Azure Network Watcher vs PRTG Network Monitor comparison

Microsoft and Paessler GmbH are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Microsoft is ranked #48 with an average rating of 8.3, while Paessler GmbH is ranked #5 with an average rating of 7.8. Microsoft holds a 0.4% mindshare in NMS, compared to Paessler GmbH’s 4.2% mindshare. Additionally, 91% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Paessler GmbH users who would recommend it.

Azure Network Watcher

Read 12 Azure Network Watcher reviews

705 Views
663 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

PRTG Network Monitor

Read 104 PRTG Network Monitor reviews

8,116 Views
5,519 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Azure Network Watcher

PRTG Network Monitor

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 15, 2025

PRTG Network Monitor and Azure Network Watcher compete in the network monitoring and management category. Based on the comparison, PRTG has the upper hand with its broad feature set and ease of use.

Features: PRTG Network Monitor impresses with rapid deployment, scalability, and an intuitive setup. It offers proactive alerting, diverse sensors, and easy integration. Azure Network Watcher shines with cloud-native capabilities, such as packet capture and network diagnostics, beneficial for managing complex cloud environments.

Room for Improvement: PRTG could enhance intuitive template management, map design, and application monitoring. It needs improvements in SLA reports and customized dashboards. Azure Network Watcher requires better log clarity, simplified setup, and comprehensive traffic analysis. Its users also seek enhanced integration with open-source tools.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: PRTG offers straightforward deployment for on-premises and hybrid clouds but has room for enhancing technical support responsiveness. Azure Network Watcher is optimized for public cloud deployment with seamless integration but faces challenges with initial setup and advanced log availability.

Pricing and ROI: PRTG is competitively priced, offering sensor bundles that are cost-effective but can increase with additional sensors. It is budget-friendly for smaller firms. Azure Network Watcher is pricier, catering to enterprises with its specialized cloud features, offering significant value for detailed cloud insights in larger environments.

To learn more, read our detailed Azure Network Watcher vs. PRTG Network Monitor Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Azure Network Watcher vs. PRTG Network Monitor

September 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

48th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

PRTG Network Monitor

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

5th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

104

Ranking in other categories

IT Infrastructure Monitoring (6th), Cloud Monitoring Software (11th)

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Azure Network Watcher is 0.4%, down from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of PRTG Network Monitor is 4.2%, down from 4.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
PRTG Network Monitor	4.2%
Azure Network Watcher	0.4%
Other	95.4%

Network Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

Bijoyendra Roychowdhury

Program Manager at Capgemini

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.

Read full review

Noman-Saleem

Network Support Officer at Habib Metropolitan Bank Ltd

Detects suden changes but significant pricing concerns affect the effectiveness of network traffic troubleshooting

We use PRTG Network Monitor for monitoring traffic on interfaces and the behavior of network traffic. If there are sudden changes in traffic or any configuration issues, we can sort them out using PRTG. It's very helpful for troubleshooting and monitoring traffic utilization on our interfaces…

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

"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."

"It provides good visibility."

"The solution is good for monitoring device behavior."

"The solution is stable."

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

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

More Azure Network Watcher pros

"We can see which fiber links have been used heavily and, if they are used heavily, we can introduce more links to particular buildings or particular areas."

"My opinion is that this solution is not very expensive."

"PRTG is simple to manage. First, you can create a template for a device, then apply it to hundreds of similar devices. That's a great advantage."

"The installation is not that complex."

"It is able to satisfy all our requirements in terms of email notifications and specific errors on the devices."

"Stable solution for monitoring networks and bandwidth, with multiple functions and features such as NetFlow Collector, graphical monitoring, etc."

"The tool is integrated with our email for the alerts."

"It has made our infrastructure more reliable."

More PRTG Network Monitor pros

Cons

"Lacks sufficient security features."

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

"User experience could be improved."

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

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

"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."

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

"Azure Network Watcher could improve by having other built-in applications. For example, an application to log activities for in and outbound traffic."

More Azure Network Watcher cons

"In a very few cases, customers want more detailed reports, which we cannot meet."

"The solution could be better and faster when it comes to performance."

"Needs ability to monitor standard notification time (notify after X time)."

"The technical support service should be improved."

"PRTG Network Monitor should provide syslog monitoring since it is not available at this time."

