My High 9 Free Community Monitoring Instruments for 2026

I understand how difficult it may be to observe a community on a good price range. Many community directors and IT professionals in small companies are tasked with managing more and more complicated environments whereas conserving prices beneath management.

From what I’ve seen, free community monitoring instruments could make an actual distinction. They provide important capabilities, similar to real-time efficiency monitoring, community topology mapping, and alert notifications, serving to groups hold techniques working easily with out straining their assets.

On this checklist, I spotlight the perfect free community monitoring software program primarily based on genuine person suggestions. I cowl detailed critiques, key options, professionals and cons, and pricing choices for many who might take into account upgrading to a paid plan sooner or later.

Community monitoring instruments assist monitor machine well being, detect outages, monitor site visitors, and determine efficiency points earlier than they escalate. This rising demand is mirrored in market progress, with the worldwide community monitoring market projected to develop from $4.13 billion in 2025 to $8.24 billion by 2032, at a CAGR of 10.4%.

From my expertise, you don’t want a paid resolution to begin monitoring your community successfully. I’ve come throughout a number of free community monitoring instruments that provide reliable core options, similar to real-time alerts, fundamental efficiency metrics, and machine monitoring, with out requiring an upfront funding.

That’s why I’ve curated this checklist of the free community monitoring software program I like to recommend for 2026. These instruments are well-suited for small IT groups, startups, and anybody seeking to consider monitoring workflows and determine the correct resolution earlier than deciding whether or not a paid improve is important.

Community monitoring software program constantly watches out for potential points, similar to slowdowns, outages, or safety breaches in your community. To keep up your community’s well being, it affords options like real-time monitoring, efficiency evaluation, community mapping, and detailed reporting.

The free-edition checklist of community monitoring software program under contains actual person critiques. Please word that within the context of this checklist, software program that requires cost after a free trial is taken into account free. 

To be included on this class, an answer should:

• Repeatedly monitor all the pc community’s efficiency
• Set up a baseline for efficiency metrics 
• Alert directors of crashes or deviations
• Advocate options to efficiency points
• Present community efficiency visualizations

This knowledge was pulled from G2 in 2025. Some critiques might have been edited for readability. 

Atera delivers an all-in-one IT administration platform that mixes community monitoring, distant administration, and assist desk functionalities. To make life simpler for the IT division, they will depend on options like automated patch administration, ticketing and buyer assist, cybersecurity, AI integration, and distant entry expertise. In keeping with G2 Knowledge, it ranks as the first easiest-to-use software program.

What G2 customers like about Atera:

“Atera is far more than simply an RMM. It offers further performance similar to a information base, script library, and quite a few software programming interfaces (APIs) to software program like Acronis. By means of its function board, all customers could make strategies for brand spanking new options, and Atera is persistently implementing and enhancing its choices. The shopper assist is unparalleled in comparison with any firm I’ve handled earlier than, offering fast and useful responses over chat.”

– Atera Evaluate, Dominique R.

What G2 customers dislike about Atera:

“Atera’s platform falls brief in providing complete management over networking {hardware} like routers, switches, and printers. It is a vital downside for organizations that require detailed administration of their community infrastructure.

Moreover, networking, scanning, and deployment options aren’t included within the base subscription; as an alternative, they require an extra subscription that applies to all technician seats, growing prices.

The platform’s permission system can also be not as refined because it may very well be – technicians want admin-level entry for duties that ought to ideally require decrease permission ranges. This poses a safety danger and limits the granularity of entry management.”

– Atera Evaluate, Nigel N.

Auvik exhibits you the whole lot you want to find out about community efficiency in actual time. This on-line community administration resolution helps you to onboard shoppers sooner, centralize community documentation, simply discover and repair points, and combine with a number of third-party purposes.

What G2 customers like about Auvik:

“Auvik’s strongest facet is its community administration. It offers clear outlines for our community configuration and makes it simple to oversee gadgets, site visitors, and efficiency in a management panel. Moreover, it seamlessly integrates with different purposes, together with ticketing platforms and monitoring instruments.”

– Auvik Evaluate, Vitou C.

What G2 customers dislike about Auvik:

“It has restricted capabilities for monitoring system assets, similar to CPU utilization, temperature, and sensors. You have to to deploy a separate monitoring platform if you’d like full protection of community and system assets.”

– Auvik Evaluate, Marvimar C.

Datadog is a cloud-based monitoring, safety, and analytics platform that gives insights into the efficiency of purposes, infrastructure, and providers. Use it to higher perceive the well being of your techniques, determine potential points, and refine operations.

What G2 customers like about Datadog:

“Datadog has a mess of helpful options and integrations for our purposes, from metrics and monitoring to dashboards and value optimization. The devoted assist group is available to help us within the adoption of any new options and instruments for our purposes. Most of the monitoring and observability instruments supplied by the platform are simply built-in into our purposes, particularly these migrated to Kubernetes.”

– Datadog Evaluate, Taylor S.

What G2 customers dislike about Datadog:

“I discover the documentation for setting issues up a bit obscure. Typically, we notice that we’d like an improve to make use of the subsequent function, however the docs do not explicitly point out that. There are a whole lot of modifications from one model to the subsequent, so it will be useful to have a information.”

– Datadog Evaluate, Grace Okay.

Dynatrace makes use of synthetic intelligence (AI) to present visibility into process-to-process community communications. It affords automated discovery and mapping, end-to-end visibility for infrastructure to purposes, and root trigger evaluation.

