Have you put off investing in a network monitoring solution because it’s too expensive? Our list of free and open source network monitoring tools can help.
Network monitoring is key to any business’s IT management and security strategy. Yet, according to a 2019 Capterra survey, 42% of businesses don’t use network monitoring software at all.
The costs associated with network monitoring tools could be a deterrent for many businesses. On the higher end, these systems can cost up to $10,000 in the first year of use, and small businesses may pay, on average, $1,400 annually for network monitoring software.
Freemium versions of network monitoring software can serve as a stepping stone until you gain confidence in the value of these tools and are able to exploit them for maximum return on investment (ROI).
We analyzed about 80 free network monitoring tools from Capterra’s software directory and identified the best five choices to help you make a buying decision.
SnmpWalk allows you to detect a set of variables that are available for reading on a certain device. You can obtain a full list or just part. By analyzing the results of a network device scan.
- You can download SNMP Test Utility 1.4 for Mac from our application library for free. This free software for Mac OS X was originally developed by DewDrop Studios. SNMP Test Utility for Mac lies within Internet & Network Tools, more precisely Network tools. This app's bundle is identified as net.dewdropstudios.SNMPTest.
- 5 Best free and open source network monitoring software 1. Checkmk is a free and open source network, server, and application monitoring tool. It uses smart plug-ins to collect data from different types of hardware and software and supports agent-based as well as agentless monitoring via SNMP, HTTP, or through APIs.
Each of the five tools mentioned in this article has a minimum user rating of 4.0 and at least 10 user reviews on Capterra in the past year. You can find our full methodology for product selection here. Products are listed in alphabetical order.
5 Best free and open source network monitoring software
1. Checkmk
Checkmk is a free and open source network, server, and application monitoring tool. It uses smart plug-ins to collect data from different types of hardware and software and supports agent-based as well as agentless monitoring via SNMP, HTTP, or through APIs.
Checkmk supports log- and event-based monitoring, creation of time-series graphs and reports, and log data analysis. Other features include alerts/notifications, auto discovery, rule-based configuration, and inventory tracking.
This software is suited for businesses of all sizes and is available in both hosted and on-premise versions.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Capterra reviewers say the software is simple and easy to use. Users especially like the software’s auto-discovery and monitoring features and customization capabilities. | Some users feel that documentation should be updated and more detailed. Some users also say that the user interface could be modernized. |
Cost to upgrade: Checkmk Raw Edition is completely free and open source; the Enterprise Edition costs $660 per year for monitoring up to three devices.
Most often reviewed by: In 2018 to 2019, 35% of user reviews for Checkmk on Capterra came from small businesses (fewer than 100 employees), 18% from midsize businesses (101 to 1,000 employees), and 47% from large businesses (more than 1,000 employees).
The majority of reviewers are from the IT services and automotive industries.
Mobile app: Not available
Service graphs in Checkmk (Source)
2. CloudStats
CloudStats is a website and server monitoring tool for Linux and Windows operating systems. It helps identify processes that consume large volumes of network bandwidth.
CloudStats is set up to monitor resources on the cloud as well as on-premise servers; it also supports data backup on Amazon S3 or local storage. This software is an agent-based monitoring system and it uses its proprietary CloudStats Agent to collect and send network data to user accounts.
The software is suited for businesses of all sizes and is available as a cloud-based solution.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Capterra reviewers mention that the software is easy to use and has a simple and clutter-free user interface. Users also say that configuring the software is easy and that it offers all the necessary features for tracking IT resources. | Some users feel that the accompanying documentation could be improved. Some users mention that the software is not as customizable as they’d like to see. |
Cost to upgrade: The free version supports only one user, basic alerts, and 24-hour data retention. The paid version costs $5 per server, per month and offers 30-day data retention, advanced alerts, and role-based permissions for multiple users.
Most often reviewed by: Between 2018 to 2019, 90% of user reviews for CloudStats on Capterra came from small businesses (fewer than 100 employees), 5% from midsize businesses (101 to 1,000 employees), and 5% from large businesses (more than 1,000 employees).
Most reviewers are from IT services, software, and internet businesses.
Mobile app: Not available
Server monitoring in CloudStats
3. Spiceworks
Spiceworks is a free IT asset management solution that offers network monitoring and help desk tools. The network monitoring tool allows for tracking critical IT infrastructure such as servers, IP devices, and switches; the help desk tool supports ticket management, reporting, ticket rule automation, and integration with active directory.
