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 #94, while Paessler GmbH is ranked #5 with an average rating of 7.9. Viavi Solutions holds a 0.2% mindshare in NMS, compared to Paessler GmbH’s 4.1% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Viavi Solutions users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Paessler GmbH users who would recommend it.

Observer GigaStor

Read 7 Observer GigaStor reviews

624 Views
300 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

PRTG Network Monitor

Read 109 PRTG Network Monitor reviews

7,889 Views
5,365 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Observer GigaStor

PRTG Network Monitor

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 21, 2025

PRTG Network Monitor and Observer GigaStor both compete in network monitoring and analysis. PRTG is preferred for its user-friendly pricing and excellent customer support, while Observer GigaStor is noted for its superior feature set.

Features: PRTG Network Monitor provides robust monitoring capabilities like bandwidth monitoring and an intuitive alert system. Its ease of setup and wide variety of sensors make it suitable for many network environments. Observer GigaStor offers packet-level analysis, significant historical data storage, and advanced analytics for a more detailed network overview.

Room for Improvement: PRTG could benefit from enhanced historical data analysis, better integration options for complex environments, and improved scalability for very large networks. Observer GigaStor might improve through simplifying its setup process, reducing overall deployment costs, and offering more affordable options for smaller organizations.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: PRTG Network Monitor is known for its simple deployment and highly responsive customer service. Observer GigaStor's deployment is more intricate due to its advanced features, but it offers comprehensive guidance and robust support for users.

Pricing and ROI: PRTG Network Monitor is competitively priced, offering flexibility for smaller setups and a good ROI. Observer GigaStor, despite its higher initial cost, provides a substantial ROI with its in-depth features aimed at larger enterprises needing detailed analytics.

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

Buyer's Guide

Observer GigaStor 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

Observer GigaStor

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

94th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

8.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Troubleshooting (14th), Network Packet Broker (NPB) (11th)

PRTG Network Monitor

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

5th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

109

Ranking in other categories

IT Infrastructure Monitoring (5th), Cloud Monitoring Software (10th)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Observer GigaStor is 0.2%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of PRTG Network Monitor is 4.1%, down from 4.2% 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	4.1%
Observer GigaStor	0.2%
Other	95.7%

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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madhan kumar hs

software engineer at Capgemini

Alerting precision has reduced incident response times and improved department-level network visibility

The auto-pause sensor during the maintenance window is good without any false alerts, and it prevents me from getting flooded with alerts during planned maintenance, helping department heads understand their own network usage better. It has reduced incident response time by giving clearer ownership of each alert, ensuring alerts go to the proper recipient. SNMP testers and auto-pause are among the best features of PRTG Network Monitor, which is particularly useful for different departments such as HR and finance, where alerts can be filtered accordingly. The alerting features and dashboard of PRTG Network Monitor are very helpful, especially in our industry. However, the dashboard can look cluttered on smaller screens, which is one negative aspect. PRTG Network Monitor has impacted us positively; we have stopped getting flooded with alerts during planned maintenance or unplanned outages. Compared to others, this gives specific alerts very quickly and helps department heads understand their own network usage better, thus reducing incident response time so that each alert has clear ownership.

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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

"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."

"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..."

"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."

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

"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."

"The solution provides us with needed feedback on our IT infrastructure. It gives us really good quality of service when it comes to monitoring of available space and available resources. It allows us to preempt issues before they become a problem for the business."

"The remote probe feature in PRTG Network Monitor helps you monitor remote systems or your network at a lower cost than other solutions."

"The simplicity is what I appreciate about PRTG Network Monitor."

"The real-time monitoring and alerting are its most valuable features."

"PRTG Network Monitor's best features are its flexibility, ease of implementation, user-friendliness, and intuitive interfaces."

"I like the mobility of the PRTG Network Monitor and ITOps Dashboard."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is being able to see things graphically."

"The solution has excellent redundant features."

More PRTG Network Monitor pros

Cons

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

"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."

"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."

"PRTG Network Monitor could improve the price."

"PRTG Network Monitor should provide syslog monitoring since it is not available at this time. There are very limited features as compared to other solutions."

"I am not sure the solution is giving me all the needed feedback that we need. When something goes off on our IT infrastructure, it does tell me. However, it would be nice if it gave more intuitive information, e.g., the hard drive has gone up by 60 percent in an hour."

"It probably has this already, but if it had a mobile app that would be helpful. For example, on a day like today when I'm out, if I could just fire it up and see green, green, green, green, green or red, that would be good."

"I would like a more straightforward ability to create dashboards and maps. The network maps should be a bit more flexibility in the GUI to do what we need to do."

"In the next release, PRTG Network Monitor should add a backup solution."

"We have had a few issues with the web elements, as far as the dashboard. With the dashboard, it has to be manually refreshed. Occasionally, we reboot the server, or at least web services, due to the web aspect."

"There are some vendor-specific sensors in PRTG Network Monitor, particularly for older hardware, that don't always provide consistent results."

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."

"We are using the basic PRTG that we can download for free. For now, we only need to monitor less than 100 devices. For more than 100 devices, we would need to buy a license. PRTG is much cheaper than SolarWinds."

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

"We are using the premium version of PRTG Network Monitor. The price of the solution is a bit higher than competitors but it is worth the extra money. However, it would be helpful if the price was lower."

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

"We've got the unlimited package... I believe it was around the £15,000 per year mark."

"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."

"The ability to use the base version with 100 free sensors is great. The cost on other packages can be very reasonable."

"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."

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

20%

Computer Software Company

14%

Manufacturing Company

Insurance Company

Computer Software Company

12%

Government

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Large Enterprise	3

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	57
Midsize Enterprise	18
Large Enterprise	41

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Observer GigaStor?

See all answers

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...

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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?

PRTG Network Monitor remains affordable until now.

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 27% of the time

Wireshark vs Observer GigaStor

Compared 19% of the time

NETSCOUT nGeniusONE vs Observer GigaStor

Compared 16% of the time

AppNeta by Broadcom vs Observer GigaStor

Compared 13% of the time

Fortinet FortiSIEM vs Observer GigaStor

Compared 13% 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

Checkmk vs PRTG Network Monitor

Compared 4% of the time

More PRTG Network Monitor Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Observer GigaStor

September 2025

Download Observer GigaStor product report

Buyer's Guide

PRTG Network Monitor

September 2025

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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

September 2025

Free Report: Observer GigaStor vs. PRTG Network Monitor

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