Azure Network Watcher vs NinjaOne comparison

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Azure Network Watcher

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 2024

NinjaOne and Azure Network Watcher compete in the IT management and network performance monitoring categories. NinjaOne has the upper hand due to its user-centric functionalities, compared to Azure Network Watcher's detailed networking insights.

Features: NinjaOne offers remote monitoring, patch management, and comprehensive IT management capabilities. Azure Network Watcher provides detailed network diagnostics, advanced monitoring features, and robust networking insights.

Room for Improvement: NinjaOne could enhance its network-specific tools, broaden compatibility with various network devices, and improve integration with third-party applications. Azure Network Watcher might benefit from simplifying its setup process, expanding its user interface customization options, and providing more intuitive alerts and notifications.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: NinjaOne provides a simplified deployment process with excellent customer support, while Azure Network Watcher requires more technical knowledge for setup due to its complex tools, despite offering valuable network insights.

Pricing and ROI: NinjaOne presents a competitive pricing model with strong ROI due to effective management features that enhance operational efficiency. Azure Network Watcher, although having a higher setup cost, offers justified expenses for organizations requiring in-depth network analysis.

To learn more, read our detailed Azure Network Watcher vs. NinjaOne Report (Updated: June 2026).

Azure Network Watcher vs. NinjaOne

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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

43rd

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

5.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

NinjaOne

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

10th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Help Desk Software (8th), Server Monitoring (2nd), IT Service Management (ITSM) (7th), Remote Access (8th), Vulnerability Management (18th), Mobile Device Management (MDM) (4th), IT Alerting and Incident Management (6th), Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) (1st), Patch Management (3rd), MSP Backup (1st), Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) (5th)

Mindshare comparison

As of July 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 NinjaOne is 1.1%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
NinjaOne	1.1%
Azure Network Watcher	0.5%
Other	98.4%

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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Not Joseph Pearson

Assistant Vice President, Tech Solutions at LPL Financials

Has simplified remote software delivery and script management but needs improved reporting flexibility and better Mac support

NinjaOne's best features include ease of use regarding enablement and deployment, a broad selection and ability of software enablement, and API deliveries. Using CrowdStrike, we are able to tie in NinjaOne's API to have these automatically deliver to endpoints upon addition of those devices to a group with that policy deployed to it. NinjaOne has positively impacted our organization by making delivery easier for our end users and improving the ability to create scripts, manage scripts, and check status of devices and their compliance. This easier delivery with NinjaOne gives us oversight on devices without having to be on the call or remoted in directly to a device.

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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

"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."

"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."

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

"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."

"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."

"This is a stable system providing stable performance."

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

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

More Azure Network Watcher pros

"NinjaOne has positively impacted my organization by providing an easier way to deploy machines, manage them, troubleshoot, and assist people."

"It helps us to be able to have visibility into the overall performance of the servers, laptops, and desktops that we are managing currently."

"The most relevant feature is the monitoring, which provides built-in tools for sending commands."

"NinjaOne allows even small teams of three users to support over 400 desktops and keep them up to date and working at peak performance."

"The customer support at NinjaOne is excellent, rated ten out of ten."

"We can use it for remote monitoring, and it also works great as a troubleshooting tool. We are able to open up a command line or a PowerShell session remotely without having to disrupt the user. They have a limited network device monitoring capability, but for workstation servers, we have the event logs. We can do performance monitoring, system changes, software deployment, and patch management. We can also push scripts. It has a very simple web interface. There are no additional things to do there. Security is also pretty good. It does the same things that the other competitor's tools do. One of the advantages of Ninja is that they have a more capable mobile app, which allows you to see the alerts immediately. I get alerted to major critical issues."

"NinjaOne has positively impacted our organization by making delivery easier for our end users and improving the ability to create scripts, manage scripts, and check status of devices and their compliance."

"The solution's most valuable feature is related to its remote access...I know that NinjaOne's technical support is good."

More NinjaOne pros

Cons

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

"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."

"Lacks sufficient security features."

"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."

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

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

"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."

More Azure Network Watcher cons

"One challenge I face with NinjaOne is that when remoting in, sometimes the end user has a resolution with very tiny text, making it necessary to zoom in to see what the other computer is displaying."

"I wish that they integrated it with more antivirus solutions. Currently, they only push Defender, but it doesn't really have integration with SentinelOne."

"I would like to see more scripts for PowerShell commands."

"Maximizing the screen during an SSH connection is not possible, which hampers usability on Linux servers."

"The ticketing system in NinjaOne is not the best."

"Lacks sufficient integrations with other PSAs."

"The one feature that I believe needs improvement is the software patching."

