Grafana vs WhatsUp Gold comparison

Grafana Labs and Progress Software are both solutions in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category. Grafana Labs is ranked #7 with an average rating of 7.9, while Progress Software is ranked #34 with an average rating of 8.0. Grafana Labs holds a 2.6% mindshare in APM, compared to Progress Software’s 1.3% mindshare. Additionally, 88% of Grafana Labs users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of Progress Software users who would recommend it.

Grafana

Read 50 Grafana reviews

14,292 Views
13,434 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

WhatsUp Gold

Read 25 WhatsUp Gold reviews

13,110 Views
3,540 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

Grafana

WhatsUp Gold

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 24, 2024

WhatsUp Gold and Grafana are two well-regarded network monitoring solutions. WhatsUp Gold leads in comprehensive features and customer service, while Grafana shines in data visualization and flexibility.

Features: WhatsUp Gold offers comprehensive monitoring capabilities, including dashboards and alerting systems, an out-of-the-box complete solution, and strong customer service support. Grafana is known for customizable visualization options, extensive plugin support, and superior data integration.

Room for Improvement: WhatsUp Gold needs a more modern look, improved scalability, and better integration capacities. Grafana's complexity of initial setup, steep learning curve, and need for better official support documentation are key areas for enhancement.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: WhatsUp Gold provides an easier deployment process and robust customer service, making it accessible for organizations without extensive IT resources. Grafana can be challenging to deploy and integrate, requiring more technical expertise and time, but has extensive community support.

Pricing and ROI: WhatsUp Gold is perceived as somewhat expensive initially but offers a good balance of features against its pricing. Grafana's open-source pricing model provides substantial cost savings and is preferred for delivering better ROI due to its powerful analytics and low setup cost.

To learn more, read our detailed Grafana vs. WhatsUp Gold Report (Updated: August 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Grafana vs. WhatsUp Gold

August 2026

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Helped 908,834 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Grafana

Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

7th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

WhatsUp Gold

Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

34th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Monitoring Software (21st), Server Monitoring (14th), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (17th), Configuration Management (20th), Log Management (39th), Cloud Monitoring Software (25th), Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (11th)

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category, the mindshare of Grafana is 2.6%, down from 6.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of WhatsUp Gold is 1.3%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Grafana	2.6%
WhatsUp Gold	1.3%
Other	96.1%

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

Featured Reviews

Vitthal Gole

Devops Engineer at AIQOD

Proactive monitoring has transformed how our teams detect issues and resolve incidents faster

For improving Grafana, the alert configuration could be more intuitive for new users. Dashboard management becomes complex in large environments. So if we have multiple environments and we have to manage our dashboards for them, sometimes it becomes complicated to manage all the dashboards. The learning curve is steep for beginners. More built-in reporting and analytics features would be helpful. Documentation for advanced features could be more detailed. Role-based access management could be simpler to configure. Performance could be optimized for very large dashboards with high cardinality data sources. Grafana could improve its alert configuration workflow and make advanced dashboard management easier for new users. More built-in reporting features would also be beneficial. A simpler onboarding experience for first-time users and more built-in dashboard templates for common monitoring scenarios would be helpful. Grafana is a powerful monitoring platform, but it could improve dashboard organization in large environments, simplify alert management, provide more built-in reporting capabilities, enhance plugin compatibility during upgrades, and offer better AI-driven insights for fast root cause analysis. For example, if we are hitting a CPU metric of ninety to ninety-five percent or a system load of seventy to eighty percent, we have to act on that. But if Grafana suggests something on that metric, such as an AI suggestion, it would be more helpful. We could get an idea of how to solve that issue. For the Grafana dashboards, they could provide more built-in compliance and audit reporting, enhance AI recommendations with clearer explanations of why an issue was flagged, enhance accessibility and keyboard navigation, add more native integrations with emerging cloud and DevOps tools, and improve scalability for very large enterprise deployments. Grafana is a mature platform, but it could benefit from better dashboard version control, simpler environment migration, enhanced AI explanations, more built-in reporting, and improved performance for large-scale deployments with complex dashboards.

Read full review

Erik Cheng

Technical Manager at Quan Hung Gourmet

Efficient monitoring with detailed customization, yet complexity remains

The best feature of WhatsUp Gold is the automatic generation of topology and its integration with virtualization and wireless. I have used the automated device discovery with this topology feature. The interactive map feature helps me manage the topology because sometimes we cannot draw the topology correctly, so we need to manually edit the connections. The alerting system is very tunable and customizable, but it's a little complicated to use. Many customers cannot manage it by themselves and need support from us, the provider. We always use the dashboards in the SOC, where we constantly display a dashboard or multiple dashboards. This allows us to know immediately if the connection or bandwidth is full or if the connection is broken.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"It gives us the visibility we need. I like that when we add deployment markers or release markers, we know exactly when an issue arises. For instance, if there is an increased usage of CPU, we can link it directly to the deployment that might have caused the issue. It increases productivity and observability. We can now easily tell when a certain issue arises. It's way easier to debug because it can point you to certain things based on these markers, and we can debug easier."

