Top 15 Network Monitoring Tools of 2022 – Find the Best Fit for Your Hybrid IT

With the rise of enterprise networks over recent decades and the surge of virtual, cloud, and edge networks, monitoring tools have become increasingly vital. In most enterprises today, monitoring traffic across hybrid IT environments is crucial for proactive network management, whether to detect anomalies, bandwidth usage, emerging threats, or to chart trends using historical data.

The following are the 15 best network monitoring tools of 2022:

Auvik

Broadcom

Catchpoint

Datadog

Dynatrace

ExtraHop

Kentik

LogicMonitor

ManageEngine

Nagios

Paessler

Progress

SolarWinds

VIAVI Solutions

Zabbix

Auvik

Official Site

https://www.auvik.com/

Auvik is a fast‑growing network management software company offering cloud‑based IT asset management, traffic analysis, and performance monitoring. Customers can choose between Essentials and Performance plans, both providing unlimited users, sites, endpoints, and support. Essentials covers monitoring and alerts, while Performance adds forensic traffic data, ML‑based application visibility, and advanced network traffic analysis tools.

On Gartner Peer Insights, Auvik has 23 reviews with an average rating of 4.8/5, praised for its standard API setup, component monitoring, and ease of intelligent traffic analysis.

Auvik Features

Static data encrypted with AES‑256 and TLS v1.2 in transit

Remote management, global dashboards, and geolocation IP tracking

24×7 DevOps team for technical support and threat remediation

Logical secure access with role‑based controls, 2FA, and SSO

Automated backup and recovery for resilient policies

Broadcom

Official Site

https://www.broadcom.com/

DX NetOps, assembled by Broadcom’s CA Technologies subsidiary, provides network visibility and actionable intelligence for monitoring digital user experience. Broadcom’s extensive IT solution stack includes AI‑based observability products for operational intelligence, application performance, unified infrastructure management, and network monitoring. The potential bundling of Broadcom’s monitoring services with Symantec’s broader security suite makes AIOps worth considering.

Gartner Peer Insights shows Broadcom with 75 reviews and an average rating of 4.5/5, highlighting endpoint monitoring, topology mapping, and third‑party resource availability.

Broadcom Features

Continuous feedback loop to improve DevOps data management

Monitoring of mainframes, networks, infrastructure, applications, and digital experience

Dashboards with services, alerts, logs, and performance metric analysis

Network monitoring for cloud, SD‑WAN, and traditional core networks

Service orchestration and automation for complex IT environments

Catchpoint

Official Site

https://www.catchpoint.com/

Founded in 2008 as a dedicated monitoring vendor, Catchpoint now helps organizations monitor end‑to‑end digital experiences across hybrid networks. Customers can select standalone monitoring solutions for endpoints, networks, synthetic monitoring, and real‑user monitoring (RUM), or bundle them within the Catchpoint platform.

Gartner Peer Insights records 108 reviews for Catchpoint with an average rating of 4.7/5, emphasizing quality and timeliness of support, ease of deployment, and service delivery monitoring capabilities.

Catchpoint Features

Visibility into third‑party providers, on‑prem ISP, CDN, API, and DNS

Global comprehensive monitoring via cloud, wireless, broadband, and last‑mile nodes

Actionable alerts, reporting, and data insights to reduce MTTR and MTTD

Prevention of DNS cache poisoning, DDoS attacks, and BGP hijacking

Monitoring of employee VPNs to assess performance, reachability, and security

Datadog

Official Site

https://www.datadoghq.com/

Datadog offers a powerful solution for monitoring, performance metrics, and alert notifications in modern IT environments. Founded in 2010 by seasoned SaaS and DevOps leaders, it helps organizations monitor user journeys and explore service relationships, allowing administrators to group traffic by container, team, or office and filter data by tags, devices, or hosts.

Gartner Peer Insights lists 211 reviews for Datadog with an average rating of 4.5/5, noting interactive dashboards, customization levels, troubleshooting, and ease of implementation.

