Observer GigaStor vs PRTG Network Monitor comparison

Viavi Solutions and Paessler GmbH are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Viavi Solutions is ranked #96, while Paessler GmbH is ranked #5 with an average rating of 7.7. Viavi Solutions holds a 0.2% mindshare in NMS, compared to Paessler GmbH’s 4.2% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Viavi Solutions users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of Paessler GmbH users who would recommend it.

Observer GigaStor

Read 7 Observer GigaStor reviews

575 Views
276 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

PRTG Network Monitor

Read 103 PRTG Network Monitor reviews

8,261 Views
5,700 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

Observer GigaStor

PRTG Network Monitor

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 15, 2025

PRTG Network Monitor and Observer GigaStor are key players in the network management domain. While PRTG stands out with its cost-efficiency and ease of use, Observer GigaStor offers unparalleled network analysis capabilities, giving it an advantage for detailed insights.

Features: PRTG Network Monitor offers a user-friendly dashboard and versatile sensor-based monitoring for effective device and application tracking. It provides rapid deployment, scalability, and customizable monitoring through its intuitive interface. Observer GigaStor, on the other hand, is equipped with high-capacity packet capture and analysis, ideal for networks requiring precision and in-depth troubleshooting.

Room for Improvement: PRTG could enhance its detailed analysis capabilities to rival more advanced solutions. Additionally, improvement in documentation would aid complex setups. Further customization options would cater to advanced users. Observer GigaStor could benefit from simplifying its installation process to make it more accessible. Its pricing could be reevaluated to better appeal to smaller enterprises. Expanding efficient support options may improve user satisfaction.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Observer GigaStor demands a more involved installation process due to its sophisticated architecture, suiting environments needing complex network analysis. PRTG Network Monitor's installation is quick and straightforward, making it suitable for users with simple deployment requirements. While both offer support, PRTG's model aligns better with smaller teams, whereas Observer GigaStor provides detailed support for specialized needs.

Pricing and ROI: PRTG Network Monitor offers competitive pricing designed for affordability and faster ROI, especially attractive to smaller enterprises. Observer GigaStor requires a higher initial investment due to its advanced capabilities, but its comprehensive analytics justify this for organizations seeking all-inclusive network solutions. PRTG's cost-friendly model is ideal for enterprises with limited budgets, contrasting with Observer GigaStor's focus on detailed ROI for larger investments.

To learn more, read our detailed Observer GigaStor vs. PRTG Network Monitor Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Observer GigaStor vs. PRTG Network Monitor

July 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

Observer GigaStor

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

96th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

8.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Troubleshooting (14th), Network Packet Broker (NPB) (10th)

PRTG Network Monitor

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

5th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

103

Ranking in other categories

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

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Observer GigaStor is 0.2%, up from 0.1% 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

Featured Reviews

Jeroen-Dubbelman

Director at Bitrate

Aids significantly in the threat-hunting process and provides a score-based evaluation of user experience

There are many valuable features, but understanding end-user response times stands out. It provides a score-based evaluation of user experience, helping customers quickly pinpoint whether issues originate from the network, server, client, or application. Additionally, it facilitates in-depth analysis of application dependencies. The retrospective network analysis capability of Observer GigaStor has been beneficial. It's a pivotal feature for network performance solutions. However, I prefer to consider the entire solution suite - GigaStor, along with GigaFlow and Apex - for comprehensive network visibility and monitoring. So, I prefer to integrate all three solutions to provide the best visibility. They complement each other well, with Apex aggregating and correlating data from both GigaStor and GigaFlow to enhance environmental understanding and troubleshooting efficiency.

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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

"This solution allows us to see exactly what is going on in the network and we can very quickly solve issues with users."

"The ability to capture packets. It is not only for monitoring. That is very important for a company that wants to keep an eye on the packets, the transactions, the flows..."

"It's able to capture packets and, after a long time, you can come and use that information; to check, to analyze - everything you would want to do. So it's very good and helpful if you want to protect your data. It is stored in a certain place where you can access it every time you want to analyze it."

"I also have the ability to see an application's performance, to see what's going on, why a network is slow, why this program for this user is experiencing a delay or some network issue"

"It can help to write your rules, organize firewalls, your block, and also your protocols and IP address to come in or out of your network."

"There are many valuable features, but understanding end-user response times stands out. It provides a score-based evaluation of user experience, helping customers quickly pinpoint whether issues originate from the network, server, client, or application. Additionally, it facilitates in-depth analysis of application dependencies."

"I can customize the port as per my need and the real-time monitoring feature that is already provided to me."

"Ease of set-up – it is quick and easy to add a probe and start collecting data from a device."

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

"It is a central solution in terms of how to actually use it. It has a very easy dashboard. Everything is concise. We are able to create custom sensors. For different parts of the business, we have many products across many environments, and it works for everything."

