IT monitoring software tracks the operations and activities of your end users and any software in your IT environment. IT experts use this specific type of software to determine the health and performance of your IT infrastructure and its components so that you can make well-informed and real-time decisions for resource provisioning and IT security.
You may be researching the best IT monitoring software on the market today but don’t know where to start. That’s where we come in. We’ve searched leading review sites, looked at genuine user reviews from each, evaluated the top alternatives, and compiled them in this comprehensive guide.
Table of contents
5 best IT monitoring software
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What is IT monitoring software?
IT monitoring software provides users with real-time visibility over the performance, health, and availability of an organization’s devices, applications, servers, and network hardware in their IT environment. The main goal of IT infrastructure monitoring software is to allow IT professionals to ensure that all their hardware, software, and network equipment continue to perform optimally. With IT monitoring software, technicians can take a more proactive approach as they can configure alerts that identify and resolve potential issues before they escalate, minimizing downtime.
Typically, IT monitoring systems offer IT automation tools that reduce the need for manual intervention and allows technicians to focus on more strategic tasks. In addition, IT monitoring software often offers reporting features that provide actionable insights, helping organizations to understand device usage and plan for future capacity needs.
What is the best software for IT monitoring?
This is a complex question, as there is no “one” best software for IT monitoring; rather, it is the most appropriate one for your business and specific needs. When writing this guide, we accounted for the robustness of each solution and how comprehensive its platform is.
Some questions to help you determine what the best IT monitoring software solution is for you:
- What are my specific requirements? Consider factors such as infrastructure complexity and the types and number of devices you want to monitor.
- Is it scalable? Even if you’re a startup, you must consider software that can handle your current network size and future growth.
- Is it straightforward? Look for a software vendor that is known for its easy deployment and simple operation.
- What monitoring protocols does it support? Consider a solution that supports common monitoring protocols such as SNMP and NetFlow.
- How does the vendor send their alerts? Email, SMS, Slack, or other channels? You should take note of how customizable these alerts are.
- How extensive are its reporting capabilities? Consider vendors that can generate customized reports.
- How lightweight is it? Does your IT monitoring software consume a lot of resources? If it does, will it impact network latency?
- What operating system (OS) does it support? Make sure your IT monitoring software is compatible with the OSes your devices run on. For IT teams managing diverse IT environments, look for vendors with cross-platform monitoring for Windows, macOS, and Linux systems.
- Does it offer other IT tools? You can streamline your IT workflows and reduce costs by opting for IT monitoring software that offers a comprehensive suite of IT management tools. Automation tools can significantly speed up the processes of your IT system monitoring tool. Some vendors even offer troubleshooting tools, such as remote desktop, remote registry, and remote reboot. These allow technicians to quickly troubleshoot and remediate any issues that arise.
Refer to these guide questions as you evaluate each software vendor and include other questions specific to your organization. This will improve your chances of working with a tool that is best suited for you.
Now that we’ve covered the basics of finding a monitoring solution, let’s discuss the best IT infrastructure monitoring software available.
The 5 best IT monitoring software
All G2 & Capterra data as of April 2024.
1. NinjaOne
NinjaOne’s IT monitoring software empowers your IT team to detect and address potential issues before they affect operations. This proactive IT management approach increases your confidence in minimizing downtime and maximizing overall productivity from day one. Additionally, NinjaOne consolidates all your IT monitoring tools into a single pane of glass, offering 360-degree visibility into your IT network.
Healthily obsessed with its customers’ success, NinjaOne is the go-to software of choice for over 17,000 customers worldwide. This has contributed to NinjaOne being rated as the #1 solution on G2 for years and being awarded #1 in customer support.
Main features of NinjaOne
- Automated patch management for Windows, macOS, and Linux OS.
- Centralized dashboard for real-time monitoring of IT assets and performance metrics.
- Endpoint management that allows you to remotely control all your devices from anywhere with an internet connection.
