WhatsUp Gold vs PRTG -
A Complete Comparison
Looking for a more predictable, scalable alternative to PRTG? Sensor‑based licensing, noisy auto‑discovery and unstable reporting are pushing IT teams to seek a monitoring platform that’s predictable and easy to manage.
Progress® WhatsUp® Gold delivers clean device‑based licensing, reliable performance and intuitive monitoring, without the license traps, false alerts or UI headaches.
Built for IT Teams Who Demand Zero Downtime
12,000,000+
25,000+
30+
An Intelligent PRTG Alternative
Unified Monitoring and Complete Visibility
WhatsUp Gold provides end‑to‑end oversight across your entire environment, covering network gear, servers, applications, cloud services, and log data, within one consolidated interface. All required functionality is included right out of the box, eliminating the need for add‑on modules.
Flexible, Scalable, Budget‑Friendly Licensing
With WhatsUp Gold, you can choose the licensing approach that fits your needs, whether perpetual or subscription‑based. A straightforward, device‑focused pricing structure simplifies financial planning and allows you to expand your deployment without unexpected charges.
Quick Setup with an Intuitive, User‑Ready Design
Setup is quick, typically less than an hour, thanks to an intuitive user experience designed for smooth onboarding and streamlined administration. You’ll gain usable insights almost immediately, helping your team stay aligned with priority work.
See How Progress WhatsUp Gold Compares
| Feature Included |  |  |
|---|---|---|
| Plans | Enterprise Plus | Network Monitor |
| Network Discovery | Customizable, topology-aware discovery with virtualization maps and zero unwanted license usage | Lacks topology awareness, cannot show unmonitored devices, offers limited customization and credential flexibility, and consumes licenses for every auto-created sensor |
| Topology Mapping | Automatic and clear | Requires 3rd party tool |
| Alerting | Powerful policies out-of-the-box with deep customization options | Less flexible customization options |
| Protocol Support | Supports more network vendors natively, providing broader protocol coverage without special configurations or third-party add-ons | Requires custom sensors to achieve similar protocol coverage, adding extra effort and complexity |
| Scalability | Scales smoothly with a single license | Requires multiple probes, each adding complexity |
| Integrations | Integrates with ITSM and automation systems natively | Requires workarounds or scripts |
| Customization | Easy, out-of-the-box customization for monitors and dashboards | Requires heavy manual sensor configuration, making customization far harder and slower |
| Ease of Use | | |
|---|---|---|
| Plans | Enterprise Plus | Network Monitor |
| Ease of Setup | Install and configure in under an hour | Requires planning around probe placement and sensor counts |
| User Interface | Custom web application with instant reporting capabilities | Dated interface, no instant reports |
| Learning Curve | Intuitive approach, free learning paths with online training and YouTube how-to videos | Sensor-based approach without intelligent device discovery adds maintenance overhead |
| Installation & Configuration | Installs cleanly and configures quickly, helping teams get up and running faster | Form-heavy, configuration-intensive setup slows deployment |
| Dashboard Usability | More flexible dashboards for ops and exec visibility out of the box | Must be built from scratch using “Magic Map” |
See More. Spend Less. Take Control of Your Entire Network.
Progress WhatsUp Gold delivers real‑time visibility into device health, application performance, and traffic flows to ensure uptime, optimize capacity, and prevent disruptions, while reducing operational costs and accelerating troubleshooting. It unifies monitoring across infrastructure, network performance, traffic analysis, and security insights, backed by powerful out‑of‑the‑box functionality for immediate value.
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Pricing and Licensing Models | Straightforward, device‑based pricing: You simply pay for each monitored switch, router, server, or virtual machine, with one comprehensive tier that includes everything, making costs easy to plan. | Sensor‑based pricing adds complexity and cost: Every interface, port, and metric consumes a separate sensor. PRTG’s auto‑discovery can allocate extra sensors for duplicate or unnecessary items, further inflating consumption and adding avoidable overhead. |
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What Do IT Professionals Say? | Users highlight WhatsUp Gold’s clear visibility, reliable alerts, and easy setup. Reviews consistently praise its intuitive dashboards, accurate discovery, and strong all‑in‑one monitoring without extra modules. IT teams value how quickly it delivers insights and how predictable the licensing is compared to other tools. | Common complaints include cluttered dashboards, noisy or excessive alerts, and performance issues at scale. Many users find managing thousands of sensors confusing and expensive, with unpredictable costs and a steeper learning curve for advanced configuration and reporting. |
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How to Choose the Best Monitoring Tool | Choose a tool that adapts to your environment, small business, enterprise, cloud or on‑prem. WhatsUp Gold fits all sizes with simple device licensing and unified monitoring. IT teams get fast deployment, accurate discovery, and industry‑ready use cases for healthcare, finance, and education. | When evaluating a platform, consider long‑term scalability, sensor overhead, and operational complexity. PRTG can suit smaller static environments but grows harder to manage as networks expand or cloud workloads increase. Carefully assess sensor usage, reporting needs, and administrative effort before committing. Review product documentation or request a demo to confirm suitability. |
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Ease of Use | WhatsUp Gold is designed for quick adoption, offering an intuitive interface, clear navigation, and effortless setup. Users consistently praise its low learning curve and how quickly they can understand and manage their environment. | PRTG is approachable at first, but usability decreases as sensor counts grow. Managing dashboards, tuning alerts, and navigating dense sensor trees can quickly become time‑consuming. Many users find the interface cluttered and the configuration overly manual, especially in larger environments. The learning curve rises substantially as deployments become more complex. |
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Customer Support | WhatsUp Gold earns consistently strong feedback for its responsive, knowledgeable support team. Users appreciate quick resolutions, clear guidance, and access to both phone and email support. Documentation, tutorials, and community resources make troubleshooting easier. | PRTG users often highlight limitations in support availability, noting that assistance is via their official help desk portal only. Some report difficulty getting timely help for complex sensor or configuration issues. |
5 Reasons WhatsUp Gold is the Best PRTG Alternative
Scaling Comes With Friction
PRTG’s sensor-based licensing adds complexity, requiring constant tuning and upgrades as environments grow.
