Azure Network Watcher vs ManageEngine OpManager comparison

Microsoft and ManageEngine are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Microsoft is ranked #41 with an average rating of 8.7, while ManageEngine is ranked #11 with an average rating of 8.2. Microsoft holds a 0.5% mindshare in NMS, compared to ManageEngine’s 1.5% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 82% of ManageEngine users who would recommend it.

Azure Network Watcher

Read 13 Azure Network Watcher reviews

846 Views
804 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

ManageEngine OpManager

Read 55 ManageEngine OpManager reviews

3,355 Views
3,154 Comparison Views

82% willing to recommend

Azure Network Watcher

ManageEngine OpManager

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 2024

ManageEngine OpManager and Azure Network Watcher are competing products in network management. ManageEngine OpManager appears to have the upper hand with comprehensive network monitoring features, making it more effective for large environments.

Features: ManageEngine OpManager offers comprehensive network and device monitoring, automation, and alerting. It also uses NetFlow analysis to enhance monitoring capabilities, allowing proactive threshold and alert definitions. Azure Network Watcher provides cloud-native capabilities like packet capture, application firewall, and topology visualization, useful in cloud environments.

Room for Improvement: Users of ManageEngine OpManager report issues with change control and stability during upgrades, documentation challenges, and a complex licensing model. Azure Network Watcher could benefit from enhanced documentation, more built-in tools like Wireshark, and an easier initial setup process.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: ManageEngine OpManager, primarily on-premises, offers stable yet complex installations with satisfactory technical support, though improvement is needed in level-one support. Azure Network Watcher, designed for the public cloud, benefits from excellent technical support but presents a steeper learning curve.

Pricing and ROI: ManageEngine OpManager is competitively priced, often more affordable than SolarWinds, offering good value and quick return on investment through improved uptime. Azure Network Watcher, considered more expensive, aligns with enterprise users seeking cloud-native solutions, though its cost may be less accessible for smaller businesses.

To learn more, read our detailed Azure Network Watcher vs. ManageEngine OpManager Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Azure Network Watcher vs. ManageEngine OpManager

December 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Azure Network Watcher

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

41st

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

5.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

ManageEngine OpManager

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

11th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

5.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Azure Network Watcher is 0.5%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ManageEngine OpManager is 1.5%, down from 1.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
ManageEngine OpManager	1.5%
Azure Network Watcher	0.5%
Other	98.0%

Network Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

Bijoyendra Roychowdhury

Program Manager at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees

Network monitoring provides comprehensive analytics while the interface requires further development

The quality of Azure Network Watcher is quite good in terms of the in-depth analysis you can create from these matrices. There are other monitoring tools such as New Relic, AppDynamics, and Dynatrace which provide very detailed network tracing. Cloud providers such as Azure or AWS do not have that kind of GUI-based capability at this point, but using PowerShell or Python, you can develop it yourself. From the GUI perspective, it still needs to evolve in terms of quality and standard, though overall, it is quite good for troubleshooting. Regarding areas for improvement, when comparing to other network tools beyond Azure Monitor or Azure Network Watcher, those tools can identify single failed packets. This level of granularity is not currently possible with cloud providers as they only go to a certain level rather than the granular level needed for deep troubleshooting, though they do provide hints with available matrices.

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Charles A

Deputy Director at Access Healthcare Services Pvt Ltd

Reporting features improve operational efficiency while weekend support needs enhancement

Support is moderate and needs improvement, especially during weekends when technicians perform upgrades. During weekends, they need to provide more support to ensure a smooth transition. There is a call for ManageEngine OpManager to scale better in automation and AI functionality. Although the product stability is good, support enhancement is necessary to enable better planning for upgrades and maintenance activities.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The most valuable feature of Azure Network Watcher is the cloud-native application firewall. It is helpful for securing databases."

"Azure Network Watcher provides valuable features based on your specific requirements and use cases, helping you monitor network bandwidth, throughput, data flow consumption, and control costs by giving insight into egress and ingress traffic, total input and output operations, bandwidth, and threats through IP identification."

"The solution is stable."

"The solution is good for monitoring device behavior."

"I like the visibility."

"The most valuable feature of Azure Network Watcher is using the gateways with the connections. The monitoring is useful for the logs and application insights into the data. The traffic filtering issues when it comes to deploying those applications are helpful."

"What I like most about Azure Network Watcher is that it's focused more on the architecture. I also like that it has a packet capture feature that tells you how the packet travels and whether it's exiting Azure, etc."

"The stability is very good. I rate it a ten out of ten."

More Azure Network Watcher pros

"The solution gives pretty good network visibility. I am also impressed with it's monitoring."

"Some of the useful features are NetFlow and analytics."

"The most valuable feature of ManageEngine OpManager is the management of the virtual machine and the host machine."

"Monitoring is the most valuable feature of this solution."

"The solution's most valuable features are reporting, event notifications, and alert management."

"The application monitoring is the solution's most valuable feature."

"The features we found most valuable in ManageEngine OpManager are the probe server and reporting because they're pretty good features."

"Desktop central products feature dashboards that are neat and offer comprehensive information."

More ManageEngine OpManager pros

Cons

"The solution could improve by limiting the need to clarify the logs. When the clarification is minimized, it is better for everyone involved."

"Technical support from Microsoft needs significant improvement compared to other product vendors."

"Lacks sufficient security features."

"Azure Network Watcher needs to have better documentation and it needs to capture information accurately."

"User experience could be improved."

