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PRTG Network Monitor vs Wireshark comparison

The compared Paessler GmbH and Wireshark solutions aren't in the same category. Paessler GmbH is ranked #5 in NMS , with an average rating of 7.7, and holds a 4.2% mindshare in the category. Wireshark is ranked #4 in NT , with an average rating of 9.0, and holds a 13.4% mindshare. Additionally, 91% of Paessler GmbH users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 98% of Wireshark users who would recommend it.
PRTG Network Monitor
Read 102 PRTG Network Monitor reviews
  • 8,952 Views
  • 6,177 Comparison Views
91% willing to recommend
Wireshark
Read 63 Wireshark reviews
  • 2,366 Views
  • 710 Comparison Views
98% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary
We performed a comparison between PRTG Network Monitor and Wireshark based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Zabbix, Auvik, SolarWinds and others in Network Monitoring Software.

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Network Monitoring Software
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

PRTG Network Monitor
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
102
Ranking in other categories
Network Monitoring Software (5th), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (6th), Cloud Monitoring Software (11th)
Wireshark
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
63
Ranking in other categories
Network Troubleshooting (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Network Management solutions, they serve different purposes. PRTG Network Monitor is designed for Network Monitoring Software and holds a mindshare of 4.2%, down 4.6% compared to last year.
Wireshark, on the other hand, focuses on Network Troubleshooting, holds 13.4% mindshare, up 11.7% since last year.
Network Monitoring Software
Network Troubleshooting
 

Featured Reviews

Noman-Saleem - PeerSpot reviewer
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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Vijay Duggal - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides detailed traffic analysis and helps troubleshoot issues
There is a disadvantage when it comes to sampling intervals. While the solution supports sampling as fine as one millisecond, it requires a copy at that interval. My Python script allows me to achieve a granularity of up to ten microseconds, but I can't go beyond that. When dealing with provisioning on both issues, it would be beneficial if I could go down to the microsecond level, if not the nanosecond. Additionally, I've heard from a colleague that Wireshark might be less effective in the voice domain.
Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Network Discovery is a feature that our customers like a lot."
"It is easy when it comes to dependencies of devices, so if your router goes down, the three or four switches behind it will automatically be paused so that you don't get multiple alerts."
"It gives me a live view of the traffic on the WAN."
"I like the mobility of the PRTG Network Monitor and ITOps Dashboard."
"From a network point of view, we can see the state of the network, as well as bandwidth usage and downtime."
"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"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."
"Technical support has been very helpful so far."
More PRTG Network Monitor pros
"Wireshark is a good tool to start with network analyzing and packet capturing."
"It has good basic features."
"The product is simple to implement."
"The filter option provided by Wireshark is its most valuable feature...Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"Wireshark's best feature is that it's adaptive, which means it's the go-to tool for network-related developers."
"It is a stable product. I would rate the stability a ten out of ten."
"The most valuable feature is the traffic gate, which shows which IPs are getting more bandwidth or traffic."
"Wireshark saves a lot of time, especially with network troubleshooting."
More Wireshark pros
 

Cons

"I would like the ability to monitor Cisco IRS devices."
"We would like to monitor certain aspects of the user experience. We should be able to analyze the cause of end user experience, bad or good, so we can do some research and development on our own."
"PRTG Network Monitor can improve the reports. In the reports, you have to give an alert for that SMS and email, the emergency calls and downtimes have to be reported accordingly. You have to enable email services or an SMS gateway service to receive more alerts at the proper time."
"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."
"They could improve the process of updating the license."
"I would like to have a VM version that can be installed on a cloud such as Azure. We're using Azure, and we're eliminating on-premise servers. It would be helpful to have a PRTG version that can be installed on the Azure cloud."
"I've encountered a challenge in my functions, particularly in adding and printing."
"The solution could be better and faster when it comes to performance."
More PRTG Network Monitor cons
"It is difficult to scale this solution."
"This product needs to improve the UI."
"Wireshark is restricted when any sort of encryption is involved, such as XSL encryption or DLX."
"The only thing that I don't like is sometimes there is an update, and something that I was using is either no longer there or it has changed."
"The product is great but I wish there were more of an emphasis on the command line tools."
"Wireshark gets stuck when it is a larger file."
"I would like better control of bandwidth from the service provider."
"It is not an easy program. You will need to study to use it to its full capabilities (follow a course)."
More Wireshark cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is okay and it is cheaper than some competing products."
"We bought a license for 4000 sensors."
"Right now, the smallest sensor pack that they have is just a bit out of range for me, as a business. This kills me, as I need the product. Therefore, there is always a balance between needing to buy it or continuing their free version."
"I'm paying something like €1000 per year for the maintenance. I've got unlimited sensors."
"We have an unlimited license for this solution."
"All monitoring system is close to the same pricing scheme."
"Sensors on free version can run out quick."
"PRTG Network Monitor is cheap."
More PRTG Network Monitor pricing and cost advice
"The solution is open source so is free."
"Wireshark is an open-source product, so it's free to use."
"We are using a freeware version of this solution, so there are no licence costs involved."
"Wireshark is open-source and free of charge."
"It is free."
"Wireshark is open source and gives great value and functionality to the network investigation."
"We're using the free version of Wireshark."
"It's free."
More Wireshark pricing and cost advice
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Comparison Review

it_user174738 - PeerSpot reviewer
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
Educational Organization
21%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
8%
University
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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...
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
What do you like most about Wireshark?
The GUI is easy to use.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Wireshark?
Wireshark is priced at a medium range, not too high, not too low. The pricing could be more flexible, and they might make it more expensive. That said, compared to other products, it is competitive.
See all answers
What needs improvement with Wireshark?
The speed of the Internet could be improved, especially its performance. Performance can sometimes be a challenge due to numerous factors.
See all answers
 

Comparisons

Zabbix vs PRTG Network Monitor Logo
Zabbix vs PRTG Network Monitor
Compared 7% of the time
PRTG Enterprise Monitor vs PRTG Network Monitor Logo
PRTG Enterprise Monitor vs PRTG Network Monitor
Compared 7% of the time
LibreNMS vs PRTG Network Monitor Logo
LibreNMS vs PRTG Network Monitor
Compared 6% of the time
Centreon vs PRTG Network Monitor Logo
Centreon vs PRTG Network Monitor
Compared 6% of the time
SolarWinds NPM vs PRTG Network Monitor Logo
SolarWinds NPM vs PRTG Network Monitor
Compared 6% of the time
More PRTG Network Monitor Competitors
Microsoft Network Monitor vs Wireshark Logo
Microsoft Network Monitor vs Wireshark
Compared 21% of the time
SolarWinds NPM vs Wireshark Logo
SolarWinds NPM vs Wireshark
Compared 14% of the time
Colasoft Capsa vs Wireshark Logo
Colasoft Capsa vs Wireshark
Compared 12% of the time
Zabbix vs Wireshark Logo
Zabbix vs Wireshark
Compared 9% of the time
Dynatrace vs Wireshark Logo
Dynatrace vs Wireshark
Compared 3% of the time
More Wireshark Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
PRTG Network Monitor
June 2025
PRTG Network Monitor reportDownload PRTG Network Monitor product report
Buyer's Guide
Wireshark
June 2025
Wireshark reportDownload Wireshark product report
 

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
Wireshark is the world's foremost network protocol analyzer.
Wireshark
 

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
Comversion, ADP, Talbots
Buyer's Guide
Network Monitoring Software
July 2025
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