Spiceworks is primarily suited to small and midsize businesses and is available in both cloud-based and on-premise versions.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Capterra reviewers say that Spiceworks is simple and easy to use. Users say the Spiceworks community promptly responds to queries. Many users mention that the large volume of functionalities offered by Spiceworks sets it apart from other free tools. | Users say that the application slows down occasionally. Some users also mention that the software setup is slightly complicated. Many users say that too many ads in the software are distracting. |
Cost to upgrade: All plans offered by Spiceworks are free.
Most often reviewed by: In 2018 and 2019, 67% of user reviews for Spiceworks on Capterra came from small businesses (fewer than 100 employees), 20% from midsize businesses (101 to 1,000 employees), and 13% from large businesses (more than 1,000 employees).
Most reviewers were from the IT services, education management, financial services, and nonprofit sectors.
Mobile app: iOS, Android
Overview of all devices connected to a network in Spiceworks
4. Splunk Enterprise
Splunk Enterprise is an IT infrastructure monitoring tool that helps collect and analyze data from different IT devices. It supports application monitoring, server monitoring, network monitoring, event analytics, container monitoring, virtualization monitoring, and more.
Splunk Enterprise measures the latency, volume, and status of all HTTP connections, helping track response and query time from web servers. The software also helps with cloud infrastructure monitoring and managing security compliance.
This tool is primarily suited for midsize and large businesses. Splunk Enterprise is the on-premise version while Splunk Cloud is the hosted version of the software.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Capterra reviewers appreciate the software’s capability to handle large datasets and analyze log data. Many users also praise the dashboard and reporting capabilities of Splunk that allow users to combine data from multiple sources. | Some users feel that the software’s learning curve is steep. Users mention that the software becomes slow when saving large queries. |
Cost to upgrade: Splunk Enterprise’s free version supports only one user and 500 MB data per day. Paid plans start at $225 per month (billed annually) and support unlimited users.
Most often reviewed by: In 2018 to 2019, 15% of user reviews for Splunk on Capterra came from small businesses (fewer than 100 employees), 30% from midsize businesses (101 to 1,000 employees), and 55% from large businesses (more than 1,000 employees).
Most reviewers were from the software, IT services, and banking industries.
Mobile app: Android, iOS
Network monitoring dashboard in Splunk Enterprise
5. Zabbix
Zabbix is a free and open source network monitoring software. The software supports server monitoring, application monitoring, and cloud infrastructure monitoring; it uses advanced problem detection techniques to predict trends and detect anomalies.
Other features offered by Zabbix include auto discovery of devices on a network, alerts, event correlation, and remote command execution. The software has an active community that regularly updates the software and adds features.
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Zabbix is used by businesses of all sizes in a variety of industries including financial services, retail, IT, and telecommunications. Zabbix is available as a hosted solution (Zabbix Cloud) as well as on-premise software.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Capterra reviewers appreciate the available integration options as well as the tool’s alerts/notification and dashboard features. Users liked the software’s ability to generate graphs from network data. | Some users feel that the tool is hard to set up and its documentation and training options are limited. Some users also mentioned that the learning curve is steep. |
Cost to upgrade: Zabbix is a free tool with no paid plans.
Most often reviewed by: During 2018 and 2019, 43% of user reviews for Zabbix on Capterra came from small businesses (fewer than 100 employees), 38% from midsize businesses (101 to 1,000 employees), and 19% from large businesses (more than 1,000 employees). Most reviewers were from the software, IT, and computer services industry.
Mobile app: Third-party Android and iOS applications
Dashboard in Zabbix
Next steps to choose the right tool for your business
Selecting the tool that works best for your organization is always a challenging task.
Here are some tips to help you choose the right network monitoring software for your business.
If you’re currently using a free or open source network monitoring solution or have used one in the past, tell us about your experience in the comments section below. Check out Capterra’s network monitoring software directory for a complete list of vendors. |
METHODOLOGY
Survey methodology: Capterra conducted this survey in June, 2019, among 714 respondents who reported full-time employment in the United States. Of the 714 respondents, 207 identified as IT professionals.
Product Selection Methodology:
Products considered for this article fulfill the following criteria:
Free products:
For this article, we classified a product as free if:
- It offers a free, stand-alone version of the software.
- It’s not a trial version of the software where you must purchase a paid version after a limited amount of time.
Open source products
For open source software to be considered for this article, the tool has to make its source code open to everyone to inspect, modify, and enhance. The source code must also have been updated (full version or small fix) within the past 12 months and must support one of the following operating systems: Windows, Mac, or Linux.
