My Top 9 Free Network Monitoring Tools for 2026

I know how challenging it can be to monitor a network on a tight budget. Many network administrators and IT professionals in small businesses are tasked with managing increasingly complex environments while keeping costs under control.

From what I’ve seen, free network monitoring tools can make a real difference. They offer essential capabilities, such as real-time performance monitoring, network topology mapping, and alert notifications, helping teams keep systems running smoothly without straining their resources.

In this list, I highlight the best free network monitoring software based on authentic user feedback. I cover detailed reviews, key features, pros and cons, and pricing options for those who may consider upgrading to a paid plan in the future.

Network monitoring tools help track device health, detect outages, monitor traffic, and identify performance issues before they escalate. This rising demand is reflected in market growth, with the global network monitoring market projected to grow from $4.13 billion in 2025 to $8.24 billion by 2032, at a CAGR of 10.4%.

From my experience, you don’t need a paid solution to start monitoring your network effectively. I’ve come across several free network monitoring tools that offer dependable core features, such as real-time alerts, basic performance metrics, and device monitoring, without requiring an upfront investment.

That’s why I’ve curated this list of the free network monitoring software I recommend for 2026. These tools are well-suited for small IT teams, startups, and anyone looking to evaluate monitoring workflows and identify the right solution before deciding whether a paid upgrade is necessary.

Network monitoring software continuously watches out for potential issues, such as slowdowns, outages, or security breaches on your network. To maintain your network’s health, it offers features like real-time monitoring, performance analysis, network mapping, and detailed reporting.

The free-edition list of network monitoring software below includes real user reviews. Please note that in the context of this list, software that requires payment after a free trial is considered free. 

To be included in this category, a solution must:

• Continuously monitor the entire computer network’s performance
• Establish a baseline for performance metrics 
• Alert administrators of crashes or deviations
• Recommend solutions to performance issues
• Provide network performance visualizations

This data was pulled from G2 in 2025. Some reviews may have been edited for clarity. 

Atera delivers an all-in-one IT management platform that combines network monitoring, remote management, and help desk functionalities. To make life easier for the IT department, they can rely on features like automated patch management, ticketing and customer support, cybersecurity, AI integration, and remote access technology. According to G2 Data, it ranks as the 1st easiest-to-use software.

What G2 users like about Atera:

“Atera is much more than just an RMM. It provides additional functionality such as a knowledge base, script library, and numerous application programming interfaces (APIs) to software like Acronis. Through its feature board, all users can make suggestions for new features, and Atera is consistently implementing and improving its offerings. The customer support is unparalleled compared to any company I have dealt with before, providing immediate and helpful responses over chat.”

– Atera Review, Dominique R.

What G2 users dislike about Atera:

“Atera’s platform falls short in offering comprehensive control over networking hardware like routers, switches, and printers. This is a significant drawback for organizations that require detailed management of their network infrastructure.

Additionally, networking, scanning, and deployment features are not included in the base subscription; instead, they require an additional subscription that applies to all technician seats, increasing costs.

The platform’s permission system is also not as refined as it could be – technicians need admin-level access for tasks that should ideally require lower permission levels. This poses a security risk and limits the granularity of access control.”

– Atera Review, Nigel N.

Auvik shows you everything you need to know about network performance in real time. This online network management solution lets you onboard clients faster, centralize network documentation, easily find and fix issues, and integrate with multiple third-party applications.

What G2 users like about Auvik:

“Auvik’s strongest aspect is its network management. It provides clear outlines for our network configuration and makes it easy to supervise devices, traffic, and performance in a control panel. Additionally, it seamlessly integrates with other applications, including ticketing platforms and monitoring tools.”

– Auvik Review, Vitou C.

What G2 users dislike about Auvik:

“It has limited capabilities for monitoring system resources, such as CPU usage, temperature, and sensors. You will need to deploy a separate monitoring platform if you want full coverage of network and system resources.”

– Auvik Review, Marvimar C.

Datadog is a cloud-based monitoring, security, and analytics platform that provides insights into the performance of applications, infrastructure, and services. Use it to better understand the health of your systems, identify potential issues, and refine operations.

What G2 users like about Datadog:

“Datadog has a multitude of useful features and integrations for our applications, from metrics and monitoring to dashboards and cost optimization. The dedicated support team is readily available to assist us in the adoption of any new features and tools for our applications. Many of the monitoring and observability tools offered by the platform are easily integrated into our applications, especially those migrated to Kubernetes.”

– Datadog Review, Taylor S.

What G2 users dislike about Datadog:

“I find the documentation for setting things up a bit difficult to understand. Sometimes, we realize that we need an upgrade to use the next feature, but the docs don’t explicitly mention that. There are a lot of changes from one version to the next, so it would be helpful to have a guide.”

– Datadog Review, Grace K.

Dynatrace uses artificial intelligence (AI) to give visibility into process-to-process network communications. It offers automatic discovery and mapping, end-to-end visibility for infrastructure to applications, and root cause analysis.

