Best System Monitoring Software Tools 2022

As the name suggests, system monitoring is the continuous monitoring of an information technology (IT) system by a system administrator. It includes the monitoring of applications, bandwidth, switches, routers, server memory, and CPU as well as the availability and performance of key network devices.

System monitoring software helps IT managers monitor their infrastructure. These tools monitor applications, traffic, and system devices and notify system administrators in the event of disruptions and malfunctions. 

How Does System Monitoring Software Work?

During system monitoring, applications and system devices communicate with the system monitoring tool through protocols, including OPC UA, MQTT, HTTP, WMI, and SNMP. The manufacturer of the system device, application providers, and the system monitoring tool determines the protocol that is used.

A centralized system monitoring software enables you to monitor your entire IT system in real time from a solitary machine. Such a tool will help you resolve issues immediately upon being notified and save on time and money.

Also read: Best DevOps Monitoring Tools for 2021

Best System Monitoring Software

We have made the procedure of scouring the best system monitoring software easier for you—here is your one-stop shop to determine the best system monitoring solution for your organization.

Paessler PRTG Network Monitor 

Paessler PRTG Network Monitor is a complete system monitoring tool that enables you to monitor, visualize, and relax while staying one step ahead of IT system issues. The tool is powerful, easy-to-use, and all-inclusive—there is no need for additional plugins or downloads. 

Key Differentiators

• The tool can monitor all infrastructure components, including Internet of Things (IoT), cloud services, packet loss, network traffic, web pages, uptime, applications, and ping status.
• Integrated technologies include PING, SQL, REST APIs returning XML or JSON, HTTP requests, analysis of traffic using flow protocols/packet sniffing, SSH for macOS and Linux/Unix systems, WMI and Windows Performance Counters, and SNMP with custom and ready-to-use options. 
• With maps, you can visualize your entire IT system and with dashboards, you can integrate all network components using a variety of map objects, such as status and device icons and traffic charts. 
• With custom HTML, you can customize your map and share it with your team using a URL.
• The system monitoring tool alerts you whenever it discovers unusual metrics or problems. You can modify the notification system as necessary and write your own notifications as well.
• You can leverage the tool’s comprehensive reporting capabilities. 
• Other features include multiple user interfaces, failover tolerant monitoring, and distributed monitoring.

Pricing: You can download a fully-functional 30-day free trial today. The starting price of the tool (PRTG 500) is $1,750 per server license and is ideal for very small teams monitoring approximately 50 devices. Other plans include PRTG 1000 at $3,200 for about 100 devices, PRTG 2500 at $6,500 for about 250 devices, PRTG 5000 at $11,500 for about 500 devices, and PRTG XL1 at $15,500 for about 1,000 devices. For more than 1,000 devices, Paessler recommends its PRTG Enterprise Monitor solution.

ScienceLogic Sl1

ScienceLogic SL1 handles hybrid IT use cases and eradicates the complexity and cost of multiple point solutions. This system monitoring software provides performance monitoring, virtual machine monitoring, application monitoring, server monitoring, and network monitoring capabilities, for cross-domain visibility.

Key Differentiators

• ScienceLogic SL1 enables you to break down data silos in order to gain complete visibility of your IT infrastructure. 
• You can monitor a wide spectrum of modern and legacy technologies, such as unified communications; storage; servers; software-defined networks; virtualization solutions like VMware; serverless and microservices-based technologies; and major public clouds like Google, Azure, and AWS.
• The solution ingests a multitude of data points, including configuration; performance events; and availability via Syslog, SSH, API, and SNMP, using agent-based and agentless procedures to craft a united operational data lake.
• You can leverage over 400 out-of-the-box Monitoring PowerPacks and extend your monitoring capabilities to bolster business necessities in a streamlined manner.
• You can dive into ScienceLogic’s low-code/no-code software development kit (SDK) to build integrations using JMX, REST, SSH/CLI, etc.
• You can easily share views with management and customers, both internal and external. 
• The solution provides independent, segmented views for every operations team.

