• Company
    • About Us
    • Case Studies
    • Press Center
    • Events
    • Careers
    • Blog
    • Contact us
  • Login
 
  • English
    • Deutsch
    • Español
    • Français
    • Italiano
    • Português
Paessler
                    - The Monitoring Experts
  • Products
    • Paessler PRTG
      Paessler PRTGMonitor your whole IT infrastructure
      • PRTG Network Monitor
      • PRTG Enterprise Monitor
      • PRTG Hosted Monitor
      • PRTG extensionsExtensions for Paessler PRTGExtend your monitoring to a new level
    • Icon Features
      FeaturesExplore all monitoring features
      • Maps & dashboards
      • Alerts & notifications
      • Multiple user interfaces
      • Distributed monitoring
      • Customizable reporting
  • Solutions
    • Industries
      IndustriesMonitor various industry sectors
      • Industrial
      • Healthcare
      • Data Center
      • Education
      • Finance
      • Government
    • IT Topics
      IT TopicsMonitor all areas of IT
      • Network Monitoring
      • Bandwidth Monitoring
      • SNMP Monitor
      • Network Mapping
      • WiFi Monitoring
      • Server Monitoring
  • Pricing
  • Resources
    • Getting Started
      Getting StartedModules for self-paced learning
    • How-to Guides
      How-to GuidesGet the most out of PRTG
    • Videos & Webinars
      Videos & WebinarsLearn from Paessler experts
    • IT  Knowledge
      IT KnowledgeExpand your IT knowledge
    • PRTG Manual
      PRTG ManualFull documentation
    • Knowledge Base
      Knowledge BaseShare community knowledge
    • PRTG Sensor Hub
      PRTG Sensor HubGet sensors, scripts & templates
    • Trainings
      PRTG TrainingLearn how to work with PRTG
  • Partners
    • icon star
      New Partners and MSPBecome a new partner or MSP
    • icon partner
      Partner PortalLog in to your partner account
    • icon search
      Find a PartnerFind partners selling Paessler products
    • icon technology
      Technology AlliancesSee Paessler technology partnerships
  • Company
    • About Us
    • Case Studies
    • Press Center
    • Events
    • Careers
    • Blog
    • Contact us
  • Login
  • English
    • Deutsch
    • Español
    • Français
    • Italiano
    • Português
  • Get a quote
  • Free trial
  1. Home>
  2. IT Topics>
  3. Network>
  4. Network Activity Monitor
PRTG Logo

Network Activity Monitor with PRTG

Have the clarity you need to identify network issues before they escalate

  • Get real-time insights into every corner of your network
  • Identify, troubleshoot, and fix bottlenecks before users notice
  • Automate alerts and reclaim your downtime
Free download
product overview

Our users give top ratings for monitoring with Paessler PRTG

Gartner peer insights
spiceworks
Capterra
G2
Trustpilot

PRTG network activity monitor: What you will find on this page

Table of content
  • Solve network invisibility with PRTG’s network activity monitoring
  • What network activity monitoring looks like in PRTG
  • 3 reasons to choose PRTG as your network activity monitor
  • Explore our preconfigured PRTG sensors for network activity monitoring
  • Network activity monitor: FAQ

PRTG makes network activity monitoring as easy as it gets

Custom alerts and data visualization let you quickly identify and prevent security and performance issues.

Free download
PRODUCT OVERVIEW

Solve network invisibility with PRTG’s network activity monitoring

Network invisibility. It’s the #1 frustration of sysadmins everywhere. Why is your bandwidth so spotty? How do you ensure uptime across remote network devices and locations? Paessler PRTG is your all-in-one network monitoring solution, giving you immediate observability into every aspect of your network.

Stop losing sleep over traffic blind spots

Identify hidden traffic patterns, rogue devices, or silent bandwidth hogs before they become major problems. PRTG eliminates the guesswork by giving you a clear view of every router, switch, firewall, and other endpoint on your network.

Bandwidth usage, databases, applications, VPNs – even physical server rooms – are all made visible with PRTG. Stop the nightmares and rest easy knowing PRTG is keeping your network in check.

Take network monitoring to the next level

Your IT team needs an easy way to identify trends, manage network connections, and optimize bandwidth allocation. Whether troubleshooting TCP issues, digging into a misbehaving server, or analyzing real-time network data, PRTG ensures you’re always ahead of potential disruptions.