- Customizable reporting to give you valuable insight into your IT network
- Powerful integrations with multiple business applications to enhance your capabilities.
The numbers speak for themselves:
- 97% customer satisfaction score (CSAT)
- 95% improved patch compliance
- 95% increased IT efficiency with automation
- 93% saved time on patching
- 70% reduced vulnerabilities in their environment by up to 75%
What users say
“NinjaOne provides 100% reporting on all patches and updates, giving us real-time visibility into our network. With our old tool, we received notifications when patches failed, but it took hours to find those out-of-date devices and software. NinjaOne gives us a detailed report with every endpoint and patch update – it makes my job so much easier.”
From Ashley Watson, IT Manager at NWF Agriculture.
Read more Ninja customer stories.
Leverage real-time, actionable insights to take a proactive approach to your IT operations with NinjaOne’s IT monitoring software.
NinjaOne reviews on G2
| Category | NinjaOne Rating |
| Overall | 4.8 out of 5 (1,441) |
| Has the product been a good partner in doing business? | 9.6 |
| Quality of support | 9.3 |
| Ease of Admin | 9.3 |
| Ease of Use | 9.3 |
NinjaOne reviews on Capterra
| Category | NinjaOne Rating |
| Overall | 4.8 out of 5 (232) |
| Ease of Use | 4.7 |
| Customer Service | 4.7 |
| Features | 4.5 |
| Value for Money | 4.7 |
2. Datadog
Datadog is a SaaS provider that offers IT monitoring products to give you visibility and insight into any stack, app, or environment. Its network monitoring tool offers end-to-end visibility in a single platform so that you can monitor, detect, and alert users in various locations about any performance issues.
Use cases:
- Remote monitoring: Users can get real-time data into their cloud and on-prem servers and endpoint devices. Recorded metrics can be customized to suit users’ needs.
- Automation: Datadog offers a variety of automation tools that reduce manual workload. Users can automate remediation of common issues.
- Alerting: The platform can send out notifications whenever it identifies problems or specific thresholds with hardware and software.
Shortcomings:
- Steep learning curve: According to users, Datadog demands time and resources to get users familiar with the platform. While expansive, its documentation can be difficult to understand, and it can take time for users to find the information they need.
- Complex interface: Datadog offers many advanced monitoring features that can be overwhelming for users. Reviewers say that the level of complexity makes the platform more suited for data scientists.
- Reporting: Reviewers find that the reporting feature can be lacking and that generating graphical reports can be challenging.
Datadog reviews on G2
| Category | Datadog Rating |
| Overall | 4.3 out of 5 (532) |
| Has the product been a good partner in doing business? | 8.5 |
| Quality of support | 8.3 |
| Ease of Admin | 8.3 |
| Ease of Use | 8.2 |
Datadog reviews on Capterra
| Category | Datadog Rating |
| Overall | 4.6 out of 5 (242) |
| Ease of Use | 4.2 |
| Customer Service | 4.2 |
| Features | 4.5 |
| Value for Money | 4.1 |
3. Checkmk
Checkmk is an open-source IT infrastructure monitoring used to monitor servers, applications, networks, databases, and cloud infrastructures, among others, in a single platform. Its solution helps you optimize your processes and secure your IT network with various features like granular access control, encryption, and 2FA.
Use cases:
- Remote monitoring: Users get real-time data and metrics of their on-prem or cloud-based IT assets.
- Networking monitoring: Checkmk allows users to keep track of network performance, bandwidth usage, and SNMP devices.
- IT automation: Automation tools allow IT administrators to reduce manual workloads by automating tasks such as auto-registration of hosts.
Shortcomings:
- User interface: Checkmk’s interface is complex and users find it hard to locate some functionalities. Its design is not very user-friendly, according to reviewers.
- Documentation: Users find it difficult to understand and locate documentation that can help answer their questions.
- Challenging to learn: Reviewers have said Checkmk’s steep learning curve requires users to spend a lot of time and resources to understand the platform.