"They just released a newer version of the desktop app, a beta version, that I have been trialing out. I prefer the older version, only because of how the layout is designed"

"Performance-wise, PRTG Network Monitor still needs improvement because a large number of SNMPv3 queries reduces tool performance."

"They should work on syncing the solution with Gmail."

More PRTG Network Monitor cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"Azure Network Watcher is a little bit expensive."

"The price of the solution is reasonable."

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

"The pricing for PRTG in our case is reasonable because we have a lot of applications to monitor within PRTG. It is not that expensive."

"When you buy PRTG, everything comes in one bundle. Licensing is very easy."

"Pricing for PRTG Network Monitor is a nine out of ten. It meets my company's budget and monitoring requirements. My company is on a perpetual license."

"The price of PRTG Network Monitor is more expensive than other solutions, such as OP Network Manager."

"It is about £4,500 for the first year, then about another 15 to 20 percent annually after that. So, we are looking at about £1000 running costs a year. When you think about how much an outage costs per minute, it's negligible."

"The pricing is okay and it is cheaper than some competing products."

"We bought a license for 4000 sensors."

"The price is actually on the cheaper side. If you're going with the unlimited license code, it's very cheap compared to competitors unless you're going for something free, like Zabbix. But you get what you pay for, and it doesn't have the full suite of products or tools like SolarWinds or a ScienceLogic."

More PRTG Network Monitor pricing and cost advice

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Comparison Review

it_user174738

IT Developer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

May 31, 2015

Nagios vs. Zabbix vs. PRTG vs. Spiceworks vs. Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor

I have researched a quite a few network monitoring tools which can be used for various monitoring purposes of not only the servers, but the intermediate routers as well. There are majorly three types of these softwares. Ones which are completely open-source, you can do almost anything you want…

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

15%

Computer Software Company

12%

Government

11%

University

Computer Software Company

13%

Government

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Large Enterprise	6

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	54
Midsize Enterprise	18
Large Enterprise	38

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Azure Network Watcher?

I like the visibility.

See all answers

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...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Azure Network Watcher?

See all answers

What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?

PRTG network monitor is one of the best tool i have ever used for the monitoring. It have auto discovery option. it avoid the configuring the device in PRTG. It automatically discover the device an...

See all answers

What do you like most about PRTG Network Monitor?

The tool is integrated with our email for the alerts.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for PRTG Network Monitor?

The pricing is in the middle. It's not too high, nor too low, but it's reasonable.

See all answers

Comparisons

ThousandEyes vs Azure Network Watcher

Compared 30% of the time

Microsoft Network Monitor vs Azure Network Watcher

Compared 26% of the time

Nmap vs Azure Network Watcher

Compared 25% of the time

SolarWinds NPM vs Azure Network Watcher

Compared 19% of the time

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Zabbix vs PRTG Network Monitor

Compared 8% of the time

PRTG Enterprise Monitor vs PRTG Network Monitor

Compared 7% of the time

SolarWinds NPM vs PRTG Network Monitor

Compared 6% of the time

Centreon vs PRTG Network Monitor

Compared 5% of the time

LibreNMS vs PRTG Network Monitor

Compared 4% of the time

More PRTG Network Monitor Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Azure Network Watcher

September 2025

Download Azure Network Watcher product report

Buyer's Guide

PRTG Network Monitor

August 2025

Download PRTG Network Monitor product report

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

PRTG Network Monitor runs on a Windows machine within your network, collecting various statistics from the machines, software, and devices which you designate. PRTG comes with an easy-to-use web interface with point-and-click configuration. You can easily share data from it with non-technical colleagues and customers, including via live graphs and custom reports. This will let you plan for network expansion, see what applications are using most of your connection, and make sure that no one is hogging the entire network just to torrent videos.

To monitor a large IT environment, it's important to be able to scale PRTG up. Paessler PRTG Enterprise Monitor includes all the proven capabilities of PRTG Network Monitor, which are enhanced by exclusive ITOps Board for a service-oriented, central overview of multiple PRTG servers.

Paessler GmbH

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Jameson Bank, Sidnix, RungeICT, MedicalAnimal, Truck-lite, GamingGrids, The Covell Group, Forsythn County Schools, NetMass, Musgrove Park Hospital, Lanes Health, Columbia Southern University, Vodafone, Intrust Bank

Buyer's Guide

Azure Network Watcher vs. PRTG Network Monitor

September 2025

Free Report: Azure Network Watcher vs. PRTG Network Monitor

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