Pricing: Request a demo for ScienceLogic SL1 by filling out a form. Contact the ScienceLogic sales team for flexible pricing options.   

LogicManager Infrastructure Monitoring

LogicMonitor Infrastructure Monitoring is a lightweight, fully automated, cloud-based system monitoring software that allows you to obtain complete stack observability across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments; seamless data collaboration at scale; and IT insights.

Key Differentiators

• Cloud-based, scalable, agentless collectors automatically discover, monitor, and alert on your IT system. 
• Automated discovery of resources enables full-stack visibility across all environments in a matter of minutes. 
• A unified platform eliminates context switching and tool sprawl. 
• Reap the benefits of over 2,000 monitoring and technology integrations and 24/7 customer support service with technical engineers.
• Topology mapping enables you to visualize complex infrastructure.
• With detailed return on investment (ROI) analysis, you can easily determine where you can optimize spending and cut costs. Use historical data to foresee future spending and make your business more predictable.   
• Other benefits include customizable dashboards, alert storm elimination, and team collaboration improvement.

Pricing: Make use of a 14-day free trial to better understand the components of the solution. Chat with the LogicMonitor team to obtain a quote.  

New Relic One

New Relic One is a system monitoring platform that enables you to troubleshoot IT infrastructure before problems start. With this solution, you can pinpoint issues across your on-premises and cloud infrastructure, establish their impact, and discover root causes.

Key Differentiators

• A single platform offers unified visibility. You can spot emerging problems instantly without having to preconfigure alerts. 
• By visualizing relationships, you can pinpoint root causes. 
• Proactive monitoring enables you to minimize risk throughout your troubleshooting workflow in real time. 
• Relationship and dependency visualization enables you to replay historical state, improve understanding of problems, and reduce time to remediation. 
• In-depth root cause analysis helps you understand network metrics, events, alerts, and related entities in the context.
• Kubernetes monitoring enables you to see containers, pods, nodes, and clusters clearly. 
• Instrument everything with a rich collection of integrations and prebuilt alerts and dashboards.   
• The solution offers over 400 integrations, including application monitoring; infrastructure & OS; browser & mobile; traffic simulation; logging; Kubernetes & containers; and AWS, Azure, and Google integrations. 
• You can build your own integrations with New Relic’s README.

Pricing: The software is available in four pricing plans; Free, Standard, Pro, and Enterprise. Choose a plan according to your business needs, and talk to the New Relic sales team accordingly.

ConnectWise Automate

ConnectWise Automate is a system monitoring solution that puts automation at your fingertips and provides around-the-clock monitoring capabilities and out-of-the-box scripts. The key features of the solution include asset discovery, endpoint monitoring, patch management, remote monitoring, and IT automation.

Key Differentiators

• Asset Discover automatically discovers connected devices and monitors their behavior. This helps keep authorized devices safe and prevents the introduction of cyberattacks through new devices.
• When a device needs remediation, Endpoint Management helps you access the device immediately to speedily resolve issues. This minimizes downtime. 
• With Patch Management, you can configure, test, and install software updates on all endpoint devices to keep them secure and optimized. 
• Remote Monitoring capabilities allow you to detect, monitor, and resolve IT issues such as security threats, application performance issues, and network bottlenecks while keeping downtime minimal. 
• With IT Automation, you can automate routine workloads, thereby freeing IT staff of manual repetition and reducing costs.    
• The solution’s reporting engine provides a complete view of your IT infrastructure along with their vitals.

Pricing: Request a trial today to deploy an agent, commence a remote control session, create a script and a monitor, and approve and install third-party patches among other possibilities. Reach out to ConnectWise for a custom quote.  

How Should You Choose System Monitoring Software?

The analyzed system monitoring software represents the solutions in the top half of the system monitoring market. Of course, you should do your homework and explore other options as well. Before purchasing a system monitoring tool, evaluate product catalogs, assess product pricing and plans, and survey customer reviews.

Arrive at an informed decision and purchase a product accordingly.

Read next: Top Infrastructure Monitoring Tools 2022