapping

Site24x7’s Network Mapping tool allows you to view all your network devices in a single window, which helps you quickly identify which device requires your attention. It offers both topology and Layer 2 maps that can help you logically view network connections as required. You can also drill down on the device from the map for further analysis. The ease of use of this network mapping tool makes it stand out.

It provides a holistic log management system that helps admins remain updated about network activities and changes. You can discover and track your system’s VMware ESX/ESXi hosts, data stores, and critical network devices. Its wireless monitoring tools help find and troubleshoot Wi-Fi devices and access points (APs).

#2
Site24x7’s Network Mapping
4.9

Supported Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux.

Integrations: ServiceNow, PagerDuty, Jira, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Telegram, etc.

Pricing: Plans Start at $35 a month, per year.

Free Trial: Yes, 30 Days

Visit Site24x7

Features:

  • Provide an IP range where you can also filter out devices as needed for your Layer 2 maps.
  • Visualize your network hierarchy to easily identify which device may be affected next.
  • View device issues instantly, regardless of global locations.
  • Receive instant alerts, fetch detailed reports, and integrate smoothly with multiple tools
  • This software can obtain deep performance insights for virtual private networks (VPN).
  • AI-based predictions for security checks, vulnerabilities, and resource performance data help to secure your network.
  • Analyze your logs from the cloud and on-premise resources and correlate the performance of all your networks from one console.
  • Quickly identify network activities and bandwidth allocation with the help of Router Monitoring.
  • Storage monitoring can measure health and performance using SNMP for devices like RAIDs, tape libraries, etc.

Pros

  • Cloud-based applications and services are monitored with a cloud monitoring tool.
  • It ensures optimal firewall performance to secure your network gateways using real-time monitoring.
  • Load Balancer Monitoring can analyze traffic distribution and performance across all data centers.

Cons

  • Steep learning curve makes it a hard-to-use tool for beginners and inexperienced users.

Visit Site24x7 >>

30 Days Free Trial


3) OpManager

Best for managing large-scale networks

OpManager is an advanced network topology tool that detects and resolves faults in 4 steps. It provides a scalable network monitoring architecture with many integrations. This real-time network monitoring tool identifies various problem areas in the network infrastructure and quickly notifies the admin.

You can use its switch monitoring tool to track switches and get alerts when a switch goes down. The Tape Library management system uses vendor-specific MIBs and APIs to locate the tape archives in SAN/NAS networks. It offers many plans for enterprise-grade use cases with support for up to 250+ devices.

#3
ManageEngine OpManager
4.8

Supported Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS.

Integrations: Slack, MS Teams, Telegram, ServiceNow, ManageEngine’s-ServiceDesk Plus.

Pricing: Plans start at $245 a year.

Free Trial: Yes, 30 Days.

Visit ManageEngine

Features:

  • Monitors all activities such as network bandwidth, utilization, errors, and discards in the installed networks.
  • All sets of information, such as capacity performance, library configuration, etc., can be accessed in the OpManger client.
  • You can verify your Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with your ISPs.
  • Optimizes network bandwidth for high performance by analyzing all links in the network.
  • It pings devices at regular intervals to detect device downtime.
  • You can solve your queries through customer support via the website, email, call, and virtual assistant.

Pros

  • Quickly access capacity consumption and storage capacity details of devices.
  • When a device changes the network, maps are redrawn in real-time to keep them updated.
  • It can simulate and track physical connections with messy switches and large complex networks.

Cons

  • Requires much time to learn features and functionality.

Visit OpManager >>

30 Days Free Trial


4) Paessler PRTG Network Monitor

Best for advanced network mapping utilities.

Paessler PRTG Network Monitor can track, manage, and view all the networks based on availability, capacity, and more. It runs directly into your IT infrastructure, giving you full access to maintenance, backups, and upgrades. Pre-configured monitoring aspects and device templates help you generate network health reports conveniently.

The AI-enabled network discovery feature helps you quickly discover all network devices. The Failover Cluster provides uptime for networks in case of hardware or software upgrades or any other problem with the server. You can monitor and analyze specific data sets from your databases.

#4
Paessler Network Monitor
4.7

Supported Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS.

Integrations: Lansweeper, GitLab, Dropbox, Google Analytics, Jira Cloud.

Pricing: Plans start at $1799 (one-time purchase)

Free Trial: Yes, 30 Days

Visit Paessler

Features:

  • A customizable alerting system can alert you to discover any unusual changes in your network.
  • It integrates all essential technologies required in network mappings like Ping, SNMP, WMI, and SSH.
  • You can avail of on-premises SaaS-based cloud monitoring hosted by Paessler.
  • It supports all flow protocols, such as IPFIX, jFLow, and NetFlow, and helps monitor your network more efficiently.
  • PRTG’s map designer creates dashboards and real-time maps for visualizing your network.
  • Customer support is available 24×7 through the product website, email, and virtual assistant.