Checkmk reviews on G2
| Category |
Checkmk Rating |
| Overall | 4.7 out of 5 (229) |
| Has the product been a good partner in doing business? | 9.1 |
| Quality of support | 8.8 |
| Ease of Admin | 8.3 |
| Ease of Use | 8.2 |
Checkmk reviews on Capterra
| Category | Checkmk Rating |
| Overall | 4.7 out of 5 (32) |
| Ease of Use | 4.2 |
| Customer Service | 4.4 |
| Features | 4.7 |
| Value for Money | 4.9 |
4. Splunk Infrastructure Monitoring
Splunk Infrastructure Monitoring delivers real-time monitoring and troubleshooting to help you visualize and analyze the performance of your IT infrastructure, microservices, and applications. Its platform instantly visualizes your entire IT environment so you can accurately detect and resolve issues in real time.
Use cases:
- Real-time monitoring: Users gain comprehensive visibility over an organization’s hardware, software, and networks.
- IT security: Technicians can secure their IT environment with full visibility over systems and notifications of any security threats.
- Reporting: Splunk allows users to create graphical reports on the performance and health of their IT infrastructure.
Shortcomings:
- Difficult to learn: Users say that knowledge of SPL (search processing language) is necessary to fully utilize Splunk.
- Complex interface: Splunk’s design and overwhelming number of features can make the platform difficult to use and navigate.
- Integrations: According to reviews, Splunk can be difficult to integrate with third-party applications.
Splunk Infrastructure Monitoring reviews on G2
| Category |
Splunk Infrastructure Monitoring Rating |
| Overall | 4.3 out of 5 (50) |
| Has the product been a good partner in doing business? | 9.2 |
| Quality of support | 8.7 |
| Ease of Admin | 7.8 |
| Ease of Use | 7.7 |
Splunk Infrastructure Monitoring reviews on G2
| Category |
Splunk Infrastructure Monitoring Rating |
| Overall | 4.6 out of 5 (235) |
| Ease of Use | 4.1 |
| Customer Service | 4.3 |
| Features | 4.5 |
| Value for Money | 4.3 |
5. Zabbix
Zabbix is an open-sourced monitoring solution that monitors various network parameters and the health and integrity of servers, virtual machines, databases, and applications. Its solution supports both polling and trapping to provide valuable insights into your network so that you can make more informed decisions.
Use cases:
- Remote monitoring: Zabbix allows users to keep track of hardware, software, virtual machines, and network equipment.
- Reporting: Users can visualize data via the platform’s dashboards and then create PDF reports that can be scheduled at regular intervals.
- Alerts and notifications: Zabbix allows users to configure alerts and receive notifications whenever these thresholds are met or if there are any possible threats.
Shortcomings:
- Difficult set up: Zabbix requires complicated configuration which means it can take time to get started.
- Interface design: According to reviews, Zabbix’s dashboards can be crowded, and its interface is highly complicated, making it difficult to navigate and utilize.
- Learning curve: New users can get overwhelmed by Zabbix’s features and it can be challenging and time-consuming to learn. Documentation is also lacking.