With support for NetFlow, sFlow, packet sniffing, SNMP, WMI, and more, PRTG provides deep insights into network traffic patterns and performance.

Stay informed of network processes

Never miss another network issue. A program is hogging bandwidth, network latency spikes at certain times, or a printer has gone offline – PRTG makes sure you know what’s happening and when.

Dive into your network’s data at any time to confirm its health or to enjoy the satisfaction of seeing that error-free report. Whether looking for a root cause or just keeping your finger on the pulse of network traffic, PRTG has you covered.

Monitor every environment with ease

Modern networks extend beyond the office, often spanning remote locations, cloud services, and hybrid setups.

PRTG’s network monitoring tools ensure comprehensive visibility across these environments, tracking network connections, device health, and traffic patterns no matter where your infrastructure resides. Keep remote teams and systems running smoothly with a single, unified view.

Detect and prevent security threats

Network invisibility can leave you vulnerable to attacks and unauthorized access. PRTG actively monitors traffic flow, firewall activity, and unusual network access, alerting the appropriate team for potential security threats.

PRTG also helps monitor and identify suspicious changes in IP addresses to catch unauthorized devices before they become a problem. Strengthen your defenses and minimize downtime with PRTG – proactively.

What network activity monitoring looks like in PRTG

Diagnose network issues by continuously tracking network activity across your entire IT infrastructure. Show network speed, hardware health parameters, network traffic data, bandwidth usage, and other key metrics in real time. Visualize monitoring data in clear graphs and dashboards to identify problems more easily. Gain the overview you need to troubleshoot security and performance issues in your network.

PRTG Screenshot device tree view

Device tree view of the complete monitoring setup

PRTG screenshot map entire it infrastructure

Custom PRTG dashboard for keeping an eye on the entire IT infrastructure

PRTG screenshot graph live data traffic

Live traffic data graph in PRTG

Start monitoring network activity with PRTG and see how it can make your network more reliable and your job easier.

Free download
PRODUCT OVERVIEW

IT experts agree: Paessler PRTG is a great solution for IT infrastructure monitoring

PCMag

“All-around winning
 network monitor”

IT Brief

“The real beauty of PRTG is the endless possibilities it offers”

ITPro

“PRTG Network Monitor 
is very hard to beat”

3 reasons to choose PRTG as your network activity monitor

Icon Connection

Get vendor-agnostic network monitoring

PRTG offers robust compatibility across platforms and providers, letting you monitor network devices, servers, operating systems, and applications without worrying about compatibility.

Cisco, Dell, HPE, NetApp. Microsoft Windows, Linux, or Mac operating systems. Wireless networks or LAN, WiFi or Ethernet. PRTG has your back.

Icon Time

Start monitoring in hours, not days

Getting started with PRTG is fast and hassle-free. An intuitive setup process, preconfigured sensors, and a user-friendly interface mean you can begin monitoring your network usage within hours.

Whether you're managing a small office, a few remote locations, or a global infrastructure, PRTG minimizes the learning curve and lets you focus on what matters – keeping your network running smoothly. No PhD in rocket science required.

Icon Settings

Customize your entire monitoring setup

Customization is a paramount feature for network monitoring tools. Out-of-the-box functionality is all well and good, but you also need the ability to tweak settings for your unique IT environment.

Take control of your network with customizable dashboards, notifications, and monitoring templates. Define thresholds for critical network events, visualize trends with detailed graphs, and ensure your team stays focused on what matters most.

Explore our preconfigured PRTG sensors for network activity monitoring

PRTG comes with more than 250 native sensor types for monitoring your entire on-premises, cloud, and hybrid cloud environment out of the box. Check out some examples below!

Packet Sniffer

The Packet Sniffer sensor monitors the headers of data packets that pass a local network card using a built-in packet sniffer. You can choose from predefined channels. It can show the following and more:

  • Traffic from Citrix applications
  • Traffic from file transfer (FTP/P2P) and various other protocols (UDP, TCP)
  • Traffic from network services (DHCP, DNS, Ident, ICMP, SNMP)
  • Internet mail traffic (IMAP, POP3, SMTP)
  • Traffic from remote control applications (RDP, SSH, Telnet, Virtual Network Computing (VNC))
Packet Sniffer
Packet Sniffer

SNMP Traffic v2

The SNMP Traffic v2 sensor monitors bandwidth and traffic on a device. It can show the following:

