The 9 best Active Directory monitoring tools in 2024

Active Directory (AD) is one of the world’s most popular corporate network management tools. It’s also a prime target for cybercriminals. According to Quest, over 95 million Active Directory accounts are attacked daily, and over 1.2 million Azure AD accounts are compromised monthly. Companies using AD need a strong counter-solution to keep their assets safe.   

Active Directory monitoring tools help companies secure their AD environments through continuous monitoring and early detection of suspicious activities. These tools prevent further damage and are a must-have for organizations with AD.

This article reviews the best Active Directory monitoring tools. We’ll discuss each tool’s pricing and key standout features. We’ll also provide insights on tool fundamentals, the different types available, and key motivators for investing in one so you can choose the best option.

What is an Active Directory monitoring tool?

Active Directory is a Microsoft product that runs on Windows Server. It acts as a database and provider of services so organizations can manage their IT infrastructure and connect users to network resources. An Active Directory monitoring tool helps users observe, analyze, and manage AD environments. Its core responsibilities include reviewing user permissions, changes to user accounts, group memberships, and other AD-related tasks.

Some tools are made exclusively for Active Directory monitoring. A few solutions, such as Atera, offer Active Directory monitoring as part of their all-in-one IT management platform, thus enabling central management of all IT operations.

Types of Active Directory monitoring tools

The market hosts a variety of Active Directory monitoring tools. The best pick for you will depend on your organization’s goals. That said, here’s a rundown of the available options so you can form a decision.

Free AD tools from Microsoft

Free Active Directory monitoring tools are usually equipped with basic capabilities that are useful in smaller environments or for specific tasks. For example, Microsoft’s PowerShell tool allows users to automate AD monitoring tasks using scripts.

Because the free tools keep it simple, they’re usually unsuitable for IT organizations that require a secure environment and streamlined IT management.

Paid AD tools from Microsoft

Paid tools from Microsoft, such as Microsoft Operations Manager, offer more advanced capabilities for Active Directory monitoring. Features include automated alerts for critical issues, performance metrics, and comprehensive auditing and reporting.

Although the features of Microsoft’s paid tools are more advanced, they don’t offer comprehensive IT management capabilities. They lack key features such as IT automation, RMM, remote access, network discovery, and asset management.

Third-party tools

Third-party AD monitoring tools ensure the security of the AD environment through a rich array of features. These often include real-time monitoring and alerting, scripting, patch management, robust auditing and reporting, remote configuration, and Network Discovery.

Atera counts as such a tool. Its all-in-one IT management platform includes Active Directory monitoring in its capabilities. 

Why you need an Active Directory monitoring tool

Active Directory monitoring tools are considered must-haves for many organizations. They offer the following benefits:

1. Streamlined IT management

Active Directory monitoring tools provide centralized management and control of network resources. Users can define permissions not only at the system level but also at the object level. When a business grows, it’s easy to add and remove users within a network.

2. Enhanced security

The Cost of Data Breach Report found the average cost of a data breach is 4.35 million. AD monitoring tools prevent costly break-ins by providing advanced security. Key features include real-time alerts for detecting suspicious activity, auto-healing capabilities to fix issues instantaneously, and comprehensive reports and audit logs.

A few tools also include automated patch management, which ensures that the OS and third-party applications are always up-to-date.

3. Industry compliance

Many regulations (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA, SOX) require organizations to maintain strict control over sensitive information and provide detailed audit trails. Active Directory monitoring tools help organizations comply with these requirements by automating reporting, auditing, and tracking directory activities.

4. Operational efficiency

The best AD monitoring tools offer automation capabilities. They can automatically respond to alerts, generate audits and reports, and provide end-user support. Atera offers AI-powered capabilities (such as real-time device troubleshooting) for even greater efficiency. That’s because when IT automation utilizes AI to reduce manual and repetitive tasks, technicians win back time to focus on more strategic endeavors. 

5. Cost efficiency

If AD experiences downtime, users may be unable to access essential services and applications. This leads to lost productivity and increased costs. Monitoring tools help detect and resolve problems before they cause outages, preserving employee time and revenue.