"I still use Wireshark and Azure Network Watcher to get the required data. My team captures the traffic from Azure Network Watcher, downloads it, then imports that traffic into Wireshark to get more details on the number of hits and replies, for example. If you can do that on Azure Network Watcher and have Wireshark built-in, that would make Azure Network Watcher better. If Azure Network Watcher has that functionality where you won't need a third-party tool to get what you need, that would be helpful. I'm also expecting more from Azure Network Watcher. It's more complex than knowing how the IP flows from its source to the destination. The tool also needs more open-source features, such as having some built-in Wireshark that improves monitoring for customers. Sometimes, you encounter a VPN tunnel, network, or routing issue, but finding out more about the blockage is challenging. Is it one hundred percent an Azure issue? Is it a peer issue? You don't get complete information from Azure Network Watcher, so you must use other tools and depend on your strategies to resolve a specific issue. If more features could be added in the next release of Azure Network Watcher, specifically ones you can find on open-source tools, then that would be a plus point for the tool."

"Azure is good, however, the Fortinet GUI is more intuitive and I like it more than anything else."

"The initial setup and initial learning curve could be improved to be easier."

More Azure Network Watcher cons

"We would like link monitoring included. At times we need to monitor those specific links closely."

"If you have a ton of devices, it might slow down a bit."

"The dashboard has some limitations and should be more user-friendly."

"Support is moderate and needs improvement, especially during weekends when technicians perform upgrades."

"The main area for improvement for ManageEngine OpManager is its performance."

"I would like to see more capabilities and specific profiles built for the manufacturing sector."

"There should be an option to get mobile notifications or SMS mirror notifications for critical issues. That way, when we don't have access to email, we can still receive notifications via our phones."

"You cannot resolve 100 percent of the issues yourself. You would need to reach out to the support. It needs to be cheaper."

More ManageEngine OpManager cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Azure Network Watcher is a little bit expensive."

"Price-wise, I have no information on how much Azure Network Watcher costs."

"The price of the solution is reasonable."

"The pricing is good. It's not too expensive."

"It is reasonably priced."

"The solution is highly affordable"

"We had perpetual licenses. The cost was around 36,000 for OPManager, and then you'd have the yearly maintenance fee of 2,000 or 3,000."

"The solution's licensing costs are yearly and based on the number of applications."

"In terms of pricing, I would rate it a two out of five. It was expensive."

"The licensing is on a yearly basis and the pricing is on the cheaper side."

"ManageEngine OpManager is cheaper than SolarWinds."

"The pricing is moderate."

More ManageEngine OpManager pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

17%

Government

11%

University

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Large Enterprise	7

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	16
Midsize Enterprise	15
Large Enterprise	27

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Network Watcher?

Azure Network Watcher is affordable from the perspective of basic costing. It doesn't cost too much at this point unless you are requesting customizable detailed matrices. For the default configura...

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What needs improvement with Azure Network Watcher?

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What is your primary use case for Azure Network Watcher?

The purpose of using Azure Network Watcher is to observe the network flow logs during any kind of troubleshooting. If there is any performance issue or latency issue over the network, we check the ...

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What do you like most about ManageEngine OpManager?

The product provides intensive reports.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ManageEngine OpManager?

The cost is quite high-end for ManageEngine OpManager, especially in our very price-sensitive market here in Sri Lanka.

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What needs improvement with ManageEngine OpManager?

The main drawback is there is less documentation available, both public documentation and partner-available documentation. The learning materials are very limited, and there is also a limitation of...

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Comparisons

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Plixer Scrutinizer vs Azure Network Watcher

Compared 8% of the time

ExtraHop Reveal(x) for IT Operations vs Azure Network Watcher

Compared 7% of the time

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SolarWinds NPM vs ManageEngine OpManager

Compared 12% of the time

WhatsUp Gold vs ManageEngine OpManager

Compared 6% of the time

PRTG Network Monitor vs ManageEngine OpManager

Compared 6% of the time

Zabbix vs ManageEngine OpManager

Compared 6% of the time

OpenNMS vs ManageEngine OpManager

Compared 5% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Azure Network Watcher

January 2026

Download Azure Network Watcher product report

Buyer's Guide

ManageEngine OpManager

January 2026

Download ManageEngine OpManager product report

Also Known As

No data available

OpManager

Overview

Azure Network Watcher is a comprehensive network monitoring and diagnostic service offered by Microsoft Azure. It provides a range of tools and capabilities to help users monitor, diagnose, and gain insights into their Azure network infrastructure. With Network Watcher, users can capture and analyze network traffic, monitor network performance, troubleshoot connectivity issues, and gain visibility into network topology. It also offers features like packet capture, flow logs, connection monitoring, and VPN diagnostics to ensure the smooth operation of Azure networks. Network Watcher enables users to proactively identify and resolve network issues, optimize network performance, and enhance the overall reliability and security of their Azure network environment.

Microsoft

ManageEngine OpManager is a network, server, and virtualization monitoring software that helps SMEs, large enterprises and service providers manage their data centers and IT infrastructure efficiently and cost effectively. Automated workflows, intelligent alerting engines, configurable discovery rules, and extendable templates enable IT teams to setup a 24x7 monitoring system within hours of installation.

ManageEngine

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Bonita, Thorp Reed & Armstrong, Galaxy, Fiserv Credit Union Division, Universitas 21 Global, ERP Suites LLC

Buyer's Guide

Azure Network Watcher vs. ManageEngine OpManager

December 2025

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