What G2 users like about Dynatrace:

“My team isn’t really big on using logs, so being able to log values in real-time is great. While I usually work on the frontend side of things, having the ability to debug the backend live helps me navigate through contexts I usually lack.”

– Dynatrace Review, Alon N.

What G2 users dislike about Dynatrace:

“One thing I don’t like is the alert monitoring threshold it provides, since we have gotten multiple false signals when testing the application. The synthetic monitoring is beneficial, but smaller organizations cannot use it owing to encryption. Dynatrace, with its range of features, is like an ocean that a novice or newbie would find impossible to navigate. The initial phase requires an experienced user.”

– Dynatrace Review, Eleanora M.

LogicMonitor is a cloud-based tool with solutions for managed services providers (MSPs) and enterprise IT. Focused on optimizing IT operations, it offers auto-discovery of network devices, auto-generation of topology maps, troubleshooting for network issues, intelligent alerting, and log-based anomaly detection.

What G2 users like about LogicMonitor:

“The first plus point for the LogicMonitor software is that it’s fully cloud-based. The user interface is convenient and useful, and the installation process is much simpler compared to other hybrid programs. The installer is fully automated, and the software is easily hosted on the Linux operating system, making it versatile. While dashboards can be complex to configure on other cloud platforms, I found this one to be very simple after installation. I also want to emphasize the powerful options for alerts and reports within the platform. You can run HTTP requests, send emails, or SMS for alerts.”

– LogicMonitor Review, Shravan K.

What G2 users dislike about LogicMonitor:

“It’s a fairly advanced tool, so the learning curve is quite steep – not the best for newbies. Also, for tracking multiple resources, a consolidated report is not possible.”

– LogicMonitor Review, Wesley C.

NinjaOne, custom-built into a remote monitoring and management (RMM) system, supplies you with a centralized view of all your simple network management protocol (SNMP) devices. Some features of NinjaOne include real-time network device monitoring, hardware performance data, alert customization, and detailed traffic reporting. According to G2 Data, it ranks as the 2nd easiest-to-use software.

What G2 users like about NinjaOne:

“My favorite thing is definitely the ease of use. It’s very intuitive, with very good patch management and the ability to monitor devices such as switches, firewalls, and printers. On top of that, the price is really interesting considering all the features included.”

– NinjaOne Review, Luca R.

What G2 users dislike about NinjaOne:

“Would like the ability to set multiple patch maintenance windows for servers without having to create a bunch of new policies. ”

– NinjaOne Review, Ryan A.

Progress WhatsUp Gold allows you to check the status and performance of applications, network devices, and servers, whether they are in the cloud or on-premises. It offers network mapping, performance assessment, real-time alerts, intuitive workflows, and log management capabilities.

What G2 users like about Progress WhatsUp Gold:

“It has a user-friendly and intuitive interface that makes it easy to determine and scan performance at a glance. Its quick and timely alerts let users identify and fix network problems before end users realize there’s an issue. It also facilitates decision-making by offering suggestions for improvement. WhatsUp Gold is a comprehensive performance monitor with data visualization, performance baseline, and other elements that help understand the general status of a network.”

– Progress WhatsUp Gold Review, Natasha B.

What G2 users dislike about Progress WhatsUp Gold:

“WhatsUp Gold has a licensing fee compared to open-source monitoring tools, which is a consideration for companies with tight budgets. Also, scaling it up for extremely large and complicated networks calls for more hardware or resources, which raises the total cost of ownership.”

– Progress WhatsUp Gold Review, Aashu K.

SolarWinds Hybrid Cloud Observability makes it easy for you to manage a complex hybrid IT environment. Powered by AI and machine learning, it optimizes distributed networks and reduces downtime with features like self-hosted observability, multi-vendor network monitoring, advanced alerting, and network traffic analysis.

What G2 users like about SolarWinds Hybrid Cloud Observability:

“I like the ability to automate tasks and responses to alerts. It allows the configuration of custom actions to resolve issues without the need for human intervention. The system’s ability to integrate with other SolarWinds and third-party tools is a standout feature, furthering the expansion of monitoring capabilities. Moreover, it offers a wide range of reporting and analytical functions, allowing for performance evaluation over time, trend identification, and informed decision-making.”

– SolarWinds Hybrid Cloud Observability Review, Nestor Azael O.

What G2 users dislike about SolarWinds Hybrid Cloud Observability:

“The initial stage of network discovery and node addition takes longer than expected. The one-time license cost is very high. Additionally, the tool generates numerous false positive alerts, and it would be beneficial to have additional features to identify and eliminate them.”

– SolarWinds Hybrid Cloud Observability Review, Sanjay B.

Some free tools can handle medium-sized networks, but larger environments might require paid network monitoring software.

Secure your network

As network failures and security threats continue to increase, I believe maintaining a secure and efficient network requires the right tools in place. Free network monitoring software can provide powerful capabilities to keep IT systems running smoothly without stretching your budget.

I hope this list of the best free network monitoring software helps you find the tool that fits your needs.

Looking to track a particular application’s performance? Check out application performance monitoring (APM) tools.

This article was originally published in 2024. It has been updated with new information.