Zabbix reviews on G2
| Category |
Zabbix Rating |
| Overall | 4.3 out of 5 (188) |
| Has the product been a good partner in doing business? | 7.9 |
| Quality of support | 7.9 |
| Ease of Admin | 7.9 |
| Ease of Use | 7.3 |
Zabbix reviews on G2
| Category |
Zabbix Rating |
| Overall | 4.7 out of 5 (87) |
| Ease of Use | 4.0 |
| Customer Service | 4.2 |
| Features | 4.5 |
| Value for Money | 4.7 |
Comparison of best IT monitoring software (G2)
| Category | NinjaOne | Datadog | Checkmk | Splunk Infrastructure Monitoring | Zabbix |
| Overall | 4.8 out of 5 (1,441) | 4.3 out of 5 (467) | 4.7 out of 5 (177) | 4.3 out of 5 (50) | 4.3 out of 5 (185) |
| Has the product been a good partner in doing business? | 9.6 | 8.5 | 9.1 | 9.2 | 7.9 |
| Quality of support | 9.3 | 8.3 | 8.8 | 8.7 | 7.9 |
| Ease of Admin | 9.3 | 8.4 | 8.3 | 7.8 | 7.9 |
| Ease of Use | 9.2 | 8.2 | 8.2 | 7.7 | 7.3 |
Comparison of best IT monitoring software (Capterra)
| Category | NinjaOne | Datadog | Checkmk | Splunk Infrastructure Monitoring | Zabbix |
| Overall | 4.8 out of 5 (232) | 4.6 out of 5 (241) | 4.7 out of 5 (32) | 4.6 out of 5 (223) | 4.7 out of 5 (83) |
| Ease of Use | 4.7 | 4.3 | 4.2 | 4.1 | 4.0 |
| Customer Service | 4.7 | 4.3 | 4.4 | 4.3 | 4.1 |
| Features | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.7 | 4.5 | 4.5 |
| Value for Money | 4.7 | 4.1 | 4.9 | 4.3 | 4.8 |
| Likelihood to Recommend | 93% | 82% | 96% | 88% | 89% |
Final scores and summaries of best IT monitoring software
| Vendor | Final Score | Summary |
| NinjaOne | 2.225 | NinjaOne is a trusted IT monitoring software that is used by thousands of customers all over the world. One of its major value propositions is its platform’s multiple out-of-the-box features. |
| Datadog | 1.302 | Datadog is a reliable IT monitoring software that monitors all kinds of application metrics, such as errors, network states, and response times, among others. |
| Splunk Infrastructure Monitoring | 0.824 | Splunk Infrastructure Monitoring offers real-time streaming analytics in a centralized management tool. |
| Checkmk | 0.948816 | Checkmk is a flexible solution suitable for SMBs with no extensive monitoring requirements. |
| Zabbix | 0.787 | Zabbix is used by larger enterprises that must monitor their entire IT infrastructure. |
Our rankings formula
To derive the final score for each vendor, we employed a weighted formula that considers various metrics. Here’s how it breaks down:
Final Score = w1 * G2 Overall Star Rating + w2 * Capterra Overall Star Rating + w3 * G2 Good Partner in Doing Business + w4 * Capterra Likelihood to Recommend + w5 * G2 Total Number of Reviews (Scaled) + w6 * Capterra Total Number of Reviews (Scaled) + Other Factors
Where:
w1 = 0.15 (Weight for G2 Overall Star Rating)
w2 = 0.15 (Weight for Capterra Overall Star Rating)
w3 = 0.2 (Weight for G2 Good Partner in Doing Business)
w4 = 0.2 (Weight for Capterra Customer Service)
w5 = 0.1 (Weight for G2 Total Number of Reviews, Scaled)
w6 = 0.1 (Weight for Capterra Total Number of Reviews, Scaled)
Other Factors include additional metrics like ease of use, each multiplied by their corresponding weights:
w7 = 0.05 (Weight for G2 Ease of Use)
w8 = 0.05 (Weight for Capterra Ease of Use)
Simplify your IT monitoring workflows with NinjaOne’s highly intuitive and user-friendly IT monitoring software.
Selecting the best IT monitoring software
When evaluating IT monitoring solutions, consider the previously mentioned guide questions and evaluate a software tool based on its functionality, compatibility, and total cost of ownership. Investing in IT monitoring software allows your business to maximize performance and minimize downtime caused by issues or security threats. This is why it is advisable to thoroughly analyze the best IT monitoring software on the market. Start by considering what your organization’s specific requirements and needs might be.
Once you know what to look for in IT infrastructure monitoring software, you can select an IT monitoring tool that matches your needs and goals. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is assuming that what works for your competitor would also work for you. So, work with a vendor that can offer tailored packages to your specific context.