"The solution can scale well."

"The best feature was the creation of graphs and trends to know if the traffic was low or okay."

"We chose this solution because it met the requirements of visualizing and monitoring to make decisions."

"Grafana has delivered a strong return on investment by reducing troubleshooting time, improving incident response, and minimizing manual monitoring efforts through centralized dashboards and automated alerts."

"The initial setup is straightforward with just a few clicks on the solution's cloud."

"The features I appreciate most are the dashboards and the integrations with multiple data sources."

"Grafana has helped our organization with observability and operational excellence."

More Grafana pros

"This is a good, stable network monitoring solution for devices."

"The best feature of WhatsUp Gold is the automatic generation of topology and its integration with virtualization and wireless."

"The solution effectively monitors network devices and servers."

"One thing good about WhatsUp Gold is that it is fairly stable."

"The new version has a lot of improved features."

"NetFlow monitoring, real-time monitoring, and surveys have been the most valuable features for our business."

"The tool's most valuable feature is the visibility it offers of everything in the network and infrastructure."

"Overall, we have been satisfied with the functionality of the product."

More WhatsUp Gold pros

Cons

"One area for improvement in Grafana is that depending on your version, you have to pay for the features, making the license expensive. It would be great if the licensing model could be more flexible. In the next release of Grafana, I want cluster creation to be available, which would help in Grafana deployment and scaling. Currently, the scaling process for the solution is a bit complicated."

"Lacks in-depth graphs and sufficient AI."

"Its UI features to create charts can also be improved. Some features could have a link to the documentation."

"The solution must provide tutorials and guides."

"The solution has some stability issues because I don't always see proper results."

"In the area of documentation, they must do a better job."

"The documentation or training provided by Grafana is limited compared to its competitors, like Splunk."

"Setting up alerts via Grafana is a bit complicated, and alerting needs to improve."

More Grafana cons

"I haven't had any issue with stability, except during the upgrade to 2017 when we encountered slow responses."

"I might like to see a better interface in the future. It's not necessarily easy to integrate the product with other vendors."

"There is a very big gap in the support."

"My understanding is that there are better products out there that do a better job."

"I would like to see better integration with switches so that you can see what is connected to each port, what the traffic is, and have a network map automatically generated."

"The tool should focus on increasing its market share, as it is the only area of concern where improvements are needed."

"Setting up WhatsUp Gold is complicated and not easy because it requires managing SNMP and many complex settings in the devices it's monitoring, and fine-tuning it to fit our needs is also not very easy."

"WhatsUp Gold should work on real-time monitoring and configuration management. If they succeed in doing this, the solution will cover all the network troubleshooting aspects and will be a benefit."

More WhatsUp Gold cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I use the open source model so it is free."

"My company uses the open-source version of Grafana, so it's free."

"We are using the open-source license."

"We use the open-source version of Grafana."

"I am using an open-source version"

"You need to purchase the solution's license for its commercial use."

"For me, Grafana is a cheap tool because I don't have to spend much time learning the product since it is a simple solution."

"It's free of cost; it operates as an open-source tool."

More Grafana pricing and cost advice

"This is a well priced solution."

"There is a license needed to use WhatsUp Gold."

"I'm not sure, but it's expensive. We don't pay any additional fees."

"The tool's price is reasonable. WhatsUp Gold is cheaper than SolarWinds."

"There are some subscription charges that are quite heavy. I need to pay for support every year and these charges can be quite expensive. Aside from the initial cost for the tool, you need to pay additionally for support."

"The choice of version depends on the number of points, or devices, that you want to monitor, and this makes the product expensive."

"The most valuable feature is the cost compared to other solutions."

"Pricing is reasonable compared to other products."

More WhatsUp Gold pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

17%

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Construction Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	14
Midsize Enterprise	10
Large Enterprise	27

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	14

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Grafana?

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that it is very reasonable and has excellent community support.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Grafana?

Currently, I do not think that any improvement is required, but there are multiple use cases.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Grafana?

My main use case for Grafana is to create and design dashboards based on the metrics provided by different exporters via Prometheus. We have different exporters, and we are creating different dashb...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for WhatsUp Gold?

Clients find the licensing calculator confusing, but we simplify this for them by collecting relevant information first. The licensing is based on devices, providing better cost-effectiveness than ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with WhatsUp Gold?

It would be great if WhatsUp Gold could add features that simplify management with AI, as it is currently too complicated to manage.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for WhatsUp Gold?

