7 best network monitoring tools in 2025

Introduction

In 2025, with hybrid clouds, edge devices, IoT, and CCTV streams, network environments will be more complex than ever, and growing cyber threats will drive the need for continuous monitoring. This article, “The 7 Best Network Monitoring Tools in 2025,” highlights key competitors (commercial and open source), their features (bandwidth, packet analysis, discovery, dashboards), and provides useful deployment and purchasing tips. If you’re looking for best network monitoring tools, network bandwidth monitoring tools, or free and open source network monitoring tools, here are some suggestions to meet your needs.

Why network monitoring matters

Network outages and congestion continue to waste both time and money, and they pose a constant threat to service-level agreements and security incidents in distributed environments. Effective monitoring improves uptime, capacity planning, security detection, and troubleshooting. A range of tools are available for this purpose, from lightweight IP monitoring tools—free utilities—to full-stack enterprise suites with AIOps capabilities. Traffic engineering for CCTV storage, real-time telemetry for edge sites, and combining flow statistics and packet capture for quick root cause analysis are all useful.

How we chose these 7 best network monitoring tools

Selection criteria included real-world use, active development (2024-2025 roadmaps/reviews), a wide range of functionality (discovery, SNMP/flow/packet capture, dashboards, alarms), and availability in both free/open-source and enterprise versions. For example, PRTG’s 2025 roadmap and Paessler feature pages demonstrate clear product evolution; Wireshark is the industry standard for packet analysis; and LibreNMS and Zabbix continue to dominate open-source solutions. These are the best network monitoring tools.

Quick comparison table for best network monitoring tools : features at a glance

Tool	Type	Strengths	Free/Open Source?
PRTG	Commercial (Paessler)	Sensor-based monitoring, easy maps, SMB friendly	Paid (free tier)
Nagios	OSS + Enterprise	Plugin ecosystem, mature alerting	Core = open source, XI = commercial.
Wireshark	Open Source	Deep packet inspection	Free. ()
Grafana + Prometheus	Open source stack	Dashboards, metrics, extensibility	Open source (many integrations)
Nmap	Open Source	Asset discovery, port scanning	Free.
LibreNMS	Open Source	Auto-discovery, SNMP/flows, Windows support	Free open source.
Zabbix	Open Source + Commercial support	Scalable triggers, enterprise features	Free core; paid support.

1) Paessler PRTG (PRTG Network Monitor)

PRTG is a great option for small to medium-sized teams that need quick setup, a variety of sensors (bandwidth, SNMP, NetFlow, packet sniffer), and visual maps. In 2025, Paessler released a PRTG roadmap focused on integrated IT/OT monitoring and UI upgrades, indicating active development.

Ideal for: SMBs, MSPs, and teams that prefer a single-vendor GUI and quick onboarding.

Note: PRTG’s licensing is sensor-based, making it easy to get started, but can become expensive as you add more sensors. It’s usually recommended when searching for “network monitoring tools PRTG.”

2) Nagios (Core / XI)

Nagios is a long-standing monitoring tool. Nagios Core (open source) offers plugin flexibility, while Nagios XI Enterprise offers polish, reporting, and support. It’s typically used in mixed situations where specialized testing and integration is required.

Best for: Teams looking for a modular, plugin-driven approach with the option to customize testing and alerting logic.

3) Wireshark

Wireshark is a useful tool for packet-level visibility, whether it’s in-depth protocol inspection, diagnosing strange application behavior, or forensic capture. It’s free, cross-platform, and regularly updated. Many people who search for “network monitoring tool wireshark” use it with Flow or SNMP-based monitors.

Best for: Network engineers perform packet analysis, forensic capture, and protocol verification.

4) Grafana (with Prometheus + exporters) for network monitoring

Grafana provides dashboards and a visualization layer for the modern observability stack. To build a customizable Grafana network monitoring stack, combine Grafana with Prometheus (metrics), node/agent exporters, and network exporters (SNMP_exporter, flow exporters). It is highly extensible and widely used in cloud-native systems.

Best for: Teams that require custom dashboards, metric-driven alerting, and integration with logs/traces.

5) Nmap

Nmap is crucial for proactive discovery, asset inventory, and security posture scanning. Although Nmap isn’t a continuous monitoring solution, its scans are ideal for conducting periodic audits and matching network activity with CMDB records. Nmap is often included in lists of the best network monitoring tools for discovery and security testing.

Ideal for: Security teams and network administrators performing discovery, port testing, and vulnerability testing..

