PRTG Network Monitor vs VMware Aria Operations for Applications comparison

Paessler GmbH and Broadcom are both solutions in the Cloud Monitoring Software category. Paessler GmbH is ranked #8 with an average rating of 8.4, while Broadcom is ranked #15 with an average rating of 8.8. Paessler GmbH holds a 5.0% mindshare in CMS, compared to Broadcom’s 2.1% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of Paessler GmbH users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of Broadcom users who would recommend it.

PRTG Network Monitor

Read 113 PRTG Network Monitor reviews

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4,547 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

VMware Aria Operations for ...

Read 14 VMware Aria Operations for Applications reviews

3,591 Views
1,508 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

PRTG Network Monitor

VMware Aria Operations for ...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 28, 2025

PRTG Network Monitor and VMware Aria Operations for Applications compete in the network and application monitoring category. PRTG appears to have the upper hand in cost-effectiveness and ease of use for basic monitoring needs, whereas VMware excels in providing advanced analytics and comprehensive monitoring across hybrid and private cloud environments.

Features: PRTG Network Monitor offers quick deployment, scalability, and robust monitoring capabilities. Users value its rapid deployment, cost advantage, and extensive support for various infrastructure environments. VMware Aria Operations for Applications focuses on advanced monitoring analytics and application performance management featuring AI-driven insights. Users benefit from its comprehensive real-time statistics and cloud integration, enabling extensive monitoring across diverse environments.

Room For Improvement: PRTG Network Monitor could enhance map design flexibility, application monitoring, and agent-defined sensors. There's also room for improvement in advanced monitoring capabilities. VMware could improve integration with third-party applications and offer more in-depth application-level monitoring. PRTG needs better real-time data analysis, while VMware should enhance compatibility and provide detailed application insights.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: PRTG Network Monitor is known for straightforward deployment with minimal technical support needed, although it primarily offers email-based communication. VMware Aria Operations for Applications provides robust integrations but may require specialized setup knowledge. Both have comprehensive documentation, yet differ in customer service, with PRTG focusing on user-friendliness and VMware on supporting complex environments.

Pricing and ROI: PRTG Network Monitor is cost-effective, especially for smaller businesses, with an all-in-one pricing strategy and a free version limited by sensor count. VMware Aria Operations for Applications is more expensive, particularly with additional integrations, offering significant value through enhanced analytics and cloud capabilities. While PRTG provides excellent cost-efficiency, VMware necessitates a steeper investment for deeper insights and broader capabilities.

To learn more, read our detailed PRTG Network Monitor vs. VMware Aria Operations for Applications Report (Updated: February 2026).

Buyer's Guide

PRTG Network Monitor vs. VMware Aria Operations for Applications

February 2026

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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

PRTG Network Monitor

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

4th

Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software

8th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

113

Ranking in other categories

Network Monitoring Software (5th)

VMware Aria Operations for ...

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

17th

Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software

15th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (20th), Container Monitoring (6th)

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Cloud Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of PRTG Network Monitor is 5.0%, up from 4.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware Aria Operations for Applications is 2.1%, up from 1.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud Monitoring Software Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
PRTG Network Monitor	5.0%
VMware Aria Operations for Applications	2.1%
Other	92.9%

Cloud Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

madhan kumar hs

software engineer at Capgemini

Alerting precision has reduced incident response times and improved department-level network visibility

The auto-pause sensor during the maintenance window is good without any false alerts, and it prevents me from getting flooded with alerts during planned maintenance, helping department heads understand their own network usage better. It has reduced incident response time by giving clearer ownership of each alert, ensuring alerts go to the proper recipient. SNMP testers and auto-pause are among the best features of PRTG Network Monitor, which is particularly useful for different departments such as HR and finance, where alerts can be filtered accordingly. The alerting features and dashboard of PRTG Network Monitor are very helpful, especially in our industry. However, the dashboard can look cluttered on smaller screens, which is one negative aspect. PRTG Network Monitor has impacted us positively; we have stopped getting flooded with alerts during planned maintenance or unplanned outages. Compared to others, this gives specific alerts very quickly and helps department heads understand their own network usage better, thus reducing incident response time so that each alert has clear ownership.

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Ajay Shukla

Consultant at HCLTech

Automation and insightful diagnostics elevate operations while improvements are welcome

The new version 8.18 has brought significant improvements. The main purpose of using this tool is having a single console to manage all entities. The cloud integration capabilities, including private, public, and hybrid, are already well-implemented. The ability to manage multiple vCenters across different geographical locations is very effective. The new Skyline health feature and certificate and licensing management are particularly useful improvements. The dashboard's overview tab provides comprehensive information about current vCenter status, resizable amounts, reclamation opportunities, anomalies, diagnostics, licensing, and certificates. However, there is room for improvement in application analysis. The current functionality lacks detailed monitoring at the kernel level, focusing mainly on CPU, memory, and storage matrices. Enhanced application monitoring capabilities, including tracking downtime for specific types of applications such as transactional or e-commerce applications, would be beneficial.

