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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.
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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 most valuable feature of PRTG Network Monitor is real-time monitoring."
"I like the mobility of the PRTG Network Monitor and ITOps Dashboard."
"The authentication links into our standard Active Directory authentication, which is very good."
"It is able to satisfy all our requirements in terms of email notifications and specific errors on the devices."
"It is easy to use and intuitive, which is really important. It does what it says on the box by giving you a visual of the state of what is going on at any one time."
"It is a very stable solution. There are no bugs, glitches and we have not experienced any crashing."
"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."
"We like the alerting system, the SNMP monitoring and the customization of the bandwidth."
More PRTG Network Monitor pros
"I like the filtering feature as we can filter data easily. This feature is also available in tcpdump, but it's a simple piece of software. Wireshark is more advanced and has many features. It allows you to filter a lot of things. The output can be filtered easily. The most important feature is colorization. If I say, "Okay, this particular SMB protocol in red, it will show me red." It's easy to identify that protocol or capture data."
"The product is simple to implement."
"Wireshark has a lot of features. It's a powerful tool if you're familiar with it. You can see everything on the network with it."
"Wireshark's best feature is that it's adaptive, which means it's the go-to tool for network-related developers."
"Wireshark saves a lot of time, especially with network troubleshooting."
"The solution is easy to install and use."
"The drill-down available for packet analysis is great. It gives a network security engineer insight into what is going on at the packet level and enables better troubleshooting."
"The ability to decrypt traffic and the abundance of filters available are both valuable features."
More Wireshark 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."
"PRTG's application monitoring sensor is not strong."
"Other monitoring tools that I have used are easier to use."
"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..."
"I would like to see more updates available in this solution."
"PRTG's documentation could be improved."
"PRTG Network Monitor can improve by adding prevention and detection features."
"I would like to see them take their graphing tools and convert them into a collector so that we can point telemetry to them"
More PRTG Network Monitor cons
"The product is great but I wish there were more of an emphasis on the command line tools."
"The system could be improved upon by adding a better and more powerful data processing engine."
"The Wireshark search function shows green for a correct search and red for an incorrect search. If there were a way to provide a description about what a search - and the similar ones which are available - can do, while a person is typing it, it would make the product easier to use and simultaneously decrease the learning curve."
"You need some basic knowledge to work with Wireshark. Maybe it could be more user-friendly just for new users. Just for the new generation."
"You need good network connectivity to download during the setup, otherwise, it might take a while."
"The solution has a steep learning curve. There are so many filters and features that are frequently being updated, it takes research, experience and familiarity to be able to use them. It could be a lot more user-friendly."
"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."
"Wireshark is restricted when any sort of encryption is involved, such as XSL encryption or DLX."
More Wireshark cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of PRTG Network Monitor is reasonable for the features that the solution provides. They charge you per monitoring, not per node, it is per port that you need for a device."
"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."
"While I am not the person who deals with pricing, I would say that we pay around 1000 pounds a year."
"If you're looking for a cost effective software I’d suggest this product."
"The price was pretty good, very competitive."
"We are satisfied with the price."
"I'm paying something like €1000 per year for the maintenance. I've got unlimited sensors."
"The licensing fees are billed annually and there are no costs in addition to this."
More PRTG Network Monitor pricing and cost advice
"Wireshark is an open-source product, so it's free to use."
"Wireshark is free software, so you can download it and use it for free with no licensing fees."
"We are using a freeware version of this solution, so there are no licence costs involved."
"Wireshark is open source and gives great value and functionality to the network investigation."
"The tool is free."
"It's free."
"It's a stand-alone tool. If there is a commercial license for it I am unaware of it."
"This is an open-source product that can be used free of charge."
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

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Compared 6% of the time
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Compared 6% of the time
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Compared 20% of the time
SolarWinds NPM vs Wireshark Logo
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Compared 14% of the time
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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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