6) LibreNMS

LibreNMS is a feature-rich open-source monitoring system that includes automatic discovery (CDP/LLDP/OSPF/BGP/SNMP), flow support, and a strong community. It’s a popular choice for those looking for Network monitoring tools free open source and Free open source network monitoring tools for Windows (it offers Windows-friendly deployment options).

Ideal for: Teams looking for a free, SNMP/flow-based solution with auto-discovery and community plugins.

7) Zabbix

Zabbix is enterprise-ready, highly customizable, and can scale from small networks to large distributed environments. Zabbix’s trigger and templating approach enables comprehensive alerting and dependency mapping. It is often used in situations where open-source flexibility and enterprise functionality are required.

Best for: Enterprises and teams that require scale, templates, and precise trigger control.

Network bandwidth monitoring tools: practical tips

Use flow exporters on core routers to collect NetFlow/sFlow/IPFIX data and send it to LibreNMS, PRTG, or ELK/Prometheus pipelines.
Use aggregated metrics (5-15 minute rollups) for long-term capacity planning instead of full-resolution data.
For CCTV with high traffic, consider edge caching, separate VLANs, QoS policies, and a bandwidth monitoring tool that can segment traffic by IP/subnet/protocol.

Quick guide: IP monitoring tool — free choices

If you need a simple free IP monitoring tool, try PRTG’s free tier (limited sensors), Nmap for scheduled discovery, and Prometheus node_exporter with Grafana for simple availability/latency charts. LibreNMS and Zabbix both offer free, production-ready IP/device monitoring at scale.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about best Network Monitoring Tools:

Q1: Are there good free open source network monitoring tools for Windows?
A: Yes, LibreNMS, Zabbix, Prometheus with Grafana work on Windows (agents/exporters). Wireshark is a Windows application that captures packets.

Q2: Is Wireshark a network monitoring tool or only a packet analyzer?
A: It is often used in conjunction with continuous monitoring tools (PRTG, Zabbix), not as a replacement for them.

Q3: What’s the difference between Nagios Core and Nagios XI?
A: Nagios Core is an open-source engine, while Nagios XI is a commercial distribution that includes a GUI, reporting, and enterprise capabilities. Choose Core for custom OSS configurations and XI for supported, packaged deployments.

Q4: Can Nmap be used for continuous monitoring?
A: Nmap is ideal for scheduled scans and audits. Continuous active scanning can be noisy, so combine Nmap Discovery with passive monitoring for complete coverage.

Q5: What is a good free IP monitoring tool?
A: LibreNMS and Zabbix are free options that handle IP/device monitoring. PRTG offers a free tier (limited sensors) that’s useful for smaller setups.

Q6: Where can I find open-source network monitoring tools on GitHub?
A: Find projects like librenms, zabbix, prometheus, grafana, and nmap on GitHub. Many projects publish exporters and integrations there—see active forks and recent commits.

Q7: Which option is benefit of CCTV?
A: CCTV provides physical security, real-time visual verification of events, and forensic video evidence. From a network perspective, the benefits of CCTV require planning (bandwidth, storage, VLAN separation, and QoS). Use network bandwidth monitoring tools to determine the size of links and storage to support CCTV streams.

Q8: What network monitoring tools have you all find to be the best?
A: Based on the requirements, the following are recommended: Nmap for discovery, Wireshark for packet analysis, Grafana+Prometheus for metrics-driven observation, Zabbix/LibreNMS for open-source enterprise use, and PRTG for SMBs. These top choices are supported by vendor roadmaps and technical reviews (like TechRadar).

Q9: Which of the following tools can be used to view and modify DNS server information in Linux?
A: You can query and update DNS records (with the correct permissions) using tools like dig and nsupdate, which are part of the BIND utilities. You can use command-line tools or the management APIs provided by the DNS server for GUI-based and monitoring purposes.

Q10: Which of the following describes the worst possible action by an IDS?
A: Intrusion detection systems (IDS) are designed to alert, not to take action. The worst action an IDS can take is to silently block or modify traffic (this would be an active intrusion prevention action without permission)—as this can disrupt services and lead to incorrect blocking. If automatic blocking is desired, a properly configured IDS must alert and integrate with an Intrusion Prevention System (IPS).

Conclusion

There’s no single “best” tool for everyone. If you need a simple GUI and fast results, PRTG is a strong commercial option. If you want open-source controls and no licensing fees, Zabbix or LibreNMS are great. For an observability-based stack, use Prometheus + Grafana for metrics and Wireshark for packet-level forensics. Use Nmap for discovery and security audits.