Networking · alternatives
Alternatives to Kentik
19 networking tools sit alongside Kentik in this directory. Below is what separates each from Kentik on the figures we hold, price, model, tier count and rating, and a direct comparison for every one.
- Alternatives listed
- 19
- With a free tier
- 12
- Cheaper to start
- -
- Kentik starts at
- On request
Why people look past Kentik
Only what the record supports. Each point below is a figure on the Kentik entry measured against the tools listed beside it.
There is no free tier
The record for Kentik carries no free tier, so evaluating it means paying first. 12 of the 19 alternatives below can be used without paying.
What each alternative does differently
Ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry. Differences are drawn from price, pricing model, tier count and rating, the fields the category listing carries. For a feature-level difference, follow the head-to-head link on each card: those pages read both full records.
Internet and digital experience monitoring, with a genuinely published entry price through its WebPageTest product line
- Can be used without paying; Kentik cannot.
- Sold on a Free tier plus published entry tiers, enterprise quote-only model rather than Annual contract only, per tier.
- 4 tiers to Kentik's 2.
Infrastructure monitoring licensed by sensor count, not by device, which changes what a licence actually covers
- Sold on a Per sensor tier, billed monthly on an annual contract model rather than Annual contract only, per tier.
- 5 tiers to Kentik's 2.
Cloud-based network monitoring and management priced by managed device count, quote-only
- Sold on a quote, per managed device model rather than Annual contract only, per tier.
- 1 tier to Kentik's 2.
Open source infrastructure monitoring, free at its core, with paid support and modules sold separately by Icinga GmbH
- Can be used without paying; Kentik cannot.
- Sold on a Open source core, with paid repository, module and support subscriptions sold separately model rather than Annual contract only, per tier.
Free, community-driven network monitoring with commercial support sold by a third-party partner, not the project itself
- Can be used without paying; Kentik cannot.
- Sold on a Open source, no licence fee; commercial support sold by a third-party partner model rather than Annual contract only, per tier.
- 1 tier to Kentik's 2.
Software-defined mesh networking, free up to 10 devices and one network, then billed per device
- Can be used without paying; Kentik cannot.
- Sold on a Free up to 10 devices and 1 network, then per additional device per month model rather than Annual contract only, per tier.
- 3 tiers to Kentik's 2.
Every Kentik alternative at a glance
A dash means the catalogue entry carries no figure, not that the answer is nothing.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Tiers | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kentik (this page) | On request | Annual contract only, per tier | 2 | |
| CatchpointFor internet and digital experience monitoring focused on end-user performance rather than internal network flow data | Free | Free tier plus published entry tiers, enterprise quote-only | 4 | vs Kentik |
| PRTG Network MonitorFor general infrastructure monitoring that complements, rather than replaces, flow-level traffic analytics | On request | Per sensor tier, billed monthly on an annual contract | 5 | vs Kentik |
| AuvikFor a lower-cost network monitoring option aimed at MSPs rather than large-scale flow analytics | On request | Quote, per managed device | 1 | vs Kentik |
| Icinga | Free | Open source core, with paid repository, module and support subscriptions sold separately | 2 | vs Kentik |
| LibreNMS | Free | Open source, no licence fee; commercial support sold by a third-party partner | 1 | vs Kentik |
| ZeroTier | Free | Free up to 10 devices and 1 network, then per additional device per month | 3 | vs Kentik |
| pfSense | Free | Open source Community Edition, free; commercial Plus edition sold separately by Netgate | 2 | vs Kentik |
| OpenVPN | Free | Open source core is free; Access Server billed per simultaneous connection | 3 | vs Kentik |
| NetBird | Free | Per user per month | 3 | vs Kentik |
| Nebula | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 2 | vs Kentik |
| Headscale | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs Kentik |
| Twingate | Free | Per user per month | 3 | vs Kentik |
| Zabbix | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 2 | vs Kentik |
| Netdata | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 2 | vs Kentik |
| Domotz | On request | Per collector or per managed device per month | 2 | vs Kentik |
| Juniper Mist | On request | Quote, hardware plus required Wi-Fi Assurance subscription | 2 | vs Kentik |
| Cisco Meraki | On request | Quote, hardware plus mandatory recurring licence | 1 | vs Kentik |
| ThousandEyes | On request | Quote, unit-based consumption on annual or prepaid contracts | 1 | vs Kentik |
| MikroTik RouterOS | On request | One-time purchase, per licence level | 2 | vs Kentik |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry; Softwr hosts no reviews of these products. How each figure is used is set out on the Kentik badges page.
Cheaper ways to solve the same problem
What you would be giving up
Kentik is most often brought in for a network engineering team at an isp or large enterprise needing flow-level traffic visibility beyond basic uptime monitoring, a cloud-heavy organisation wanting visibility into cloud provider network cost and performance across multiple providers, a security or network operations team wanting ddos detection layered on top of standard traffic monitoring, a team needing synthetic testing alongside passive flow analysis in one platform rather than two separate tools. Anything replacing it has to cover the ones you actually depend on, and a cheaper tool that misses one of them is not cheaper.
Two things this page cannot settle. It compares on price, model, tier count and rating, because those are the fields the category listing carries, feature-level differences need both full records, which is what the head-to-head pages load. And the ratings are third-party aggregates imported with each entry rather than reviews written here, so a 0.2 difference between two tools is noise rather than a finding.
If Kentik is broadly right and the question is cost, the Kentik pricing breakdown covers every tier and what each one adds. If you want the whole field rather than a shortlist, the Networking category lists everything the directory holds, and best networking tools ranks them.
Kentik runs on web, api. Platform coverage is not carried on the category listing for the alternatives, so it is one more thing to check on each head-to-head page rather than here.
Questions about Kentik alternatives
- What are the main alternatives to Kentik?
- 19 other networking tools are listed in this directory, led by Catchpoint, PRTG Network Monitor, Auvik, Icinga. They are ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry, not by any Softwr ranking.
- What is the best free alternative to Kentik?
- 12 of the alternatives listed here can be used without paying: Catchpoint, Icinga, LibreNMS, ZeroTier, pfSense.
- Why do people look for an alternative to Kentik?
- On the figures on record, one thing stands out: there is no free tier. Each is set out with the numbers behind it above.
- What would I give up by switching from Kentik?
- Kentik is most often brought in for a network engineering team at an isp or large enterprise needing flow-level traffic visibility beyond basic uptime monitoring, a cloud-heavy organisation wanting visibility into cloud provider network cost and performance across multiple providers, a security or network operations team wanting ddos detection layered on top of standard traffic monitoring, a team needing synthetic testing alongside passive flow analysis in one platform rather than two separate tools. Anything you replace it with has to cover the ones you actually rely on, the side-by-side comparisons linked from each alternative below put the two feature records against each other.
- Is there an open-source alternative to Kentik?
- None of the networking tools listed here are recorded as open source. That is what the licence field on each entry says, and the field is not always filled in, so it is worth checking directly for any tool you are serious about.
- How were these Kentik alternatives chosen?
- They are the tools filed in the same category, Networking, ordered by the aggregated rating on each entry. There is no editorial shortlist, and nothing on this page is paid: no sponsored placement runs on alternatives pages and the order cannot be bought. Softwr has not used these products.
- Where can I compare Kentik against one of these directly?
- Every alternative below has a side-by-side page against Kentik covering price, platforms, features and what each one is used for. Those pages read the full record for both products rather than the summary shown here.
- Does this list cover every networking tool?
- No. It covers what this directory holds in the Networking category, 19 tools beside Kentik. The category page lists the rest of the catalogue as it grows.