What G2 customers like about Dynatrace:

“My group is not actually massive on utilizing logs, so having the ability to log values in real-time is nice. Whereas I often work on the frontend aspect of issues, being able to debug the backend stay helps me navigate by way of contexts I often lack.”

– Dynatrace Evaluate, Alon N.

What G2 customers dislike about Dynatrace:

“One factor I do not like is the alert monitoring threshold it offers, since now we have gotten a number of false alerts when testing the applying. The artificial monitoring is helpful, however smaller organizations can not use it owing to encryption. Dynatrace, with its vary of options, is like an ocean {that a} novice or beginner would discover inconceivable to navigate. The preliminary section requires an skilled person.”

– Dynatrace Evaluate, Eleanora M.

LogicMonitor is a cloud-based device with options for managed providers suppliers (MSPs) and enterprise IT. Targeted on optimizing IT operations, it affords auto-discovery of community gadgets, auto-generation of topology maps, troubleshooting for community points, clever alerting, and log-based anomaly detection.

What G2 customers like about LogicMonitor:

“The primary plus level for the LogicMonitor software program is that it’s totally cloud-based. The person interface is handy and helpful, and the set up course of is way less complicated in comparison with different hybrid applications. The installer is totally automated, and the software program is well hosted on the Linux working system, making it versatile. Whereas dashboards may be complicated to configure on different cloud platforms, I discovered this one to be quite simple after set up. I additionally wish to emphasize the highly effective choices for alerts and studies inside the platform. You may run HTTP requests, ship emails, or SMS for alerts.”

– LogicMonitor Evaluate, Shravan Okay.

What G2 customers dislike about LogicMonitor:

“It’s a reasonably superior device, so the educational curve is kind of steep – not the perfect for newbies. Additionally, for monitoring a number of assets, a consolidated report will not be potential.”

– LogicMonitor Evaluate, Wesley C.

NinjaOne, custom-built right into a distant monitoring and administration (RMM) system, provides you with a centralized view of all of your easy community administration protocol (SNMP) gadgets. Some options of NinjaOne embrace real-time community machine monitoring, {hardware} efficiency knowledge, alert customization, and detailed site visitors reporting. In keeping with G2 Knowledge, it ranks because the 2nd easiest-to-use software program.

What G2 customers like about NinjaOne:

“My favourite factor is certainly the convenience of use. It’s totally intuitive, with superb patch administration and the power to observe gadgets similar to switches, firewalls, and printers. On high of that, the worth is admittedly attention-grabbing contemplating all of the options included.”

– NinjaOne Evaluate, Luca R.

What G2 customers dislike about NinjaOne:

“Would really like the power to set a number of patch upkeep home windows for servers with out having to create a bunch of latest insurance policies. ”

– NinjaOne Evaluate, Ryan A.

Progress WhatsUp Gold permits you to examine the standing and efficiency of purposes, community gadgets, and servers, whether or not they’re within the cloud or on-premises. It affords community mapping, efficiency evaluation, real-time alerts, intuitive workflows, and log administration capabilities.

What G2 customers like about Progress WhatsUp Gold:

“It has a user-friendly and intuitive interface that makes it simple to find out and scan efficiency at a look. Its fast and well timed alerts let customers determine and repair community issues earlier than finish customers notice there’s a difficulty. It additionally facilitates decision-making by providing strategies for enchancment. WhatsUp Gold is a complete efficiency monitor with knowledge visualization, efficiency baseline, and different components that assist perceive the overall standing of a community.”

– Progress WhatsUp Gold Evaluate, Natasha B.

What G2 customers dislike about Progress WhatsUp Gold:

“WhatsUp Gold has a licensing charge in comparison with open-source monitoring instruments, which is a consideration for corporations with tight budgets. Additionally, scaling it up for terribly giant and complex networks requires extra {hardware} or assets, which raises the overall value of possession.”

– Progress WhatsUp Gold Evaluate, Aashu Okay.

SolarWinds Hybrid Cloud Observability makes it simple so that you can handle a posh hybrid IT surroundings. Powered by AI and machine studying, it optimizes distributed networks and reduces downtime with options like self-hosted observability, multi-vendor community monitoring, superior alerting, and community site visitors evaluation.

What G2 customers like about SolarWinds Hybrid Cloud Observability:

“I like the power to automate duties and responses to alerts. It permits the configuration of {custom} actions to resolve points with out the necessity for human intervention. The system’s means to combine with different SolarWinds and third-party instruments is a standout function, furthering the enlargement of monitoring capabilities. Furthermore, it affords a variety of reporting and analytical features, permitting for efficiency analysis over time, pattern identification, and knowledgeable decision-making.”

– SolarWinds Hybrid Cloud Observability Evaluate, Nestor Azael O.

What G2 customers dislike about SolarWinds Hybrid Cloud Observability:

“The preliminary stage of community discovery and node addition takes longer than anticipated. The one-time license value may be very excessive. Moreover, the device generates quite a few false optimistic alerts, and it will be useful to have further options to determine and get rid of them.”

– SolarWinds Hybrid Cloud Observability Evaluate, Sanjay B.

Some free instruments can deal with medium-sized networks, however bigger environments may require paid community monitoring software program.

Safe your community

As community failures and safety threats proceed to extend, I imagine sustaining a safe and environment friendly community requires the correct instruments in place. Free community monitoring software program can present highly effective capabilities to maintain IT techniques working easily with out stretching your price range.

I hope this checklist of the perfect free community monitoring software program helps you discover the device that matches your wants.

Trying to monitor a selected software’s efficiency? Try software efficiency monitoring (APM) instruments.

This text was initially printed in 2024. It has been up to date with new info.