Editor Sebastiaan Smits ·
Published October 29, 2026 · Updated October 29, 2026
Teams leave SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor because it is sold by quote, installed on your own servers and sized for a dedicated network engineer. Most move to Paessler PRTG or Auvik for a simpler setup, to Checkmk or Zabbix for an open source core, or to Domotz and Site24x7 for a per-site or per-device bill.
Short answer: The closest replacements for SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor in our network monitoring software ranking are Paessler PRTG, Auvik and Checkmk. Choose Paessler PRTG if you want a network monitor you can price from a public table and install in an afternoon. All 13 sit in Best Network Monitoring Software in 2026; what follows contrasts them with SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor only and says when SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor should be kept.
Visibility in our rankings can be paid for. Payment moves a vendor's position within the shortlist; it never adds a vendor, and it never changes a word of the review or of this page. The first three alternatives go to challengers, vendors outside the best-known brands in a category, wherever the category has them; the established names follow in their ranked order. How it works: placement disclosure · editorial process.
The network product page offers a quote form and a 30-day trial, and no price. The same features are also packaged inside SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted, again by custom quote. A buyer comparing three vendors in an afternoon cannot put a number next to this one.
NPM is a module of the Orion platform, and SolarWinds also offers it inside Observability Self-Hosted. Either way you operate the software yourself, with its polling and database tuning. A team that wants maps and alerts within days looks at hosted tools instead.
NetPath, PerfStack, wireless heat maps and capacity forecasts suit a large multi-vendor estate. An office with a few switches and two firewalls pays for a console it never fully opens, and starts comparing flat-priced products.
The 13 candidates run from the strongest match for SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor users to the weakest, and the last column is its slot in our list of 14.
| # | Alternative | Headquarters | Switch if | Our rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Paessler PRTG | Germany | you want a network monitor you can price from a public table and install in an afternoon | #1 |
| 2 |  Auvik | Canada | you want a hosted console and automatic maps more than NetPath depth, and a quote is acceptable | #3 |
| 3 |  Checkmk | Germany | you want one open core tool for servers and network devices with a public price for the paid tiers | #2 |
| 4 |  Zabbix | Latvia | you have staff time but no license budget, and want unlimited devices under an open source licence | #5 |
| 5 |  ManageEngine OpManager | India | you want per-device licensing with a perpetual option and a published entry price | #6 |
| 6 |  Domotz | United States | your network is many small sites and a flat price per location beats a license per device | #12 |
| 7 |  Site24x7 | India | you would rather pay by device in a hosted service that also watches websites and servers | #13 |
| 8 |  WhatsUp Gold | United States | you want an installed product with a clear per-device yearly price and a perpetual license option | #9 |
| 9 |  Icinga | Germany | your team manages monitoring as code and wants the vendor paid only for packages and support | #10 |
| 10 |  Nagios XI | United States | you prefer plugin-based checks you control and a node-count price list over a quote | #8 |
| 11 |  Kentik | United States | your main question is who is using which link or cloud path, not whether a switch is up | #11 |
| 12 |  LogicMonitor | United States | you want a hosted platform that spans network, cloud and applications under one unit-based price | #7 |
| 13 |  Datadog Network Monitoring | United States | your engineers already live in Datadog and want switch and router data in the same account | #14 |
Licensing counts sensors, and the published subscription ladder starts at PRTG 500 for about 50 devices at $200 per month billed annually. It is installed software like NPM, but each tier price is visible before you talk to anyone, and a freeware edition exists for very small networks.
Switch from SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor if you want a network monitor you can price from a public table and install in an afternoon.
Auvik runs as a cloud service with a collector on site and draws the network map automatically after discovery. Its price is also a quote, behind a form that asks if you are an MSP or run an internal network.
Switch from SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor if you want a hosted console and automatic maps more than NetPath depth, and a quote is acceptable.
Checkmk has a free Community edition for roughly 100 hosts and paid Pro from €190 per month, billed annually. It covers servers and cloud next to switches, so one tool replaces NPM plus a separate server monitor.
Switch from SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor if you want one open core tool for servers and network devices with a public price for the paid tiers.
Zabbix has no host, device or metric limit and no license fee at all; the company sells support from Silver at €245 per month billed annually. You build templates, triggers and maps yourself, with more configuration time than NPM needs.
Switch from SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor if you have staff time but no license budget, and want unlimited devices under an open source licence.
OpManager is licensed per device and sold as an annual subscription or a perpetual license, with a 30-day trial. Standard starts at $245 for 25 devices, so a small estate can be priced from the table. The vendor also sells OpManager Nexus for bundled add-ons.
Switch from SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor if you want per-device licensing with a perpetual option and a published entry price.
Company website → · Where ManageEngine OpManager ranks and why
Domotz charges €35 per collector per month for a site, with unlimited devices and every feature included, from a 14-day trial. A collector is a small agent at each location. The feature list on its pricing page covers SNMP, remote access and topology, and does not mention flow analysis.