Pros

  • Its built-in notification system sends you alerts at predefined intervals.
  • This software provides information about the bandwidth usage of your devices and applications.
  • Offers also help you quickly manage complicated connections with messy switches and large networks.

Cons

  • The configuration interface is old and not optimized, thus difficult to work with at times.
  • Per-entity licensing is challenging for devices with many monitoring points like network switches.

Visit Paessler >>

30 Days Free Trial


5) Nagios XI

Best open-source network mapping tool

Nagios XI allows admins to view and resolve network incidents with built-in diagrams and graphs. All components, such as application services, operating systems, and network protocols, can be seen on the central server. You can use it to create and manage user accounts with only a few clicks. It can assign custom roles to ensure hassle-free operations with advanced user management.

This network mapping software has an intelligent web dashboard that provides a high-level view of hosts and services of network devices. It saves your most current configurations, archives them, and reverts them whenever needed with SnapshotSave. It provides features like auto-discovery, auto-decommission, and configuring your networks.

Nagios XI

Features:

  • Extendable architecture with many APIs provides easy integration with in-house and third-party apps.
  • Multi-user access to the web allows stakeholders to view relevant networks and their status.
  • Several community-developed add-ons extend monitoring and native alerting functionality with a custom interface.
  • Allows admins to manage monitoring system settings for end-users and team members efficiently.
  • Configuration wizards guide users in monitoring new devices, services, and applications.
  • You can use email, the product website, or call a virtual assistant in case of any query or problem.

Pros

  • A powerful GUI allows for layout, design, and preferences customization per user.
  • Automated Capacity Planning with graphs allows corporations to plan for future upgrades.
  • Advanced user management simplifies administration allowing you to use accounts easily.

Cons

  • Relatively high false-positive error detection percentage in analyzing the network.

Key Specs:

Supported Platforms: Windows, Linux, macOS.
Integrations: PagerDuty, Slack, Nagios Core, Google Maps.
Pricing: Plans start at $1995 a year
Free Trial: Yes, 30 Days.

Link: https://www.nagios.com/products/nagios-xi/


6) Auvik

Best for detailed network map generation

Auvik regularly pings network devices and servers to detect response time and configurational changes. It uses ML and AI for traffic classification. You can highlight data-consuming applications that negatively impact network bandwidth. Its remote browser uses HTTPS to connect to a device’s web interface in Auvik’s inventory. You can install a collector on the client network for accessible communication.

Auvik centralizes system logs for your network available on the primary device dashboard. You can pre-configure alerts and receive notifications from each service. It identifies devices that need upgrades or replacements by analyzing hardware lifecycle data.

Auvik

Features:

  • Get details for every device on the network with inventory network protocols.
  • Access historical data of site changes, devices, credentials, alert definitions, and networks.
  • Automatically makes a backup of configuration changes in the network infrastructure.
  • Powerful search lets you find the specific device based on name, type, vendor, and network.
  • On the Auvik map, alerts appear on top of an affected device so you can identify problems.
  • Admins can control and restrict resource/tool access to specific users.
  • Clients can get customer support by writing emails, through the website, and calling virtual call assistants.
  • The built-in app terminal lets you access any SSH-enabled device with a simple click.

Pros

  • Global alert view lets you view, search, and manage alerts at the central dashboard.
  • Cloud-based SaaS platform allows you to access Auvik from any web browser.
  • 2FA permission configurations and audit logs boost the security of your network infrastructure.
  • The color-coded system helps to highlight historical configuration changes for all devices.

Cons

  • The full version’s free trial period is small.
  • This software has no inventory management features.

Key Specs:

Supported Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux.
Integrations: Microsoft Teams, ConnectWise, Autotask PSA, Slack.
Pricing: Contact Customer Support for Pricing
Free Trial: Yes, 14 Days

Visit Auvik >>

14 Days Free Trial


7) LANState

Best for small-scale applications

LANState automatically scans your network, detecting the various device types and creating suitable network maps. It can create vector device icons to analyze networks better. This network mapping tool provides full notifications about network problems, disk space, service errors, etc. Moreover, this tool shows real-time network maps to see all operational and inoperational networks.

LANState collects critical data by running in-depth monitoring checks on your networks. You can create reports and further analyze charts with parameter changes. It requires no extra configuration on remote computers and servers. You can turn off, reboot, and shut down remote servers and workstations from the central location.