"The solution could improve by optimizing the internet connection being used."

More NinjaOne 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."

"I rate the solution’s pricing a five out of ten, where one is the lowest and ten is the most expensive."

"Its pricing is great."

"The pricing is reasonable and cheaper than ConnectWise."

"NinjaRMM uses a subscription model."

"It roughly costs $400 a month. It provides a good value because of the number of tools that you get in the solution. I would rate it a four out of five in terms of pricing. There are no additional costs other than the standard licensing fees."

"We currently pay $1.20 per device on a monthly basis."

"NinjaOne is a little expensive but is still cheaper than competitors like Acronis or Veeam."

"The product's pricing depends on the number of PCs or devices."

More NinjaOne pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

24%

Construction Company

12%

Comms Service Provider

Media Company

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

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	3
Large Enterprise	4

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.

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 ...

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...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NinjaOne?

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that I think it is very reasonable for the product that we get.

What needs improvement with NinjaOne?

To improve NinjaOne, there should be better integration between multiple different software including Cisco and Meraki.

What is your primary use case for NinjaOne?

My main use case for NinjaOne is managing machines over multiple networks and locations. For managing machines across those networks or locations, we have NinjaOne deployed on all our machines, and...

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Product Reports

Azure Network Watcher

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Overview

Azure Network Watcher provides advanced network monitoring capabilities including packet capture, cloud-native firewall, and traffic diagnosis, aiding in VPN troubleshooting and security enforcement with enhanced visibility and alerting features.

Azure Network Watcher is essential for monitoring, diagnosing, and analyzing network traffic. It efficiently handles VPN connection issues and enhances network security by capturing and analyzing traffic to assess performance or latency problems. The tool facilitates traffic flow control, security rule verification, and bandwidth monitoring. Users benefit from its capabilities in diagnosing service connections, offering insights into network activity, and identifying potential threats, crucial for maintaining compliance and efficient network management.

What are the key features of Azure Network Watcher?

Packet Capture: Enables detailed network traffic inspection to troubleshoot issues.
Cloud-Native Application Firewall: Provides enhanced protection for applications running in the cloud.
Traffic Monitoring: Allows for real-time analysis and troubleshooting of network traffic.
NSG Flow Logs & AI-Based Monitoring: Enhances flow control and threat detection.
Alerting & Threshold Configuration: Offers customizable alerts via Azure Monitor for proactive management.

What benefits can users look for in reviews?

Improved Network Security: Helps in identifying and mitigating threats efficiently.
Enhanced Visibility: Provides clear insights into network operations and potential issues.
Compliance Support: Assists in maintaining regulatory compliance with thorough monitoring capabilities.
Effective Bandwidth Management: Facilitates control and optimization of network bandwidth.

In industries like finance and healthcare, Azure Network Watcher is implemented to ensure robust security and compliance, crucial for safeguarding sensitive data. It aids retail and manufacturing sectors in optimizing network performance and maintaining seamless connectivity, supporting their digital infrastructure needs.

Microsoft

NinjaOne provides comprehensive remote monitoring, troubleshooting, and automation via a user-friendly web interface. With a robust mobile app and integration capabilities, it appeals to small businesses seeking cost-effective management solutions.

NinjaOne is designed to streamline IT operations through its remote monitoring, patch management, and automation capabilities. Its integration with Bitdefender and ongoing feature enhancements are valuable, although users express a desire for more third-party compatibility and smoother deployment processes. The platform's SLA system enhances performance tracking, while its continual development is a key attraction. Despite some calls for a more intuitive graphical interface and advanced reporting features, it remains an asset for managed service providers and businesses adapting to cloud-based environments.

What are the most important features?

Remote Monitoring: Essential for real-time insights into network and device performance.
Automation: Reduces manual tasks, increasing efficiency in IT management.
Patch Management: Timely updates for software and system security.
Mobile App: Ensures alerts and management capabilities on the go.
Third-Party Integrations: Enhances functionality by working with tools like Bitdefender.

What benefits can users expect?

Cost-Effectiveness: Appeals to small companies seeking budget-friendly IT solutions.
Performance Tracking: Improved SLA system aids in efficient performance monitoring.
Enhanced Management: Effective use of scripts and policies streamline operations.
Client Interaction: Better remote session management and asset control.

NinjaOne is widely employed across different sectors for server and workstation management, network infrastructure oversight, and client computer support. With its cloud-based framework, it supports managed service providers and businesses shifting to the cloud, ensuring seamless software deployment and improved asset management, making it integral to modern IT environments.

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Status Pros, Mitchell and Company

Azure Network Watcher vs. NinjaOne