PRTG Network Monitor

Infrastructure monitoring licensed by sensor count, not by device, which changes what a licence actually covers

As of 1 September 2026, PRTG Network Monitor's pricing is not published; the vendor quotes on request. An on-premises and cloud network, server and application monitoring tool from Paessler. Softwr lists it under Networking. PRTG Network Monitor is made by Paessler, available on Windows, Web, iOS, Android.

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Overview

What PRTG Network Monitor does

PRTG monitors network devices, servers, applications, virtual environments and cloud services using SNMP, WMI, packet sniffing, flow data and custom sensors, presenting results through dashboards, maps and alerting. It installs as a Windows-based on-premises server, a hosted cloud instance, or a hybrid combination of both, with the same monitoring engine underneath. The licensing mechanism buyers most often misjudge is that PRTG bills by sensor count, not device count, and a sensor is any single monitored metric, so a single switch monitored for CPU, memory, each port's traffic and its uptime can consume ten or more sensors on its own. Published tiers run from PRTG 500 ($200/month, paid annually, covering up to 500 sensors, roughly 50 devices at typical sensor density) up to PRTG 10000 ($1,642/month for up to 10,000 sensors), and different licence sizes cannot be combined on one server, so a buyer who underestimates sensor density per device will find they need to jump a full tier earlier than a device count alone would suggest. Buyers are IT teams at small to large organisations wanting broad infrastructure visibility, network, server and application, from a single tool rather than assembling separate monitoring products. The trade-off against an open source tool like Icinga or LibreNMS is a materially higher recurring cost in exchange for a more polished out-of-box UI and Paessler-provided support.

What people use it for

An IT team wanting network, server and application monitoring in one product rather than assembling separate open source tools
An organisation that wants a Windows-installable on-premises monitoring server with a polished UI out of the box
A team sizing a monitoring purchase that needs to calculate sensor density per device carefully before committing to a tier
A company wanting hybrid on-premises and cloud monitoring from the same licence and dashboard

Where it falls short

Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about PRTG Network Monitor.

Licensing by sensor rather than device means the real cost per device is unpredictable until sensor density is measured; a small network of complex devices can need a much larger tier than device count alone suggests
Different PRTG licence sizes cannot be combined on one server, so outgrowing a tier means a step change to the next tier rather than a smooth incremental add
It requires a Windows server for on-premises deployment, which is an added infrastructure and patching burden compared with a Linux-native open source alternative
Pricing is materially higher than open source options like Icinga or LibreNMS for comparable core monitoring capability, and the premium is for polish and support rather than unique functionality
The free tier (100 sensors) is limited enough that most real deployments quickly need a paid tier, so it functions more as a trial than a genuinely usable free offering
Custom sensor scripting and advanced configuration still require real monitoring expertise; the polished UI does not remove the underlying complexity of correctly instrumenting a large network

Cross-shopped

What people choose instead of PRTG Network Monitor

Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.

PRTG Network Monitorvs
Icinga
Icinga: For open source infrastructure monitoring with paid support available separately rather than a mandatory sensor-priced licence
PRTG Network Monitorvs
LibreNMS
LibreNMS: For a free, community-driven network monitoring alternative with optional third-party paid support
PRTG Network Monitorvs
Auvik
Auvik: For network monitoring priced by managed device rather than by individual sensor count

Pricing

What PRTG Network Monitor costs

Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.

PRTG 500

$200 /mo

Up to 500 sensors

PRTG 1000

$358 /mo

Up to 1,000 sensors

PRTG 2500

$742 /mo

Up to 2,500 sensors

PRTG 5000

$1,300 /mo

Up to 5,000 sensors

PRTG 10000

$1,642 /mo

Up to 10,000 sensors

Capabilities

Features

Sensor-based monitoring
Each individually monitored metric (a port, a service, a disk) is one sensor, and licences are sized by total sensor count
Auto-discovery
Scans a network range and proposes devices and sensors to add automatically
Multiple monitoring technologies
SNMP, WMI, flow data (NetFlow/sFlow/jFlow), packet sniffing and custom scripts in one platform
Maps and dashboards
Visual network maps and customisable dashboards for NOC-style display
Cloud and hybrid deployment
Runs on-premises, as a hosted cloud instance, or a hybrid split between the two

Answered, with sources

Questions people ask

Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.

Is PRTG licensed per device or per sensor?

Per sensor. Each individually monitored metric counts as one sensor, so a single device is typically several sensors.

Can I combine two PRTG licence tiers on one server?

No, Paessler states different license sizes cannot be combined on one PRTG installation.

Is there a free tier?

Yes, PRTG offers a free tier limited to 100 sensors, which most production networks will exceed quickly.

Keep looking

Where to go from PRTG Network Monitor

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Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for PRTG Network Monitor, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.

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