Datadog Features

Visibility across on‑prem, IoT, digital experience, cloud, and hybrid networks

Isolation and resolution of network issues, identification of high‑traffic teams

Visualization of traffic across data centers, containers, and applications

Integrated metrics to pinpoint cloud‑service‑related problems

System‑wide DNS performance and health tracking with multiple metrics

Dynatrace

Official Site

https://www.dynatrace.com/

Dynatrace provides a full‑stack application performance monitoring and digital experience platform for modern hybrid environments. It offers infrastructure monitoring of entities, behavior, logs, metrics, and vulnerability profiles, with built‑in capabilities for KPI optimization, user‑experience improvement, process automation, and enriched DevSecOps communication.

Gartner Peer Insights records 90 reviews for Dynatrace with an average rating of 4.6/5, highlighting server, storage, and database monitoring as well as third‑party resource availability.

Dynatrace Features

Change tracking to automatically monitor new machines and network devices

Network‑interface tracking of inbound and outbound process connections

Root‑cause analysis to assess impact on customer experience and remediate

Capacity planning by identifying resource‑intensive processes at host and process level

Health metrics such as RAM, CPU, disk, and network displayed in a single dashboard

ExtraHop

Official Site

https://www.extrahop.com/

ExtraHop is a cloud‑native network security vendor focused on monitoring hybrid workloads and delivering next‑generation network detection and response (NDR) solutions. Through the Reveal(x) 360 platform, customers gain visibility across core, remote, edge, and cloud deployments, real‑time threat detection, and automated investigation workflows.

Gartner Peer Insights shows ExtraHop with 133 reviews and an average rating of 4.8/5, praised for product responsiveness, quality of end‑user training, and features such as IT operations analytics and diagnostics.

ExtraHop Features

Identify and deploy Reveal(x) to monitor selected hybrid or multi‑cloud networks

Machine‑learning‑driven network traffic behavior analysis and investigation

Cloud‑based record repository with search, query, and deep‑dive investigation

Packet mirroring from cloud service providers for agent‑less visibility and granularity

Tools for digital forensics, incident response, compliance, and threat tracking

Kentik

Official Site

https://www.kentik.com/

Founded in 2014, Kentik is an emerging network monitoring vendor offering the Kentik Network Observability Cloud, a suite of tools that ingest, enrich, and integrate traffic in hybrid IT environments. Its solutions protect core, edge, and cloud networks while adding DDoS and botnet protection, supply‑chain analysis, and synthetic monitoring.

Gartner Peer Insights records 94 reviews for Kentik with an average rating of 4.8/5, highlighting support quality, vendor responsiveness, seamless onboarding, and meaningful data visualizations.

Kentik Features

Access to continuously updated multi‑source threat‑intel database

Detection and mitigation of DDoS attacks with automated response workflows

Real‑time and extensive historical data analysis for troubleshooting and forensics

Built‑in security with application segmentation, MFA, and encryption at rest and in transit

RPKI tracking to detect leaks, prevent hijacking, and verify secure BGP routing

LogicMonitor

Official Site

https://www.logicmonitor.com/

LogicMonitor is an industry‑recognized, cloud‑based infrastructure monitoring platform covering applications, databases, containers, servers, storage, and contextual logs. The Pro core package provides basic tools for hybrid infrastructure monitoring, including intelligent alerts, topology mapping, and extensive integrations. The Enterprise tier adds NBAR2 protocol support, dynamic service monitoring, and anomaly detection for organizations covering over 200 devices.

Gartner Peer Insights shows 93 reviews for LogicMonitor with an average rating of 4.8/5, noting ease of deployment, component and service‑delivery monitoring, and flexible customization.