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

"There is a simplicity to setting up the extra sensors. It's really easy for us to build infrastructure and start monitoring very quickly."

"The initial setup is very simple."

"PRTG Network Monitor helped us detect the failing RAID controller before it completely collapsed, allowing us to avoid potential data loss."

"The product is easy to use and the web interface is fantastic."

"PRTG Network Monitor offers a single-pane dashboard where we can monitor all the servers on one single screen, helping our team detect a failed server quickly and saving time that was previously spent checking each server manually, which in turn also reduces downtime."

"The most valuable features of PRTG Network Monitor are the threshold notification when certain traffic increases and goes beyond the defined threshold. The up and down status email notifications and other notifications are useful. Additionally, it is user-friendly, and customizable, and there are many features available."

"The Slack integration is fantastic, and I've actually found it to be very useful recently."

"It is easy to use and intuitive, which is really important. It does what it says on the box by giving you a visual of the state of what is going on at any one time."

More PRTG Network Monitor pros

"It significantly improves application performance management by offering recommendations for resource allocation to avoid wastage or overcommitment."

"The most valuable aspects of the solution are its ease of use and its ease of implementation."

"It has a familiar interface, which makes it easy to get started."

"People are very pleased with the implementation."

"The features I find most valuable is the querying and alerting capabilities."

"The solution is great for virtualization and preparing the infrastructure in Tanzu to test products. It's very fast and has good visibility."

"The solution provides single-console management for multiple VMware environments and cloud integrations, whether hybrid, private, or public cloud."

"No issues with stability."

More VMware Aria Operations for Applications pros

Cons

"The operations dashboard is only available in PRTG's enterprise version, but I wish it could be accessed in the standard licensing. It would also be nice if PRTG had templates for dashboard monitoring, software monitoring, etc. It can help me set up a dashboard because now we don't have a template from PRTG, so we need to create one from scratch."

"Needs ability to monitor standard notification time (notify after X time)."

"PRTG Network Monitor could improve by having a feature to allow uploading of preset standard network switch configurations and the ability to monitor the SLA configuration, such as uptime for the switches or internet connectivity. This would be very useful."

"The reporting features look very technical and that can be improved."

"The licensing policy needs more flexibility."

"Its price can be better. Its price is a problem for us because it is in dollars, and there is a high conversion rate. In terms of new features, it can have BGP monitoring. It should also have a dashboard and maps editor."

"We need something that is more predictive. We would prefer if it wasn't a solution that was corrective and instead offered predictive insights so that we can handle problems before they even occur."

"In the next release, PRTG Network Monitor should add a backup solution."

More PRTG Network Monitor cons

"It could use a URL document server. Everything in the market is moving towards automation and everybody's looking for the single click operations as well relational data locality."

"VMware technical support has declined since the Broadcom acquisition. Previously, they were more focused on issue resolution, but now they prioritize licensing verification before providing support."

"In the new version, I would love to see more prediction capabilities. It would be great if one could see the alerts get a little more enriched with information and become more human-friendly instead of the technical stuff that they put in there. I think those would be really awesome outcomes to get."

"An area for improvement would be more in-depth reporting, such as analyzing disk IO during business hours compared to after hours."

"The main problem I have is that the license cost is very high."

"The solution could be expensive, which might be a limiting factor."

"I find that there could be improvements in the support service response time, as the urgency varies unless specified as Priority 2 or 1 cases."

"The initial setup should be easier and more seamless."

More VMware Aria Operations for Applications cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is very low compared to other solutions."

"We pay for a perpetual license and we have a support fee."

"It is about £4,500 for the first year, then about another 15 to 20 percent annually after that. So, we are looking at about £1000 running costs a year. When you think about how much an outage costs per minute, it's negligible."

"The price of PRTG is reasonable. PRTG's competitors like SolarWinds and ManageEngine charge more for the same functionality."

"One thing I like is that when you buy sensors, it's a perpetual license, so once you buy 2,000 sensors, you've got 2,000 sensors; it's not a recurring cost."

"We have an unlimited license for this solution."

"I rate the licensing for PRTG Network Monitor an eight out of ten."

"While I am not the person who deals with pricing, I would say that we pay around 1000 pounds a year."