  • Number of incoming and outgoing broadcast, multicast, unicast, and non-unicast packets
  • Number of incoming and outgoing discards and errors
  • Total, incoming, and outgoing traffic
  • Number of incoming, unknown protocols
SNMP Traffic v2
SNMP Traffic v2

Ping v2

The Ping v2 sensor sends an Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) echo request ("ping") from the probe system to the parent device to monitor its availability. It can show the following:

• Response time

• Packet loss

• Target status

• Minimum and maximum ping time

Ping v2
Ping v2

Port v2

The Port v2 sensor monitors a network service by connecting to one or more of its TCP/IP ports. It can show the following:

  • Number of open and closed ports
  • Number of errors
  • Maximum time until a request to connect to a port was accepted
Port v2
Port v2

See the PRTG Manual for a list of all available sensor types.

PRTG is compatible with all major vendors, products, and systems

compatible with all major vendors, products, and systems

Find the root cause of the problem with our PRTG network activity monitoring solution

Real-time notifications mean faster troubleshooting so that you can act before more serious issues occur.

Free download
PRODUCT OVERVIEW

”Adopting PRTG has been like going from being in the dark to being in the light. Before, we had limited visibility into what was happening in the infrastructure and in the network. Now, however, thanks to the comprehensive dashboard and real-time notifications, we receive constant updates on the status of facilities and services, and our way of working has gone from passive to proactive.”

Luca Meneghesso, Senior IT infrastructure and Security Specialist
Banca Profilo

”GESAC increasingly focuses on innovation to improve the quality of services offered and the experience of passengers handled every day by Naples Airport. Thanks to PRTG, we finally have unified, automatic, and continuous monitoring of the airport network and can guarantee quick and timely interventions.”

Domenico Ciervo, GESAC ICT Manager
Naples International Airport

”As an international company, PRTG is ideal for us. If something went down half way across the world, we wouldn’t be woken up – we can rely on PRTG to identify the problem and alert us before it occurs – enabling the right person, in the right time zone to resolve the problem. At the end of the day, if we’re to provide an internal network experience for our employees that meets expectations, we need a tool like PRTG to be successful.”

Barry Kelly, Systems Engineer
Skyscanner

“I would recommend PRTG because it has helped us significantly improve service uptime by highlighting important alerts that would otherwise result in a system failure or service disruption if action was not taken. Thanks to PRTG, we can ensure that The Ritz London’s network and IT systems are five-star, just like the hotel.”

Richard Isted, IT Manager
The Ritz London

Your network performance monitor at a glance – even on the go

PRTG is set up in a matter of minutes and can be used on a wide variety of mobile devices.

device overview
Gartner peer insights

“Excellent tool for detailed monitoring. Alarms and notifications work greatly. Equipment addition is straight forward and server initial setup is very easy. ...feel safe to purchase it if you intend to monitor a large networking landscape.”

Read the complete review at Gartner Peer Insights

Create innovative solutions with Paessler’s IT partners

Partnering with innovative IT vendors, Paessler unleashes synergies to create
new and additional benefits for joined customers.

Plixer

Plixer

Paessler and Plixer provide a complete solution adding flow and metadata analysis to a powerful network monitoring tool.

Read more
Rittal

Rittal

IT that works constitutes a business-critical basis for a company's success. Availability and security must be defined for the respective purpose and closely monitored – by OT and IT alike.

Read more
Siemon

Siemon

Siemon and Paessler bring together intelligent building technology and advanced monitoring and make your vision of intelligent buildings and data centers become reality.

Read more

 

PRTG makes network activity monitoring as easy as it gets

Custom alerts and data visualization let you quickly identify and prevent security and performance issues.

Free download
PRODUCT OVERVIEW
Paessler PRTG

Paessler PRTG

Network Monitoring Software – Version 24.4.102.1351 (November 12th, 2024)

Hosting icon

Hosting

Download for Windows and cloud-based version PRTG Hosted Monitor available

Languages icon

Languages

English, German, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Dutch, Russian, Japanese, and Simplified Chinese

test

Monitor everything

Network devices, bandwidth, servers, applications, virtual environments, remote systems, IoT, and more

test

Pricing

Choose the PRTG Network Monitor subscription that's best for you

Discover more monitoring insights and stories

Resources Solution

Solutions for all your monitoring needs

  • Network usage monitoring
  • Monitor network traffic
  • Internet Usage Monitoring
Resources Content

Powerful stories from the monitoring world

  • The Top 5 Causes of Sudden Network Spikes
  • Customer success story Wire Technologies & PRTG
  • Traffic monitoring on HP Aruba switches with sFlow and PRTG
Resources Solutions

Resources to master your monitoring challenges

  • Modifying the Live Graphs Accuracy
  • XBox network Internet Traffic Monitoring
  • Monitor Home PC For Internet Activity When Away From Home?

