Azure Network Watcher vs ManageEngine OpManager comparison

Microsoft and ManageEngine are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Microsoft is ranked #42 with an average rating of 8.5, while ManageEngine is ranked #11 with an average rating of 8.3. Microsoft holds a 0.5% mindshare in NMS, compared to ManageEngine’s 1.9% 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

1,082 Views
1,039 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

ManageEngine OpManager

Read 56 ManageEngine OpManager reviews

4,660 Views
4,427 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: March 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Azure Network Watcher vs. ManageEngine OpManager

March 2026

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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

42nd

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 March 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 1.9%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
ManageEngine OpManager	1.9%
Azure Network Watcher	0.5%
Other	97.6%

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."

"The most valuable features I have found are typology, visualization, and capture."

"The solution is stable, there are no bugs or glitches and it doesn't crash or freeze, it's reliable."

"My advice to others looking into using Azure Network Watcher is to go for it, as you'll have the tool by default when you're subscribed to Azure VNet."

"This will help the company or the administrator, by helping them see how the traffic moves, to make sure that no entities are having any communication issues or different endpoints with task issues."

"We use the solution to monitor network services. It helps to capture any network issues."

"The solution is stable."

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

More Azure Network Watcher pros

"We find the networking aspect of this solution to be the most valuable."

"We don't have to keep an eye on it; it has a good automation option, which keeps us informed. It gives very less false positives. Overall, a really great product."

"Managing platforms and network device virtualization on one platform is beneficial."

"The most valuable feature is the monitoring alerts. The administrators are immediately notified and can do the required action immediately. This is the feature we value and use the most."

"Concerning the ROI from ManageEngine OpManager, we're very happy and satisfied because we didn't have to pay for additional overheads, particularly because we now don't need that many admins, so we were able to save."

"The solution's most valuable feature is its ability to reach most of our network devices and get the most from them."

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

"I liked Network Configuration Manager. They had some pretty decent features there, and they also had pretty good monitoring and alerts."

More ManageEngine OpManager pros

Cons

"Lacks sufficient security features."

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

"It's not the most friendly or straightforward to set up. I don't see the value versus the way you have to set it up at first."

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

"The initial setup and deployment could be improved to be simplified."

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

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

"User experience could be improved."

More Azure Network Watcher cons

"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 licensing for this solution is not straightforward and should be improved."

"The solution is a bit difficult to configure. There are quite a number of configurations and plugins that you must handle early in the process."

"Also, every time I perform a version upgrade, something breaks."

"ManageEngine OpManager could improve by adding network device control capabilities."

"The two views into the system are very good but could be extended to further customization to fit the need of end users in a variety of roles."

"It is sometimes difficult to manage the user interface. It can get very complicated."

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."

"ManageEngine OpManager is cheaper than SolarWinds."

"The licensing costs depend on the number of devices and accounts that are being monitored by the solution."

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

"The solution's pricing is very low compared to other products."

"The price of ManageEngine OpManager is reasonable. We have an annual license and the cost comes from how many devices are being monitored. There is not anything extra cost for maintenance and support."

"As far as cost, it was around six hundred thousand rands ($40,500) for the year, for the renewals. That's the total cost for a four thousand node system including support and maintenance."

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

"We have a standard license for ManageEngine OpManager. We purchased the license for one year and now we are upgrading it soon."

More ManageEngine OpManager pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

16%

University

Government

Construction Company

Financial Services Firm

12%

Computer Software Company

10%

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	17
Midsize Enterprise	15
Large Enterprise	27

Questions from the Community

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

I do not have the exact setup cost information on hand, but it is available in the public Azure portal. You can access the calculator there to get detailed pricing information.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Azure Network Watcher?

The main area for improvement is AI-based features. Currently, many intelligent tools are coming from third parties, and Azure Network Watcher needs to improve in this area. The focus should be on ...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Azure Network Watcher?

Azure Network Watcher is used for monitoring network traffic. It provides insight into egress and ingress traffic, which helps determine whether consumption can be controlled. Most Azure services c...

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

Based on my experience and use case, the setup cost and price of ManageEngine OpManager is good. However, if it were available in both on-premises and cloud versions, it would be more reliable for ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with ManageEngine OpManager?

ManageEngine OpManager could improve by adding network device control capabilities. The control feature would be more helpful for our operations. Currently, there is no feature for controlling inte...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for ManageEngine OpManager?

I am using ManageEngine OpManager for network and server reliability. We have multiple locations, so integrating all location devices in ManageEngine OpManager into one single console allows us to ...

See all answers

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Compared 11% of the time

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Compared 6% of the time

LibreNMS vs ManageEngine OpManager

Compared 6% of the time

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Compared 6% of the time

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Compared 5% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Azure Network Watcher

March 2026

Download Azure Network Watcher product report

Buyer's Guide

ManageEngine OpManager

March 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

March 2026

Free Report: Azure Network Watcher vs. ManageEngine OpManager

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