My use case for WhatsUp Gold includes all device availability checks, bandwidth usage, CPU, and memory usage, as well as alarm notifications.

See all answers

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Compared 5% of the time

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Elastic Observability vs Grafana

Compared 4% of the time

Splunk AppDynamics vs Grafana

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LibreNMS vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 3% of the time

SCOM vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 3% of the time

PRTG Network Monitor vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 3% of the time

NinjaOne vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 3% of the time

Atera vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 2% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Grafana

August 2026

Download Grafana product report

Buyer's Guide

WhatsUp Gold

July 2026

Download WhatsUp Gold product report

Overview

Grafana offers a customizable, user-friendly platform for robust data visualization and integration, enhancing real-time monitoring with extensive alerting and collaboration capabilities supported by an active open-source community.

Grafana stands out for its flexible dashboards and robust visualization options, integrating smoothly with tools like Prometheus. This open-source platform supports diverse environments, aiding in the visualization of IT infrastructure and business analytics. Its alerting system efficiently supports real-time monitoring. While it is praised for its community backing and cost-effectiveness, there is demand for better data aggregation, intuitive interfaces, and enhanced documentation compared to competitors such as Splunk. Simplification of configuration and the interface is sought, alongside improvements in machine learning and reporting features.

What are Grafana's most important features?

Customizable Dashboards: User-friendly, richly customizable dashboards for precise data presentation.
Visualization Capabilities: Strong support for visualizing complex datasets from multiple sources.
Integration Options: Extensive compatibility with data sources and tools like Prometheus.
Alerting System: Efficient real-time monitoring and issue identification.
Open-Source Nature: Supported by a vibrant community, offering a cost-effective solution.

What benefits or ROI should users seek in Grafana reviews?

Adaptability: Supports diverse environments and use cases.
Cost-Effectiveness: Offers valuable features at a competitive price.
Community Support: Backed by an active and vibrant open-source community.
Collaborative Platform: Seamless integration with various data tools refining monitoring and analytics efforts.

Grafana is implemented widely across industries for monitoring IT infrastructure and visualizing business analytics. Companies utilize it to analyze server performance or monitor Kubernetes environments and payment transactions. The platform integrates with AWS services and other data sources to ensure observability and system health tracking, focusing on performance metrics through customized dashboards and alerts. Organizations employ Grafana to bolster observability and optimize infrastructure through robust data insights.

Grafana Labs

WhatsUp Gold stands out with its comprehensive network monitoring, dynamic mapping, and real-time alerts, offering essential tools for managing extensive IT infrastructures.

WhatsUp Gold provides robust capabilities in network visibility through dynamic mapping and NetFlow analysis. The platform's interactive topology aids in pinpointing issues effectively. Auto-discovery ensures complete network device tracking. While offering an intuitive interface and integration with Cisco ServiceNow, users find server performance monitoring useful for incident handling. However, improvements are anticipated in application monitoring and Active Directory integration. The pricing model and customization options leave room for enhancement. Despite these, users benefit from its integrated dashboards for immediate device health checks and network updates, making it beneficial for large-scale infrastructure management.

What features does WhatsUp Gold offer?

Network Monitoring: Provides continuous oversight of network components
Dynamic Mapping: Offers visual representation of network topology
NetFlow Analysis: Delivers insights into bandwidth utilization
Threshold Alerts: Notifies users upon reaching set performance thresholds
Auto-Discovery: Detects devices automatically for complete network coverage

What benefits should users expect from reviews?

Comprehensive Visibility: Enhanced understanding of network elements
Real-Time Monitoring: Immediate insights into network and device status
Cost-Effectiveness: Competitive solution suitable for expansive networks
User-Friendly Interface: Simplifies the management of complex networks

Organizations in sectors like telecommunications, education, and healthcare utilize WhatsUp Gold for their network monitoring needs. Telecom companies track switches and routers, educational institutions manage bandwidth usage, and healthcare facilities monitor device availability to ensure seamless operations.

Progress Software

Sample Customers

Microsoft, Adobe, Optum, Sky, Nvidia, Roblox, Wells Fargo, BlackRock, Informatica, Maersk, Daimler Truck, SNCF, Atlassian, DHL, SAP, JPMorgan Chase, Cisco, Citi and many others.

Artoni Trasporti, Austin Independent School District, Banca Marche, Burke County North Carolina, Cambridge University School of Clinical Medicine, Clayco, Community Integrated Care, Desca, Deutsche Bergbau, Flexi-Van, Gropper, Hamleys, Hammonds Furniture, Knowledge IT, Idras S.P.A., Sibeg, Swann Engineering, Trivium Lindenhof

Buyer's Guide

Grafana vs. WhatsUp Gold

August 2026

Free Report: Grafana vs. WhatsUp Gold

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