Switch from SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor if your network is many small sites and a flat price per location beats a license per device.
Site24x7 is a hosted service from Zoho Corporation where network monitoring starts at $3 per device per month, and on-premise pollers reach internal devices. Websites, servers and applications sit in the same account, which NPM does not cover. Its status is moving: the vendor page announces OpManager Nexus.
Switch from SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor if you would rather pay by device in a hosted service that also watches websites and servers.
WhatsUp Gold, from Progress, sells subscriptions starting with Business at $1,229 per year for 50 devices, or perpetual licenses that include a year of updates. Maps, flow and logs come in one product, not as separate Orion modules.
Switch from SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor if you want an installed product with a clear per-device yearly price and a perpetual license option.
The Icinga core is free with unlimited hosts, and revenue comes from subscriptions: €5,000 per year for the repository, €2,000 for enterprise modules and support from €15,000. Its own page stresses automation through its API and Git workflows.
Switch from SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor if your team manages monitoring as code and wants the vendor paid only for packages and support.
Nagios XI sells published node tiers, from 100 nodes at $2,595 up to 1,000 nodes at $14,995, with annual maintenance extra. It sits on the Nagios plugin ecosystem, so checks are scripts you can read and change.
Switch from SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor if you prefer plugin-based checks you control and a node-count price list over a quote.
Kentik analyzes flow data rather than polling every device alone; Pro costs $2,000 per month billed annually for 50 users and includes cloud flow logs, synthetics and 13 months of retention on device metrics. It targets traffic questions, and at that price it is not an inexpensive uptime monitor.
Switch from SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor if your main question is who is using which link or cloud path, not whether a switch is up.
LogicMonitor is SaaS priced per Hybrid Unit, at $16, $27 or $53 depending on package, with a 15-day free trial of any plan. It extends past the network to cloud and applications and uses a collector in your environment. The Hybrid Unit math needs a worked example before you sign.
Switch from SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor if you want a hosted platform that spans network, cloud and applications under one unit-based price.
Datadog sells network monitoring as separate add-ons: Network Device Monitoring at $7 per device per month billed annually, Cloud Network Monitoring from $5 per host. Network data sits beside logs and traces in one SaaS account. Network Device Monitoring also needs at least one infrastructure host to poll the devices.
Switch from SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor if your engineers already live in Datadog and want switch and router data in the same account.
Company website → · Where Datadog Network Monitoring ranks and why
SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor remains the right choice for a large, multi-vendor network with a dedicated engineer, where hop-by-hop path views across on-premise and cloud, baseline alerts and capacity forecasts are used every week. If the installation is tuned, the staff know Orion and the quote is acceptable, the cost of a migration project rarely pays back.
Orion topology maps, custom dashboards and dependency-based alert rules live in the SolarWinds database. The alternatives discover devices on their own, so plan a fresh discovery and a rewritten alert list, and run both tools in parallel for a few weeks.
SNMP credentials, community strings and trap targets on switches are configured for the old poller. A new collector needs read access and its address added to access lists. Document these before cutover, since a silent gap shows up first as a missing alert.
Sensors at Paessler, devices at ManageEngine and Site24x7, hosts at Datadog, collectors at Domotz and Hybrid Units at LogicMonitor are all different. Count interfaces, virtual machines and wireless access points under each definition before comparing totals.
No vendor in this list offers an importer for Orion data on the pages we checked, so treat devices, maps and alerts as things to rebuild. Export your node list as a spreadsheet from NPM and use it as the checklist for the new discovery.
No, the network product page shows a quote form and a 30-day trial, with no price. Its features also come inside SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted, which is by custom quote. Ask for your renewal figure in writing before you compare.
Checkmk Pro or Paessler PRTG cover polling, maps and alerts most like NPM for a mid-size estate. For path and flow analysis on large networks, Kentik works from traffic data. None repeat NetPath exactly, so test your own use case in a trial.
Not always. Auvik, Site24x7, LogicMonitor, Datadog and Domotz run as hosted services, with a collector or poller inside your network. PRTG, Checkmk, Zabbix, Icinga, OpManager, Nagios XI and WhatsUp Gold can all be installed on your own servers.
That depends on your order form, so read the renewal and maintenance clause, because the product pages do not state it. Ask for the end date of your support term, then schedule the new tool's trial to finish before it.
Yes, with limits. Zabbix has no license fee, Checkmk Community covers roughly 100 hosts and Icinga's core is free. Time spent on configuration replaces the license cost, and support is bought separately.
The facts below on SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor and the other products were copied from official vendor pages visited on October 29, 2026, a date after which any of them may have moved.
Sebastiaan Smits, Founder, wrote, edited and fact-checked this page.
Founder of The Interregnum and of 2 Steps Ahead, an AI search visibility agency. Editorially responsible for every page here; research and drafting are AI-assisted. Last reviewed October 29, 2026.
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