Network Activity Monitor: FAQ

 

What is a network activity monitor?

A network activity monitor is a tool that tracks and analyzes all activity within a network. PRTG’s network activity monitor collects data using protocols like SNMP, WMI, SSH, NetFlow, sFlow, and packet sniffing. With visibility into bandwidth utilization, traffic patterns, data usage, device health, and performance metrics, IT teams can maintain network efficiency and security more effectively.

Why do I need a network activity monitor?

Without a network activity monitor, you risk downtime, bottlenecks, and security threats caused by blind spots in your infrastructure. A network activity monitor identifies those bottlenecks, tracks bandwidth hogs, analyzes traffic patterns, and monitors the health of devices, database metrics, and applications. It proactively sends alerts when issues arise, so your team can quickly resolve problems. PRTG ensures full visibility, enabling you to optimize bandwidth, troubleshoot efficiently, and maintain uptime.

How easy is it to set up PRTG, really?

PRTG is designed for simplicity and speed. Its intuitive interface, preconfigured sensors, and automated network discovery mean you can start monitoring within hours – not days – without needing extensive training or resources.

Can PRTG monitor multiple locations and highly complex networks?

Yes! PRTG supports multi-location monitoring with remote probes and is built to handle complex networks. Whether you’re managing cloud environments, hybrid setups, or global infrastructure, PRTG scales to meet your needs.

How does PRTG send notifications?

PRTG sends real-time notifications via email, SMS, push notification, and other methods, based on thresholds you set. You can also trigger command-line actions or integrate notifications into third-party systems for custom workflows.

What is a sensor in PRTG?

In PRTG, “sensors” are the basic monitoring elements. One sensor usually monitors one measured value in your network, for example the traffic of a switch port, the CPU load of a server, or the free space on a disk drive. On average, you need about 5-10 sensors per device or one sensor per switch port.

We asked: would you recommend PRTG? Over 95% of our customers say yes!

Paessler conducted trials in over 600 IT departments worldwide to tune its network monitoring software closer to the needs of sysadmins. The result of the survey: over 95% of the participants would recommend PRTG – or already have.

recommendation

Still not convinced?

Love

More than 500,000 sysadmins love PRTG

Paessler PRTG is used by companies of all sizes. Sysadmins love PRTG because it makes their job a whole lot easier.

PRTG

Monitor your entire IT infrastructure

Bandwidth, servers, virtual environments, websites, VoIP services – PRTG keeps an eye on your entire network.

test

Try Paessler PRTG for free

Everyone has different monitoring needs. That’s why we let you try PRTG for free.

PRTG Logo

Start monitoring network activity with PRTG and see how it can make your network more reliable and your job easier.

Free download
PRODUCT OVERVIEW

Products

  • Paessler PRTG
    Paessler PRTGMonitor your whole IT infrastructure
    • PRTG Network Monitor
    • PRTG Enterprise Monitor
    • PRTG Hosted Monitor
    • PRTG extensions
      Extensions for Paessler PRTGExtend your monitoring to a new level
  • Icon Features
    FeaturesExplore all monitoring features

Monitoring with PRTG

  • Network monitoring
  • Bandwidth monitoring
  • SNMP monitoring
  • Network mapping
  • Wi-Fi monitoring
  • Server monitoring
  • Network traffic analyzer
  • NetFlow monitoring
  • Syslog server

Useful Links

  • PRTG Manual
  • Knowledge Base
  • Customer Success Stories
  • About Paessler
  • Subscribe to newsletter
  • PRTG Support
  • PRTG Consulting

Contact

Paessler GmbH
Thurn-und-Taxis-Str. 14, 
90411 Nuremberg 
Germany

info@paessler.com

+49 911 93775-0

  • Contact us
©2025 Paessler GmbHTerms & ConditionsPrivacy PolicyImprintReport VulnerabilityDownload & InstallSitemap
404 - Page not found 404 - Page not found 404 - Page not found