LANState

Features:

  • This software supports SNMP protocol which discovers the network and draws links between devices.
  • Retrieve information from remote computers, such as event logs, for operations like RDP and ping.
  • Admins get notified when new devices and hosts connect to the network infrastructure.
  • Vivid LAN representation helps to display real-time host states indicating monitored parameters.
  • LANState offers quick device management with the help of visual maps.
  • Remote users can access its web interface in the pro version of this software.
  • You can solve your problems through customer support via documentation, FAQs, forums, Email, and Online Contact Forms.

Pros

  • Quick device management on a visual map helps to monitor networks easily.
  • Detect and get notified whenever new devices connect to the network.
  • Vivid LAN representation helps to display host states indicating monitored parameters in real time.

Cons

  • Lacks integrations with 3rd party services

Key Specs:

Supported Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux
Integrations: None
Pricing: Lifetime free Basic Plan.

Link: https://www.10-strike.com/lanstate/


8) Nmap

Best penetration testing tool for network analysis

Nmap is a free network mapping software that uses IP packets to determine which hosts and services are currently used by network infrastructure. It identifies operating systems and firewalls presently active on your network. This software supports advanced techniques for mapping networks, such as IP filters, firewalls, and routers. You can create rich visual maps in Nmap to investigate topology layouts and correlations for better understanding.

Nmap is the best free network mapping tool, with many port scannings mechanisms like OS detection, version detection, and ping sweeps. For better understanding, you can make visual maps to investigate topology layouts and correlations.

Nmap

Features:

  • Automatically discovers the network environment to detect connected components within the infrastructure.
  • Find most bug reports and questions on the Nmap-dev list.
  • Detailed Inventory reports for network inventories are generated at particular intervals for analysis.
  • Nmap is the best free network mapping tool with a large open-source community and support.
  • You can easily integrate other free network mapping software with Nmap, including Zenmap, Ncat, Nping, etc., which increases its overall usability.
  • Hundreds of thousands of machines can be detected through Nmap, showing its wide range of compatibility.

Pros

  • Automatically discovers the network environment to see connected components within the infrastructure.
  • This is an entirely free network topology mapper ideal for budget-conscious users.
  • It offers options to perform network mapping using both, i.e., GUI and CLI.

Cons

  • Nmap lacks tools and features for advanced enterprise-grade usage.

Key Specs:

Supported Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, NetBSD, Sun OS, Amiga
Integrations: Libpcap raw packet capture library, Libdnet basic networking library, Lua Programming Language
Pricing: Lifetime free

Link: https://nmap.org/

FAQs

Some of the best network mapping tools for network monitoring are:

Here are some critical factors that you must consider while choosing the best network mapping tools for your usage:

  • Ease of access: A ideal network topology tool generates network maps, analyzes them, and manages your network.
  • Pricing: Always choose a tool that fits your budget, preferably select a free network topology mapper if you can find one.
  • Free Trial: The company should provide a long free trial of their software or a basic plan. It would allow you to analyze all its features and choose the best-suited service for your business.
  • Performance: The NTM should be optimized enough to handle large loads at peak hours and generate valuable data insights.
  • Device support: You should look for a network mapping tool that supports many devices, as modern networks have all types of devices.
  • Security: It is one of the essential factors while selecting the NTM because it acts as the backbone for communication.

Best Network Mapping Tools & Software for Network Topology Map

Name Supported Platforms Key Features Free Trial Link
👍 Network Topology Mapper Windows, macOS, and Linux • Alerts for specific events
• Instant New Device Detection
14 Days Learn More
Site24x7’s Network Mapping Windows, macOS, and Linux • View your network connections
• Identifies issues in devices instantly
30 Days Learn More
OpManager Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS • Scalable network monitoring
• Support for up to 250+ devices.
30 Days Learn More
Paessler PRTG Network Monitor Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS • AI-enabled network monitoring
• Creates real-time network maps
30 Days Learn More
Nagios XI Windows, Linux, and macOS • Advanced user management
• Easy integration with third-party APIs
30 Days Learn More

Final Verdict

We have thoroughly researched and evaluated some of the best network mapping tools for you. Some software is significantly better than their peers in specific use cases. We advise choosing the best network mapping tool for the next-to-ideal experience.

  • Auvik is ideal for advanced applications because it has some easy-to-use features.
  • Good network mapping with device layouts, SolarWinds Network Topology Manager is the right choice for you.
  • Besides, OpManager is the best network mapping tool overall for all use cases due to its simple UI and customer-centric features.