LogicMonitor Features

Access to over 2,000 pre‑configured integrations such as Azure, ServiceNow, and Oracle

Role‑based access control and strong user authentication, including 2FA and SAML

Sandbox for testing custom modules before deployment

Comprehensive transaction coverage using ping checks, multi‑step tests, and service checks

SOC2 Type 2 and ISO/IEC 27001:2013 certified platform

ManageEngine

Official Site

https://www.manageengine.com/

ManageEngine offers over 110 products, including application performance, server, and network monitoring solutions. OpManager Plus bundles tools for bandwidth and flow analysis (NetFlow Analyzer), network performance monitoring (OpManager), firewall, IP address, switch‑port, and configuration policy management. Site24x7, part of the suite, adds APM, web‑app monitoring, website performance, and remote monitoring and management (RMM).

Gartner Peer Insights lists 682 reviews for ManageEngine with an average rating of 4.5/5, highlighting fine‑grained visibility on dashboards, custom notification policies, support quality, and user profile management.

ManageEngine Features

Over 2,000 built‑in network performance monitors for tracking key metrics and health

Multi‑level thresholds for custom performance expectations and alerts

Monitoring of latency, RTT, packet loss, hop‑by‑hop performance, etc.

200+ performance widgets for custom admin dashboards

Support for virtual (VMware, Xen, Nutanix) and physical (Windows, Linux) servers

Nagios

Official Site

https://www.nagios.org/

Nagios provides enterprise monitoring capabilities and is best known as one of the most popular open‑source network monitoring solutions. Its extensive suite covers website, protocol, OS, server, power, email, and more. For advanced support and features, customers can choose Nagios XI, Nagios Fusion for multi‑site management, Log Server for traffic discovery, or Network Analyzer for bandwidth monitoring and flow analysis.

Gartner Peer Insights records 235 reviews for Nagios with an average rating of 4.4/5, noting continuous monitoring of servers and networks, interface configuration, product support, and capacity planning.

Nagios Features

User‑friendly web GUI for custom layouts and preferences per user

Access to multiple APIs for integration with internal or hundreds of third‑party plugins

Integrated capacity‑planning insights for proactive upgrades

Alert escalation strategies to ensure stakeholders remediate detected threats

Distributed operation servers for monitoring and managing remote client locations

Paessler

Official Site

https://www.paessler.com/

PRTG Network Monitor, Paessler’s flagship product, covers hybrid IT environments for SMBs, spanning systems, traffic, devices, and applications. For larger enterprises, PRTG Enterprise Monitor scales to thousands of devices in distributed environments, offering auditable data collection and service‑based SLA monitoring via the ITOps Board.

Gartner Peer Insights shows 530 reviews for Paessler with an average rating of 4.6/5, praising ease of deployment, component monitoring, IT‑ops analytics, and historical data retention.

Paessler Features

Flexible notification options for stakeholders, including email and HTTP requests

Real‑time mapping and automatic discovery of network components for enhanced visibility

Remote probes with hosted PRTG licenses for distributed network monitoring

Automatic failover handling between primary nodes within a cluster

Over 250 pre‑configured sensors for customized IT infrastructure monitoring

Progress

Official Site

https://www.progress.com/

Forty years after its MIT origins, Progress Software delivers the WhatsUp Gold suite, offering an industry‑leading infrastructure monitoring stack with network mapping, application performance, and log/configuration management tools to streamline workflows and reduce MTTR.

Following the 2021 acquisition of Kemp Technologies, Progress added Flowmon, enhancing its portfolio with anomaly detection, capacity‑attack detection, data storage, and traffic analysis for security operations.

Gartner Peer Insights records 108 reviews for Progress/Flowmon with an average rating of 4.5/5, highlighting auto‑discovery, network‑map generation, and robust notification options.

Progress Features

Customizable failover policies with automatic switch‑over to backup resources

Monitoring of a wide range of network components, including routers, wireless, virtual, and storage

Stakeholder alerts via web, email, SMS, or Slack for timely remediation

ML‑supported threat detection for anomalous traffic between perimeter and endpoints

DDoS protection with layered mitigation and dynamic threshold adjustment

SolarWinds

Official Site

https://www.solarwinds.com/

Despite a high‑profile supply‑chain attack in December 2020, SolarWinds remains a top choice for enterprise monitoring and performance tools, serving 99.6 % of Fortune 500 companies with network, system, database, service, application, and security monitoring capabilities.