Performance Slows Under Load
Large PRTG deployments often face dashboard lag, noisy alerts, and manual optimization to stay responsive.
Rigid Licensing Structure
PRTG’s long-term contracts, sensor limits, and surprise overage costs make budgeting unpredictable.
Fragmented Feature Evolution
Some PRTG features rely heavily on add-ons, custom sensors, scripting, or third-party applications, leading to an inconsistent experience over time.
Limited Support Coverage
PRTG’s help-portal can lead to slower response times may delay issue resolution when you need help most.
PRTG to WhatsUp Gold and Other Migration Options
Many IT teams migrate to WhatsUp Gold for its simpler licensing, cleaner discovery workflows, and unified monitoring experience. While alternatives like SolarWinds, Nagios, and Zabbix exist, they often require heavier manual setup or fragmented plugins, making transitions more complex.
WhatsUp Gold offers the most straightforward migration paths on the market: automated device discovery, customizable templates, integrated configuration management, and seamless integration with existing infrastructure tools. This reduces rework, accelerates time‑to‑value, and makes it easier to replicate and improve what was monitored in PRTG.
Whether you’re consolidating tools, modernizing an aging deployment, or standardizing operations across teams, WhatsUp Gold provides a more predictable, cohesive, and manageable migration experience than open-source or sensor‑centric alternatives.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does licensing work?
WhatsUp Gold uses simple device-based licensing, making it easy to understand and scale. PRTG relies on sensor-based licensing, which can become complex and unpredictable as environments grow. Evaluate how each model aligns with your monitoring scope and long-term budget.
What support options are available?
WhatsUp Gold offers phone and email support, along with extensive documentation and training options. PRTG recently moved to portal-only ticket submission and no longer accepts direct support emails, which may affect response times and accessibility.
Is my existing environment compatible?
Both tools support common protocols like SNMP, WMI, SSH, and API integrations. WhatsUp Gold provides broad, out-of-the-box compatibility across network, server, cloud, and application monitoring, reducing reliance on custom configurations. It also delivers capabilities PRTG cannot provide, including built-in Log Management, Configuration Management, and Network Detection & Response (NDR).
How often are updates released?
WhatsUp Gold delivers multiple updates per year with new features, security enhancements, and community-driven improvements. PRTG also updates regularly, though larger feature additions often require additional sensors or manual setup.
How difficult is migration from another tool?
Switching to WhatsUp Gold is streamlined with automatic discovery, device templates, and flexible monitoring profiles. Teams coming from PRTG, SolarWinds, or open-source tools often find setup faster and cleanup easier compared to sensor-mapping or manual configuration approaches.
“Since switching from PRTG to WhatsUp Gold, I gained more visibility of my environment due to the device-based pricing”
System Engineer
“WhatsUp Gold’s dashboards and NOC views are far superior to PRTG’s ‘magic maps.”
Data Engineer, Enterprise
“There is large administration overhead of maintaining a PRTG environment. It consumed much more of our time than a product like this should. ”
Senior Engineer, Enterprise
Set up WhatsUp Gold in Under 5 Minutes
1. Fast Setup: Download the trial below and configure in minutes.
2. Step-by-Step Guidance: Follow this quick walkthrough video for a smooth start.
3. Immediate Monitoring: Begin tracking devices and performance right away.
Get WhatsUp Gold Free Trial Today
* This page highlights WhatsUp Gold as an alternative to Paessler PRTG, based on information from Paessler PRTG’s website. We strive for accuracy, but details may change over time. WhatsUp Gold is not responsible for any discrepancies caused by updates or modifications to Paessler PRTG’s products after publication. Some features mentioned not supported by Paessler PRTG Network Monitor may be available in other Paessler PRTG products and may require additional licensing.