PRTG Network Monitor vs WhatsUp Gold comparison

Paessler GmbH and Progress Software are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Paessler GmbH is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.4, while Progress Software is ranked #30 with an average rating of 8.7. Paessler GmbH holds a 3.3% mindshare in NMS, compared to Progress Software’s 1.5% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of Paessler GmbH users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of Progress Software users who would recommend it.

PRTG Network Monitor

Read 112 PRTG Network Monitor reviews

9,185 Views
6,338 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

WhatsUp Gold

Read 25 WhatsUp Gold reviews

3,998 Views
2,199 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

PRTG Network Monitor

WhatsUp Gold

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 28, 2025

WhatsUp Gold and PRTG Network Monitor compete in the network monitoring category. WhatsUp Gold has an upper hand in ease of deployment, appealing to those seeking a user-friendly and quick setup process, while PRTG Network Monitor offers extensive data visualization and analysis, catering to businesses that require detailed monitoring capabilities.

Features: WhatsUp Gold is known for its clear dashboard, intuitive alert settings, and automatic network-topology mapping that simplifies network management. It integrates easily with other IT systems. PRTG Network Monitor offers a vast array of sensors for thorough network, bandwidth, and application monitoring, providing organizations insights into their data. PRTG allows greater control over network parameters, suitable for rigorous monitoring needs.

Room for Improvement: WhatsUp Gold could benefit from more advanced customization options and enhanced alert management to reduce reliance on external support. Easier integration with cloud platforms would also be an improvement. PRTG Network Monitor's interface could be simplified for new users, with additional onboarding support. It could also improve in sensor information management to ensure only relevant data is highlighted to reduce information overload.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: WhatsUp Gold offers a straightforward, quick deployment with excellent customer support, making it ideal for smaller IT teams. It integrates seamlessly into existing systems. PRTG Network Monitor requires a bit more setup time due to its more extensive feature set but also provides robust customer support, especially beneficial for larger infrastructures with comprehensive monitoring needs.

Pricing and ROI: WhatsUp Gold provides cost-effective pricing targeted at small to mid-sized businesses, ensuring a solid ROI with lower initial setup costs. PRTG Network Monitor, while having a higher price point, delivers significant long-term ROI through advanced features that are scalable for growing businesses. Both solutions offer tiered pricing, but PRTG’s ability to scale aligns well with larger enterprises seeking detailed oversight.

To learn more, read our detailed PRTG Network Monitor vs. WhatsUp Gold Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

PRTG Network Monitor vs. WhatsUp Gold

December 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

PRTG Network Monitor

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

5th

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

4th

Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software

9th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

112

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

WhatsUp Gold

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

30th

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

29th

Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software

24th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (29th), Server Monitoring (16th), Configuration Management (19th), Log Management (31st), Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (10th)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of PRTG Network Monitor is 3.3%, down from 4.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of WhatsUp Gold is 1.5%, up from 1.2% 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	3.3%
WhatsUp Gold	1.5%
Other	95.2%

Network Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

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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Erik Cheng

Technical Manager at Quan Hung Gourmet

Efficient monitoring with detailed customization, yet complexity remains

The best feature of WhatsUp Gold is the automatic generation of topology and its integration with virtualization and wireless. I have used the automated device discovery with this topology feature. The interactive map feature helps me manage the topology because sometimes we cannot draw the topology correctly, so we need to manually edit the connections. The alerting system is very tunable and customizable, but it's a little complicated to use. Many customers cannot manage it by themselves and need support from us, the provider. We always use the dashboards in the SOC, where we constantly display a dashboard or multiple dashboards. This allows us to know immediately if the connection or bandwidth is full or if the connection is broken.

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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

"PRTG has improved our visibility and response time to issues related to remote sites."

"The initial setup is very simple."

"It is user-friendly. It is easy to set up health checks within PRTG and use scans. It is like a self-service tool, and anyone can configure their own settings within PRTG."

"PRTG Network Monitor has positively impacted my organization as the hourly basis has been reduced, making a significant impact."

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

"PRTG is relatively intuitive and fairly straightforward. It has net flow monitoring and that works all right. I would describe it as a decent middle-of-the-road solution."

"The fact that I can use custom MIB files to customize my sensors for the things that are not there as a default is a good feature."

"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."

More PRTG Network Monitor pros

"WhatsUp Gold is very easy to deploy."

"It is stable."

"The most valuable features are network bandwidth monitoring and monitoring device health."

"The documentation is very good."

"I use it on premises to monitor my network database. We monitor the link up/down and use the SNMP traps as well."

"Auto scanning is most valuable. It looks for rogue devices on your network."

"It handles the basics of monitoring."

"The most valuable feature is the monitoring of resources."

More WhatsUp Gold pros

Cons

"The thing that we do struggle with a bit is in the historic data. If I want look over 30 days, because it averages out onto one graph, you can't zoom in and drill down information."

"There is room for improvement in this solution for the performance and third-party monitoring protocols. They need to be updated to the latest ones."

"PRTG Network Monitor can improve Layer 2 and Layer 3 network maps and the GUI more user-friendly. Additionally, they should bundle the features so I can monitor everything on one particular device."

"I would like to see network mapping."