"It's very easy to manage when you've got time to do some work on it: things like adding devices, adding groups, adding sensor clusters, and being able to clone and move stuff around."

"The sensors and remote probes are phenomenal. We use them for all of our global sites. The problem with our global sites are that they are all VPNs. If the link goes down, you can't monitor other solutions, as it just goes off the grid. Having remote probes allows them to still carry on and get the information that we need when it comes back up, sending the information to us."

"The most valuable feature is the dashboard interface. It's very clean, it's very simple to use."

"The solution provides us response times to issues."

More PRTG Network Monitor pros

Cons

"I would like to have more than 4TB of storage available in the portable version of this solution."

"GigaStor feeds into Apex. So, the area where there could be improvement would be in artificial intelligence. For example, the incorporation of more advanced machine learning or AI capabilities could enhance its functionality."

"Graphics need improvement. Because a lot of the information there you have to input first in some case to have full potential. It could be more automated."

"Maybe the graphical user interface could be simplified to allow people to use it more easily. It's already good, but they can work more on it to make it even easier."

"The product could be improved by being cross-platform friendly."

"PRTG Network Monitor should improve the NetFlow dashboard, there is no flexibility, and the NetFlow is not meeting the business needs. Additionally, they are missing part of the configuration management."

"The free version only gives us 100 free sensors to use. It would be nice if there was double that."

"There seems to be a big jump from the basic scan to the really thorough scan. There is a big jump in the quantity of sensors it uses for certain things. One minute you might get ten and then the next you get 200. There seems to be a big jump between the two at times."

"PRTG Network Monitor could improve the price."

"Scalability is the only major sticking point for me. There is a recommended number of sensors, which is around 10,000 and we're double that... The only option we have to scale is to buy another core, which would be a separate, stand-alone instance..."

"More training videos for installing and configuring this software would have been nice, especially when working with a lot of devices."

"There's always room for improvement. The high availability feature is good, but it's an area that PRTG could marginally improve. For example, in PRTG, both servers have a different IP, but it would make things a lot easier if they were bound by a single IP."

More PRTG Network Monitor cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's quite expensive."

"It depends on the requirements you have. There are three types of license. There's the updates license, the work group license, and the workstation license."

"Our licensing costs are 10,000 euros over three years."

"While I am not the person who deals with pricing, I would say that we pay around 1000 pounds a year."

"We pay for a perpetual license and we have a support fee."

"If you are not too sure about it, try the free version. Then, if you like it, you can go to the paid version and roll it out."

"We pay nothing for it. Its 100 sensors have allowed us to put a magnifying glass on some systems, providing an extra layer of detail. Therefore, our outgoing is nothing and our incoming is a lot of useful data that we can react to proactively."

"The pricing is not too bad. It's not massively expensive, and the ability to upscale or even downscale licenses every year is brilliant for us."

"We've got 1,000 nodes and I believe it's a few hundred quid a month."

"The pricing is comparable."

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

18%

Manufacturing Company

13%

Computer Software Company

13%

University

Computer Software Company

12%

Government

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Observer GigaStor?

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Observer GigaStor?

I would rate the pricing a ten out of ten. It's quite expensive.

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What needs improvement with Observer GigaStor?

GigaStor feeds into Apex. So, the area where there could be improvement would be in artificial intelligence. For example, the incorporation of more advanced machine learning or AI capabilities coul...

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

Gigamon Deep Observability Pipeline vs Observer GigaStor

Compared 28% of the time

AppNeta by Broadcom vs Observer GigaStor

Compared 19% of the time

Cisco Nexus Dashboard Data Broker vs Observer GigaStor

Compared 19% of the time

Wireshark vs Observer GigaStor

Compared 18% of the time

NETSCOUT nGeniusONE vs Observer GigaStor

Compared 16% 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 6% of the time

SolarWinds NPM vs PRTG Network Monitor

Compared 5% of the time

Centreon vs PRTG Network Monitor

Compared 5% of the time

LibreNMS vs PRTG Network Monitor

Compared 5% of the time

More PRTG Network Monitor Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Observer GigaStor

August 2025

Download Observer GigaStor product report

Buyer's Guide

PRTG Network Monitor

August 2025

Download PRTG Network Monitor product report

Overview

Observer GigaStor is a network analysis tool that comes in a variety of form factors, including rack mount, portable, and virtual. Capable of storing up to a petabyte of traffic for later analysis, GigaStor helps ensure optimal network and application performance.

Viavi Solutions

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

Cisco Systems, Hawaiian Telecom, Renown Health, State of Nevada, U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, Allstate Insurance, Jack Henry & Associates, United States Airforce, US Bank, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Chicago Board Options Exchange

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

Observer GigaStor vs. PRTG Network Monitor

July 2025

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