Gartner Peer Insights lists 670 reviews for SolarWinds with an average rating of 4.4/5, emphasizing service‑delivery monitoring, diagnostics, and ease of deployment in large‑scale environments.

SolarWinds Features

Performance monitoring for applications, VMware hosts, servers, and networks

Log and event data collection for root‑cause analysis

Automated monitoring, traffic analysis, and change management for hybrid networks

VoIP monitoring for WAN performance insights and QoS metrics

User‑device tracking, IP address management, and trend analysis

VIAVI Solutions

Official Site

https://www.viavisolutions.com/en-us

Spun off from JDS Uniphase in 2015, VIAVI Solutions brings over four years of IT service experience. In 2022, its Arizona‑based Observer platform focuses on network performance monitoring and threat analysis, offering integrated traffic, data analytics, threat detection, and robust on‑prem devices.

Gartner Peer Insights records 79 reviews for VIAVI with an average rating of 4.8/5, highlighting customer‑need awareness, support quality, and features such as utilization metrics, data visualization, and endpoint monitoring.

VIAVI Features

Tools for network security forensics, root‑cause analysis, and line‑rate packet capture

End‑User Experience (EUE) analysis for each network transaction

Passive full‑duplex network TAPs for copper, aggregation, conversion, and fiber

Unified communications analytics for application performance, trends, and troubleshooting

Role‑based access control via Observer Management Server (OMS)

Zabbix

Official Site

https://www.zabbix.com/

Founded by Alexei Vladishev in 2004 and released to the open‑source community, Zabbix has expanded its feature set to serve enterprise audiences worldwide. Its security capabilities include configuration‑change tracking, secret vaults, flexible permissions, and encryption across client devices.

Gartner Peer Insights lists 284 reviews for Zabbix with an average rating of 4.5/5, noting community quality, network and server monitoring capabilities, and ease of customization.

Zabbix Features

Root‑cause analysis and SLA monitoring to determine business‑level impact

Metric collection and analysis for cloud services, log files, databases, applications, and IoT sensors

Permission‑based data protection via allow/deny metric lists

Machine‑learning‑driven threat detection, trend forecasting, and smart thresholds

Component discovery enabling rapid deployment on local or cloud networks

What Is a Network Monitoring Tool?

Network monitoring tools are software applications or hardware devices that help network administrators maintain consistent visibility of historical and real‑time traffic across on‑prem, cloud, virtual, and edge networks and their components.

Monitoring considers the behavior, traffic, and health of standard network components such as endpoint devices, firewalls, routers, switches, and servers, enabling enhanced visibility, deeper performance control, fault tolerance, and activity auditing.

Network Monitoring Software Functions

Detect and diagnose network‑specific events for resolution

Establish performance baselines for regular audits

Track network performance, activity levels, and downtime trends

Visualize performance and trends with graphical tools

Record and analyze historical and real‑time events

Identify devices and systems for continuous visibility

Control alert policies to notify stakeholders of abnormal activity

Use actionable data to determine required remediation

LogicMonitor dashboards display topology, alert status, and NetFlow throughput by resource type

Monitoring Solutions: Network, Applications, and Databases

Monitoring IT systems is as important as security solutions; today’s market offers a variety of tools for databases, applications, and networks.

Database monitoring, such as SQL Server monitoring, has long been used to track data flow in enterprise systems. In contrast, Application Performance Monitoring (APM) addresses how users interact with applications and the increasingly complex application ecosystem.

Monitoring solutions for databases, applications, networks, and specific IT systems complement each other, providing comprehensive visibility across the enterprise environment.

What Is Network Detection and Response (NDR)?

While Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) and its managed version (MDR) are familiar, the emergence of XDR has highlighted Network Detection and Response (NDR) as a critical component.

NDR goes beyond traditional EDR by monitoring, detecting, and responding to internal network threats, often providing visibility and control over internal threat detection and user‑behavior analytics.

Link: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/mwMWYkKHOvZEHyNeCT0lsg

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