More PRTG Network Monitor pricing and cost advice

"I don't have the details. In our case, there is a mixture in place. We have production usage, and we are also doing training for VMware. So, we also have a training instance. It is worth the money you would spend on it. That's because if you were to build all of this yourself by using some of the open source tools, then you would need a lot of time."

"I would rate the pricing as three out of five."

"Different locations require different setups. In your terms, around 300 to around 400K USD."

"The licensing costs are very high, particularly when you consider that we have to purchase a level 1 license for every integration, such as the load balancer, HAProxy, and the MSSP. And if you want to use vSAN, that's another license. Then, of course, Tanzu Observability has its own separate license."

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Comparison Review

it_user174738

IT Developer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

May 31, 2015

Nagios vs. Zabbix vs. PRTG vs. Spiceworks vs. Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor

I have researched a quite a few network monitoring tools which can be used for various monitoring purposes of not only the servers, but the intermediate routers as well. There are majorly three types of these softwares. Ones which are completely open-source, you can do almost anything you want…

Read full review

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

Government

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Government

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	59
Midsize Enterprise	19
Large Enterprise	49

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	10

Questions from the Community

What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?

PRTG network monitor is one of the best tool i have ever used for the monitoring. It have auto discovery option. it avoid the configuring the device in PRTG. It automatically discover the device an...

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What do you like most about PRTG Network Monitor?

The tool is integrated with our email for the alerts.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for PRTG Network Monitor?

The pricing was higher at the beginning, but the recurring licensing cost is affordable and reasonable. Overall, the pricing, setup cost, and licensing is fair for our industry. They have quoted us...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VMware Tanzu Observability by Wavefront?

The solution includes cost drivers that can be configured according to your environment. You can input server-wise, CPU-wise, storage, and memory costs per hour or day. Once cost drivers are provid...

See all answers

What needs improvement with VMware Tanzu Observability by Wavefront?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for VMware Tanzu Observability by Wavefront?

I have been involved in several projects where I had to implement automation and monitoring alerting. I performed automation using VMware Aria Operations for Applications. There is an automation ta...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 6% of the time

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Dynatrace vs VMware Aria Operations for Applications

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Nagios XI vs VMware Aria Operations for Applications

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

PRTG Network Monitor

January 2026

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Buyer's Guide

VMware Aria Operations for Applications

January 2026

VMware Aria Operations for Applications report

Download VMware Aria Operations for Applications product report

Also Known As

No data available

Tanzu Observability, Wavefront, Wavefront by VMware, VMware Tanzu Observability

Overview

PRTG Network Monitor runs on a Windows machine within your network, collecting various statistics from the machines, software, and devices which you designate. PRTG comes with an easy-to-use web interface with point-and-click configuration. You can easily share data from it with non-technical colleagues and customers, including via live graphs and custom reports. This will let you plan for network expansion, see what applications are using most of your connection, and make sure that no one is hogging the entire network just to torrent videos.

To monitor a large IT environment, it's important to be able to scale PRTG up. Paessler PRTG Enterprise Monitor includes all the proven capabilities of PRTG Network Monitor, which are enhanced by exclusive ITOps Board for a service-oriented, central overview of multiple PRTG servers.

Paessler GmbH

VMware Tanzu Observability by Wavefront is a powerful tool for monitoring and analyzing the performance and availability of applications and infrastructure in real-time.

With its comprehensive monitoring capabilities, visualizing and analyzing data becomes effortless. The real-time alerting system ensures timely issue resolution, while scalability and a user-friendly interface provide a seamless experience for smooth operations.

Broadcom

Sample Customers

Jameson Bank, Sidnix, RungeICT, MedicalAnimal, Truck-lite, GamingGrids, The Covell Group, Forsythn County Schools, NetMass, Musgrove Park Hospital, Lanes Health, Columbia Southern University, Vodafone, Intrust Bank

1. Atlassian 2. Cisco 3. Databricks 4. DigitalOcean 5. Equinix 6. Fidelity Investments 7. Google 8. Hewlett Packard Enterprise 9. Honeywell 10. IBM 11. Intel 12. JetBlue Airways 13. LinkedIn 14. Lyft 15. Mastercard 16. Microsoft 17. MongoDB 18. Netflix 19. Nvidia 20. Oracle 21. PayPal 22. Pinterest 23. Qualcomm 24. Red Hat 25. Salesforce 26. SAP 27. Spotify 28. Square 29. TMobile 30. Twitter 31. Uber 32. VMware

Buyer's Guide

PRTG Network Monitor vs. VMware Aria Operations for Applications

February 2026

Free Report: PRTG Network Monitor vs. VMware Aria Operations for Applications

Find out what your peers are saying about PRTG Network Monitor vs. VMware Aria Operations for Applications and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.

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