AD tools also contribute to cost savings by streamlining IT management, enhancing security, and automating IT processes.

The 9 best Active Directory monitoring tools in 2024

Now that we’ve covered basic information on Active Directory monitoring tools, here are the best available solutions. Each tool description includes key features, pricing, and any standout capabilities. These insights can help you choose the right option.

1. Atera

Atera is not specifically an Active Directory (AD) monitoring tool, but it does provide features that help IT professionals manage and monitor systems, including elements related to Active Directory. Atera’s platform is an all-in-one remote monitoring and management (RMM) solution that includes tools for network monitoring, device management, patch management, and IT automation.

Atera offers Azure AD integration, which enhances its capabilities in managing user identities and access within Azure environments. This integration allows IT professionals to leverage Azure Active Directory for centralized user management, streamlined access control, and enhanced security features. You can learn more about how to utilize this integration in Atera here.

In addition to these features, Atera users can also implement script-based threshold monitoring, which is the primary method for monitoring AD activity. With custom scripts, IT administrators can track specific performance metrics and health indicators related to Active Directory, enabling proactive management and quicker response to any potential issues.

With these combined capabilities, Atera empowers IT teams to effectively monitor and manage their infrastructure, including Active Directory-related tasks, through a centralized platform.

Atera’s renowned features include its AI-powered capabilities and transparent pay-per-technician pricing. Action AI™ increases an IT technician’s efficiency tenfold, while pay-per-technician pricing allows users to scale without increasing costs.

Atera simplifies an IT department’s tech stack by bringing various IT management capabilities onto a single platform. By providing an all-in-one IT management solution, Atera meets all of an IT organization’s needs while streamlining operations. 

Features and capabilities

Effectively implementing and maintaining Active Directory is a complex process. Here are some ways Atera can make it happen more smoothly:

• Real-time monitoring and alerting: Atera monitors system activity in real time and alerts users when issues arise.
• Remote access: Atera’s remote access tool makes it easy to support remote users. Users can access computers, desktops, servers, applications, and files.
• Reporting: Atera’s reporting allows IT professionals to generate detailed reports on system performance, user activity, network health, and more.

• IT automation: Manual work is a thing of the past. Atera’s IT automation helps automate tasks such as scripting and patch management.
• Integrated PSA: Atera includes a built-in PSA tool to handle end-user support requests, making IT ticketing a breeze.
• Integrations: Atera offers third-party integrations that extend the platform’s capabilities and streamline workflows.

Atera is also the first IT management platform powered by Action AI™ through Atera Copilot, which increases technician efficiency tenfold and makes IT management easier than ever.

Atera Copilot’s key AI capabilities include:

• Real-time device troubleshooting to identify and resolve issues automatically
• Remote session summaries for a detailed summary of your remote session
• Instant ticket summaries for an easy summary of every ticket
• Script generation to write complex scripts automatically

Atera’s AI-powered script generator writes scripts to fix issues like repeated application crashes or slow device performance. Users simply provide instructions to the AI tool and it produces a script that solves the issue.

User interface and usability

Atera’s dashboard makes managing user roles, access permissions, and resource allocation easy. It was designed to be intuitive from the ground up—MSPs can quickly set up new customer profiles and IT departments can effortlessly onboard new technicians.

Atera’s admin dashboard

Users can set up an IT automation profile to utilize Atera’s IT automation capabilities. Settings are customizable to a person’s liking, including determining the intervals at which the automation runs.

In addition to its extensive feature set, Atera is one of the few IT management tools offering 24/7 customer support via live chat. All users have access to customer support. They can also find support in Atera’s extensive knowledge base and active IT community—which heartily welcomes new users and where IT professionals can troubleshoot problems and discuss the best IT practices.

Pricing and value for money

Active Directory monitoring often belongs to a more comprehensive RMM platform package. For this reason, most RMM pricing plans are based on the number of endpoints/devices users manage. Atera is one of the few platforms that use pay-per-technician pricing, meaning users can manage unlimited devices/endpoints at no additional cost.

