The 12 IT monitoring software for keeping your infrastructure in shape in 2025

Whether you’re a small business or a large enterprise, the need to ensure that networks, servers, and other critical systems operate optimally cannot be overstated.

IT monitoring tools play a crucial role in making this happen. These tools provide real-time insights into the health of networks, alert IT staff of potential issues, and provide detailed analytics for proactive maintenance. A few IT monitoring tools also offer standout features, such as AI-powered capabilities and built-in PSA.

Selecting the right IT monitoring tool can be difficult with the multitude of options available, which is where our article can help. We have listed the best IT monitoring tools for managing and securing an organization’s IT infrastructure.

Before reviewing the best IT monitoring tools, let’s first look at what an IT monitoring tool is, what types are available, and why you need one.

What is an IT monitoring tool?

An IT monitoring tool is used to monitor and manage an organization’s IT infrastructure, including networks, servers, applications, and other critical systems. Key features of a strong IT monitoring tool include real-time monitoring and alerting, patch management, IT automation, and advanced reports and analytics.

IT monitoring is often part of a more comprehensive IT management platform that addresses all an organization’s IT requirements. For example, Atera offers IT monitoring as part of its all-in-one IT management solution.

Types of IT monitoring tools

The types of IT monitoring tools include IT infrastructure, network, server, and cloud monitoring. Let’s look at each of the tools in more detail.

Unified IT monitoring tools

Unified IT monitoring tools provide comprehensive monitoring of servers, networks, applications, and devices from a single platform. They often include capabilities such as remote monitoring and management (RMM), automated patch management and scripting, IT automation, and reporting and analytics.

One example of such a tool is Atera, which enables remote monitoring and management of networks, servers, and monitoring of SNMP devices from a single dashboard.

Network monitoring tools

Network monitoring tools allow you to monitor your network in real time and receive alerts if it encounters any problems. The top network monitoring solutions allow you to monitor Mac devices, Windows devices, Linux machines, printers, ports, websites, servers, and routers.

While some monitoring tools focus entirely on network monitoring, others include network monitoring as part of more comprehensive RMM software.

Server monitoring tools

A server monitoring tool lets you consistently check several vital parameters of servers in an IT infrastructure. These include performance metrics, such as CPU utilization and disk use, and network statistics, like bandwidth consumption and connection status.

Server monitoring tools typically include capabilities such as automated patch management, real-time alerting, and advanced reporting. These functions enable proactive management of servers in addition to monitoring.

SNMP network monitoring tools

SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) network monitoring tools allow managed devices to communicate with the network, send status updates, and notify technicians of configuration changes. Not all devices support SNMP. The most common devices that use SNMP are printers, routers, switches, servers, and workstations, as well as devices connected to the Internet of Things (IoT).

SNMP monitoring software capabilities are often part of more comprehensive network monitoring solutions, such as Atera.

Why you need an IT monitoring tool

Let’s examine how an IT monitoring tool can benefit your IT organization.

1. Proactive issue detection and resolution

The top IT monitoring tools include real-time monitoring and alerting capabilities, allowing users to identify potential issues before they escalate into major problems.

For MSPs, constant monitoring of network systems prevents network failure, which is in their and their clients’ interests. By preventing failures, the MSP can ensure uninterrupted service for the client’s IT system.

2. Enhanced security of an IT environment

IT monitoring tools help to detect suspicious activity, vulnerabilities, and potential breaches so that risks can be mitigated as soon as possible.

Many modern IT management solutions also offer third-party integrations with different security tools, enhancing network security even further.

3. Increased cost savings

IT monitoring tools often include IT automation capabilities, such as automated patch management, automated reports and analytics, automated scripting, and actions triggered by alert thresholds.

Each of these capabilities reduces manual work, which increases IT organizations’ cost savings and allows them to devote more time to strategic efforts.

4. Comprehensive view of the IT infrastructure

Monitoring tools, particularly unified solutions, make managing and monitoring multiple systems and applications easier by providing a centralized view of the entire IT infrastructure. 

For MSPs, top IT monitoring solutions provide a clear picture of their clients’ IT infrastructure. With Atera, it’s easy to create and navigate between different customer profiles.

5. Greater scalability

IT reporting tools improve scalability by reducing manual effort, increasing cost savings, and improving security.

A few IT monitoring tools also offer pay-per-technician pricing, allowing you to add unlimited devices/endpoints to the platform without paying more. This makes scaling predictable and prevents unexpected costs.

The 12 best IT monitoring tools for IT professionals in 2024

Next, let’s review the best IT monitoring tools. To assist you in making an informed choice, we will highlight the key features, pros, and cons of each option.

1. Atera

Atera offers IT departments and MSPs with IT monitoring capabilities as part of its all-in-one IT management platform. With it, you can monitor Macs, Windows, and Linux machines, as well as SNMP-supported devices, such as printers, ports, websites, and servers.

Aside from IT monitoring, Atera offers professional services automation (PSA), remote access, helpdesk and ticketing, network discovery, reporting and analytics, and IT automation capabilities. It is also compatible with various third-party software for greater functionality.

If you need assistance, Atera offers all its customers 24/7 live chat and email support. You also get access to various self-help materials, including an extensive knowledge base, regular webinars, dozens of blog articles, and an active IT community for troubleshooting issues and discussing best practices with other IT professionals.