Selection criteria
The products that met the above criteria were then evaluated against our network monitoring software definition— network monitoring software tracks and monitors computer network systems for failed or delayed components and notifies network administrators of any network issues.
This check verified the basic network monitoring capabilities and appropriateness for the category. A product was classified as network monitoring software if it contained all the core features—bandwidth monitoring, server monitoring, and dashboards.
Software that met the market definition also needed a minimum of 10 reviews published on the network monitoring software category page between September 5, 2018, and September 5, 2019.
Note: Listed pros and cons are derived from features listed on the product website and product user reviews on Gartner Digital Markets domains (Capterra, GetApp, and Software Advice). They do not represent the views of, nor constitute an endorsement by, Capterra or its affiliates.
Looking for Network Monitoring software? Check out Capterra's list of the best Network Monitoring software solutions.
Getif 2.x Network Tool
Hot Topics
Connecting to an SNMP deviceCompiling additional MIBS
Browsing and Graphing
What it is - Getif is a free multi-functional Windows GUI based Network Tool written by Philippe Simonet. It is amongst other things, an excellent SNMP tool that allows you to collect and graph information from SNMP devices. These devices include (but are by no means limited to) Windows 2000 (using the SNMP4NT or SNMP4W2K or SNMP-Informant extension agents, of course!), and other OS's as well as devices manufactured by most major network companies (i.e. Cisco, 3COM, Dlink, Nokia, etc., etc.).
Philippe has kindly given me permission to distribute this excellent tool.
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GetIf is much more than an SNMP browser however, with the ability to graph OID values over time, display the device's interface information, routing and ARP tables, as well as do basic port scans, Traceroutes, NSLookups, and IP Scans.
There are now two versions of Getif available for download here at SNMP4tPC. Version 2.2 is arguably the most prevalent version, however version 2.3.1 is now also available for those who wish to try it. Some of the features of v 2.3.1 include sliding scrollbars (yippee!). Many of you have asked for this. Be advised however, that the familiar Set/Walk and Add to graph buttons have changed. I would suggest you keep version 2.2 around in addition to installing version 2.3.1. Together they make a great team!
Download Getif v2.2 now by clicking here!
Download Getif v2.3.1 now by clicking here!
Since you're using Getif... you might want to download THIS file! Gently unzip it into the MIBS directory below wherever you installed Getif (usually x:Program FilesGetif 2.xMIBS). Be SURE to BACK UP YOUR MIBS DIRECTORY FIRST! VERY IMPORTANT!
Once unzipped, you will see a PILE of MIBS (about 620) in the GetifMibs directory. You will also see a nice directory structure, where all the MIBS exist as well. This way, you can delete the MIB files you don't want from the GetifMIBS, and recover them later if you want from the individual directories.
If present, delete the .index file in GetifMIBS, and restart Getif, Click the MBrowser tab, and you ought to be quite impressed with what you find! This 8.0MB zip contains many MIBS that are known to work with Getif including BEA Weblogic, Cisco (comprehensive!), DOCSys compliant cable modems, AppleTalk, Adaptec, Madge, Stratacom, SymBIOS, Mylex, LanOptics, LightStream, DEC, NEC, IBM, FastTrack, GrandJunction, Microsoft, NetWare, GroupWise, APCC, Compaq Insight Manager, HP TopTools, and RFC MIBS. It also contains a number of MIB-II/Transmission types such as RS-232, 802.3, 802.5, FDDI, LAPB, X.25, Frame Relay, ISDN, DS1, DS3 and SoNET. It does NOT include the SNMP4tPC PERFMIB.MIB.
I have spent quite a while collecting these MIBS for Getif. They ought to work for most SNMPv1 compliant browsers as well.
Download the SNMP4tPC Getif MIB collection now by clicking here!
You will notice that the Getif.log file has some entries now. This is due in part to missing cross-references. I have not spent a lot of time cleaning it up, as it might reduce the number of browse-able objects. Plus, it's a lot of work. Remember, we're compiling 620 MIBS now!
Important Note: In order to use Getif effectively, you must have SNMP installed, and know the IP address and the community name(s) of the device you want to access. If you don't, the SNMP functions will not work.
The remainder of this page attempts to help you discover how to get the most out of Getif, and describes each tab in more detail. Skip it if all you want is the program and/or the MIB collection.
Parameters -To begin with, you must first start the program, and enter in the IP address of the device you want to connect to as well as the read and write community strings. You do this from the Parameters page as shown below.
On this page, you can also enter the SNMP timeout and retry values. You should leave them at their default values in most cases, however on a slow LAN or WAN, you might want to increase the timeout (I suggest increments of 500ms if you need to.) and retry values.