Atera’s pricing plans for MSPs range from $129 to $209 per month. The IT department’s pricing plans range from $149 to $219 per month. Enterprise customers can receive a custom quotation for more tailored pricing.

Atera G2 rating: 4.6 out of 5.0 stars (600+ reviews)

What Atera users are saying on G2:

One G2 user especially appreciates Atera’s pay-per-technician pricing model. Their organization doesn’t have to worry about adding endpoints or nodes to the platform, and adding new devices is straightforward and intuitive. The reviewer also mentions Atera’s feature board, which boasts the almost unheard-of outcome of feature implementation resulting from user suggestions.

Atera Capterra rating: 4.6 out of 5.0 stars (380+ reviews)

What Atera users are saying on Capterra:

A Capterra user observes that Atera offers easy remote management of devices. The reviewer particularly likes Atera’s centralized dashboard, which makes it easy to see everything at a glance. Atera’s third-party integrations are also beneficial—as is its 24/7 live chat that can assist whenever an issue arises.

Atera pricing:

Atera’s pricing plans for IT departments:

• Professional: $149 per month, per technician
• Expert: $169 per month, per technician
• Master: $199 per month, per technician
• Enterprise: Custom quotation. Contact sales for pricing.

Atera’s pricing plans for MSPs:

• Pro: $129 per month, per technician
• Growth: $179 per month, per technician
• Power: $219 per month, per technician
• Superpower (Enterprise): Custom quotation. Contact sales for pricing.

Get started with Atera on a 30-day free trial, no credit card required.

2. ManageEngine ADManager Plus

One of ManageEngine’s products, ADManager Plus, is an Active Directory management and reporting tool. Like Atera, ADManager Plus offers automation capabilities to assist with tasks like creating users, managing group memberships, disabling inactive accounts, and generating scheduled reports.

Users can rely on ManageEngine’s Applications Manager to monitor AD. It works as an add-on to ManageEngine OpManager—a more comprehensive network monitor tool. The drawback of this approach is the increased cost; each tool has its own pricing plan. IT teams that want a budget-friendly streamlined tech stack might benefit from all-in-one solutions like Atera.

G2 rating: 4.5 out of 5.0 stars (70+ reviews)

Capterra rating: 4.5 out of 5.0 stars (50+ reviews)

ManageEngine ADManager Plus pricing:

• Pricing is based on custom quotation. Contact the ManageEngine sales team from their website.

3. Netwrix

Netwrix offers various cybersecurity solutions, including Netwrix Auditor for Active Directory. This tool allows IT staff to track and report changes to AD objects, monitor user activity, and receive real-time alerts for suspicious changes.

A drawback to Netwrix is its clunky implementation. One G2 user found the performance so hampered that they used the tool solely for its device lockout feature, which could easily be replaced with a PowerShell script. In today’s modern IT management systems, the lack of a user-friendly interface is a notable drawback.

G2 rating: 4.4 out of 5.0 stars (20+ reviews)

Capterra rating: 4.5 out of 5.0 stars (200+ reviews)

Netwrix pricing:

• Based on a custom quotation. To get the pricing, fill out a form on Netwrix’s website.

4. SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor

SolarWinds provides a wide range of IT management tools, one of which is Server & Application Monitor. It allows organizations to monitor the health, performance, and availability of their Active Directory and Azure AD environments. The tool includes reports to help with troubleshooting and an alert system for identifying problems.

According to SolarWinds, there are 1,200+ monitoring templates to choose from. SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor can integrate with other SolarWinds products to unlock further capabilities. For example, SolarWinds NPM offers network monitoring capabilities.

G2 rating: 4.5 out of 5.0 stars (200+ reviews)

Capterra rating: 4.5 out of 5.0 stars (70+ reviews)

SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor pricing:

• Custom quotation. Prices start at €1,534; to find out the exact price, request a custom quotation from their website.

5. Datto RMM

Datto RMM is an RMM solution for IT departments and MSPs. While it’s not specifically made for Active Directory management, it offers features that can be utilized for it. These include real-time monitoring of the Active Directory environment, IT automation, patch management, and reporting. A Reddit user mentions that the built-in alerting system works well for detecting problems within the AD environment.