"The scalability of this solution could improve as well as the automated provisioning of the infrastructure."

"Their penetration within the market could be much better. If their pricing was lower, even though it's reasonable now, it might help them achieve this."

"PRTG's documentation could be improved."

"The Desktop app is good but it can be really sluggish at times, especially when you're editing different elements."

More PRTG Network Monitor cons

"Importing the maps and being able to customize them could be easier."

"The interface needs some work."

"Improvements are needed in integration, especially for WhatsApp call and messages. Our region heavily uses WhatsApp Messenger for communication, and integration with this platform would be beneficial."

"We can never achieve or get a good picture of the network topology."

"The new release cadence needs to be improved. It takes a while for them to add new features and functionality. There should be a quicker turnaround with new versions."

"I think there are a few bugs now. Although they give some resolution for this, we cannot share the network remotely because of our company policy."

"The initial setup of WhatsUp Gold is a medium range of difficulty levels. However, if it is your first time it could be difficult."

"Setting up WhatsUp Gold is complicated and not easy because it requires managing SNMP and many complex settings in the devices it's monitoring, and fine-tuning it to fit our needs is also not very easy."

More WhatsUp Gold cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"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."

"All monitoring system is close to the same pricing scheme."

"It's an annual license that is based on the number of endpoints that we're tracking and using."

"The price of PRTG is reasonable. PRTG's competitors like SolarWinds and ManageEngine charge more for the same functionality."

"Sensors on free version can run out quick."

"We are satisfied with the price."

"Cost was a factor when selecting this solution, but it just did everything we wanted it to do."

More PRTG Network Monitor pricing and cost advice

"The pricing can be on the expensive side when considering competing products."

"The tool's price is reasonable. WhatsUp Gold is cheaper than SolarWinds."

"The most valuable feature is the cost compared to other solutions."

"There is a license needed to use WhatsUp Gold."

"There are some subscription charges that are quite heavy. I need to pay for support every year and these charges can be quite expensive. Aside from the initial cost for the tool, you need to pay additionally for support."

"The price of WhatsUp Gold is good."

"I'm not sure, but it's expensive. We don't pay any additional fees."

"This is a well priced solution."

More WhatsUp Gold 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…

Read full review

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

Government

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Government

11%

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	59
Midsize Enterprise	19
Large Enterprise	47

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	14

Questions from the Community

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.

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

The pricing was higher at the beginning, but the recurring licensing cost is affordable and reasonable. Overall, the pricing, setup cost, and licensing is fair for our industry. They have quoted us...

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What do you like most about WhatsUp Gold?

The interactive mapping interface for scrolling, zooming, and drilling down on an element to learn about a network issue is good. When we see a network there will sometimes be a spot that has one l...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for WhatsUp Gold?

Clients find the licensing calculator confusing, but we simplify this for them by collecting relevant information first. The licensing is based on devices, providing better cost-effectiveness than ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with WhatsUp Gold?

It would be great if WhatsUp Gold could add features that simplify management with AI, as it is currently too complicated to manage.

See all answers

Comparisons

Zabbix vs PRTG Network Monitor

Compared 7% of the time

Centreon vs PRTG Network Monitor

Compared 5% of the time

SolarWinds NPM vs PRTG Network Monitor

Compared 4% of the time

Checkmk vs PRTG Network Monitor

Compared 4% of the time

ManageEngine OpManager vs PRTG Network Monitor

Compared 2% of the time

More PRTG Network Monitor Competitors

LibreNMS vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 5% of the time

ManageEngine OpManager vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 4% of the time

Nutanix Prism vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 4% of the time

Grafana vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 3% of the time

NinjaOne vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 3% of the time

More WhatsUp Gold Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

PRTG Network Monitor

December 2025

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Buyer's Guide

WhatsUp Gold

December 2025

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Overview

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

Explore and manage your entire network infrastructure effortlessly with WhatsUp Gold's robust layer 2/3 discovery, creating a detailed interactive map from the edge to the cloud. Monitor devices, wireless controllers, servers, virtual machines, applications, and traffic flows across various environments. Real-time alerts ensure optimal performance, allowing you to meet or exceed SLAs. The platform offers customizable maps, dashboards, and alerts for easy network management. Quickly resolve issues with intuitive workflows, reducing Mean Time to Resolution (MTTR). WhatsUp Gold's integrated log management provides easy visibility and control of device log data, allowing monitoring, filtering, searching, and alerting on syslogs or Windows logs. Archive logs to comply with regulatory requirements and preserve historical data, all through a user-friendly interface. Streamline network monitoring and issue resolution with WhatsUp Gold, making network management efficient and hassle-free.

Progress Software

Sample Customers

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

Artoni Trasporti, Austin Independent School District, Banca Marche, Burke County North Carolina, Cambridge University School of Clinical Medicine, Clayco, Community Integrated Care, Desca, Deutsche Bergbau, Flexi-Van, Gropper, Hamleys, Hammonds Furniture, Knowledge IT, Idras S.P.A., Sibeg, Swann Engineering, Trivium Lindenhof

Buyer's Guide

PRTG Network Monitor vs. WhatsUp Gold

December 2025

Free Report: PRTG Network Monitor vs. WhatsUp Gold

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