Note: The fields with white backgrounds can be changed; the rest are display fields only.
The ifNumber field identifies the number of interfaces found by Getif on the device selected. For example, on my system, I have 3 (1 loopback, and 2 real NICs).
The SysServices number identifies the SNMP support provided by the system. On my system, the number 76 represents the fact the the box is providing application, end-to-end, and Internet services. Each service type has a number assigned, and they add up to the SysServices number displayed. Sorry! I can't remember what each service number is (as I write this).
Hint: You can set the default IP Address, and community names here, so you don't have to re-enter them each time you connect
Interfaces - Selecting this tab and pressing Start will display a list of all the discovered interfaces on the selected device.
You can select to display All (default) or Administrative Up or Operationally Up interfaces only by selecting the appropriate check box.
Hint: Expand the int. field column (drag it wider) to make sure you get the entire interface number! On Windows 2000, this can be quite large (i.e. 167772##). This is the number you would plug into the MRTG Target[] line. For example, to monitor the internal network card on the system above, the MRTG target line would be:
Target[WIN2KFS1_LOCAL_NIC]: 16777220:cilbup@192.168.200.10
Addresses - Displays the interface address information. Press the Start button.
Routing Table - Displays the routing table for each interface. Press the Start button.
Arp - Displays contents of the Arp Cache table. Press the Start button.
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Gen. Table - displays the ipNetToMediaTable. Press the Start button.
IP Discovery - Here, you can select an IP Address range, and scan it to see what hosts are active. You can control the initial timeout, and subsequent timeouts, etc. so you don't spend all day scanning for non-existent devices. You can also select whether or not to resolve names. When ready, press the Start button.
Reachability - Select this tab, and press Start to scan the selected device for the services displayed on the left hand side of the pane. This is a handy way to quickly check for common services on the target device. When ready, press the Start button.
Hint: You can also choose to do a Ping scan as well, by clicking the check box. If you want to add the Ping scan time plots on a graph, press the Add to graph button. Then, go to the Graph tab, and press Start. You will see your PING scan times plotted there. The PING will continue as long as the check box is checked.
MIB Browser -Getif will compile SNMPv1 MIBS (it will not work with SNMPv2/3), and let you browse them in a graphical tree format as can be seen in the image below, which shows Getif browsing the Memory counters (from SNMP4W2K) on my Windows 2000 Advanced Server system. It shows the currently available (free) memory in bytes.
The top field displays the fully qualified SNMP OID name. The second field displays the representative SNMP OID number (as determined by the MIB compile). The top main screen shows the tree-view of the MIB. By selecting the value you want, and then pressing the Walk (also used as GET) button, the lower main screen will fill with the result of the walk. Select the instance you want, and the bottom 3 fields will be populated. The bottom left field displays the numeric OID (including the instance number). The middle window diplays the SNMP variable type (ipaddress, integer, nullobj, objid, string, timeticks or unsigned, and finally, the bottom right field displays the retrieved value.
Hint: If you press the Add to Graph button, the selected instance will be copied to the Graph Tab for you to do real-time monitoring. You can do this with more than one instance. Just be sure the scale gradient (i.e. %, bytes, etc.) is functional for whatever OIDs you select.
There are some limitations in version 2.2 of Getif, one being that you cannot scroll to the right in the lower main window.
Compiling additional MIBS - In order to add new (SNMPv1) MIBS to the Getif browser, you must perform the following steps.
- Be sure to shut down Getif
- Copy your new MIB(s) into the MIBS directory under the Getif install directory (usually C:Program FilesGetif 2.2MIBS). Be sure that any requisite MIBS (some MIBS require that other MIBS are there) are also copied!
- delete the .index file in the the C:Program FilesGetif 2.2MIBS directory
- Restart Getif
Check the C:Program FilesGetif 2.2Getif.log file for any errors. If no errors are found during the compile, the file will be 0 (zero) bytes in size.
Hint: I have created a MIBS.ZIP (available here) file containing a TON of additional files! Check it out!
Graph - Basically, once you have added an SNMP (or maybe a PING) value to the graph, you must go to the Graph page and press Start. The graph will then start plotting based on the Refresh time you select on the page. You can choose to have the labels displayed, or have the graph show in 3D mode (not my favorite). In this particular example, I am plotting the available memory (in bytes) as added to the graph from the Mib Browser Tab (above)
Hint: Choosing the X Labels will show the real (not relative) time of each plot. the Nb pts increases or decreases the granularity.
To return the the main page, click the logo!