As is the case with Atera, Datto provides remote configuration capabilities. Users seeking helpdesk and ticketing functionality can integrate Datto RMM with Autotask PSA or a third-party ticketing system. 

G2 rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars (400+ reviews)

Capterra rating: 4.3 out of 5 stars (20+ reviews)

Datto RMM pricing:

• Custom pricing is available. Contact Datto’s sales team to get the pricing.

6. Paessler PRTG

Paessler PRTG is an infrastructure monitoring solution that detects and monitors Active Directory environments. It tracks the health of AD components—including domain controllers, replication processes, group policies, and more. Paessler PRTG has an alerting system that notifies users of replication errors and other performance and security issues. 

Paessler PRTG is suitable for more comprehensive network monitoring purposes. However, users seeking additional capabilities (such as a PSA) will need to integrate it with third-party solutions.

G2 rating: 4.6 out of 5.0 stars (80+ reviews)

Capterra rating: 4.6 out of 5.0 stars (200+ reviews)

Paessler PRTG pricing:

• Prices start from $2,149 per year for monitoring up to 500 aspects of devices within a user’s network.

7. Adaxes

Adaxes combines Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID, Microsoft 365, and Exchange management on a single platform. It offers IT automation, integrity control, access control, and approval-based workflow for AD environments. It integrates with various HR and payroll systems that interact directly with AD and Microsoft 365.

Adaxes comes with a scripting tool. Most competitors offer similar capabilities, including Atera (our script generator is AI-powered). However, Adaxes lacks tools for comprehensive IT management such as remote access, RMM, and network discovery.

G2 rating: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars (4 reviews)

Capterra rating: 4.8 out of 5.0 stars (5 reviews)

Adaxes pricing:

• Adadex offers lifetime licenses that start from $1,600 with 100 user accounts.

8. Varonis

Varonis is a cybersecurity company specializing in data security and protection. It offers a solution for finding and fixing AD misconfigurations that hackers could exploit. Varonis not only highlights potential issues but also provides actionable recommendations for remediation. 

Like Atera, Varonis’s threat detection capabilities are AI-powered. Users can trigger specific actions when an issue arises. Varonis tracks all AD changes with audit logs. For increased functionality, Varonis integrates with third-party tools.

G2 rating: 4.5 out of 5.0 stars (40+ reviews)

Capterra rating: N/A

Varonis pricing:

• Pricing is based on custom quotation.  Schedule a demo call from the Varonis website to get the pricing.

9. NinjaOne

NinjaOne is an endpoint management software for IT departments and MSPs. As is the case with Atera, NinjaOne includes Active Directory monitoring as part of its more comprehensive IT management solution. Users can monitor and manage the health of their Active Directory domain controllers. NinjaOne includes user management tools for disabling accounts, resetting passwords, unlocking users, and more.

NinjaOne’s robust capabilities hold obvious advantages. However, potential drawbacks include its pricing structure. NinjaOne uses pay-per-endpoint pricing; the price increases with each additional endpoint/device. This can be expensive for IT teams managing dozens of endpoints.

G2 rating: 4.8 out of 5.0 (1,000+ reviews)

Capterra rating: 4.8 out of 5.0 (200+ reviews)

NinjaOne pricing:

• NinjaOne prices per endpoint but does not publicly disclose pricing; it is based on a custom quotation. To learn more, visit their website.

All-in-one IT management powered by AI: Only with Atera

Atera’s all-in-one IT management platform includes Active Directory monitoring capabilities. Incorporating Atera into your IT infrastructure enhances AD management and improves organizational efficiency. But that’s not all.

By combining key IT management tools into one platform, IT teams don’t have to invest in various tools to achieve their IT support goals. Our Action AI™-powered platform further streamlines IT operations and reduces costs. Atera enables a whole new approach to managing Active Directories. If you want to be part of that revolution, start your free Atera trial today or contact our sales team for a custom demo.