Features and capabilities

Atera’s key IT monitoring capability includes real-time monitoring and alerting. With it, you can monitor system activity in real-time and easily scale to manage as many customers, devices, or sites as you require. The alert thresholds help you stay on top of any looming incidents and can be customized according to user preferences.
You get access to Atera’s wide range of reports and analytics, which allow you to view information on system health, customer health, agent health, inventory audits, and more.

Atera’s reporting and analytics

Atera is the first IT management platform powered by AI through Atera Copilot. It improves virtually all aspects of IT management, and scripting is one area where it is evident. With Atera’s AI-generated scripting tool, all you need to do is type in your instructions, and the tool automatically generates the right script for fixing issues like slow performance or simultaneous application crashes.

Atera’s AI scripting tool

User interface and usability

Using threshold profiles to generate alerts plays a crucial role in Atera’s IT monitoring system. The threshold profiles can be easily created from the Atera dashboard and customized further according to your needs. You can also use the available presets, which are available for different OS systems.

Atera threshold profiles

Aside from creating threshold profiles, Atera’s admin dashboard is easy to navigate around and provides access to all the most important functions. The main dashboard view shows you the current state of your IT environment.

Atera’s admin dashboard

If you’re an MSP, creating customer profiles is quick and easy, and switching between them is straightforward.

Pricing and value for money

Atera is well-known for its transparent pay-per-technician pricing, which is tailored to the needs of both MSPs and IT departments. For MSPs, the standard pricing plans range from $129 to $209 per month, and for IT departments, from $149 to $199 per month. Enterprise-level customers can request a custom quote for more customized solutions.

Most IT monitoring tools offer per endpoint pricing, in which the price increases as more endpoints/devices are added to the platform. Atera’s main advantage is that you can add unlimited endpoints/devices at no additional cost. This improves scalability and ensures that there are no surprise fees.

Atera G2 rating: 4.6 out of 5.0 stars (550+ reviews)

What Atera users are saying on G2:

An MSP owner on G2 mentioned that he tried dozens of RMM solutions before settling down with Atera. The main reasons are Atera’s user-friendly interfaces, which give you access to all crucial features such as scripting, patching, troubleshooting, and remote access to clients’ devices. Atera’s script library benefits the reviewer, and the scripts can be customized according to the organization’s needs.

Atera Capterra rating: 4.6 out of 5.0 stars (350+ reviews)

What Atera users are saying on Capterra:

A Capterra user mentions that Atera is perfect for remotely monitoring and managing various operating systems and applications. The reviewer mentions that Atera integrates well with various 3rd party solutions, such as different cyber security and backup solutions, at steep discounts compared to the regular pricing.

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: $209 per month, per technician
• Superpower (Enterprise): Custom quotation. Contact sales for pricing.

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

2. SolarWinds

SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor is a network monitoring software designed to monitor the performance, availability, and health of an IT organization’s network. It can monitor various OS devices, routers, switches, servers, and virtual machines. It collects and displays metrics including bandwidth usage, packet loss, latency, and more.

SolarWinds provides multiple products for IT professionals to manage their environments, each with its own set of capabilities. If you want comprehensive IT management capabilities, you may need to combine their different products, which can be expensive. This is a notable drawback to all-in-one IT management solutions like Atera.

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

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

SolarWinds NPM Pricing:

• Custom quotation. Prices start at $1,856, to find out the exact price, request a custom quotation from their website

3. ManageEngine OpManager

ManageEngine OpManager is a network monitoring solution that provides insight into the performance of servers, storage devices, printers, virtual machines, routers, switches, and more. Similarly to Atera, OpManager has real-time monitoring and alerting capabilities to continuously monitor the performance and availability of network devices.

Additionally, OpManager integrates troubleshooting capabilities with planning and configuration management. OpManager can also be integrated with other ManageEngine products for more functionality. Similar to SolarWinds, the downside is the increased cost as compared to investing in an all-in-one solution.

G2 Rating: 4.5 out of 5.0 stars (80+ reviews)

Capterra Rating: 4.7 out of 5.0 stars (90+ reviews)

ManageEngine OpManager Pricing:

• Custom quotation. To get the pricing, contact ManageEngine’s sales team on their website

4. Paessler PRTG

Paessler PRTG helps monitor a wide range of devices and services, including servers, routers, switches, virtual machines, applications, and databases. It enables real-time monitoring of network performance, traffic, and utilization and alerts IT staff for potential issues based on thresholds.

To get an overview of your IT infrastructure, Paessler PRTG offers advanced reports and analytics tailored to meet your organization’s needs. Overall, Paessler offers advanced network monitoring but leaves out other essential IT management features such as strong RMM and PSA.

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 your network

5. Dynatrace

Dynatrace offers end-to-end monitoring of applications, IT infrastructure, cloud platforms, and user experiences. Similarly to Atera, Dynatrace leverages AI to help IT professionals identify root causes of problems, conduct predictive analytics, and troubleshoot problems in advance. Other Dynatrace features include automatic discovery, log management and analytics, and customizable dashboards.

Dynatrace also supports third-party integrations with platforms such as Microsoft 365, Slack, ServiceNow, Azure, and Jira.

G2 Rating: 4.5 out of 5.0 stars (1,200+ reviews)

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

Dynatrace Pricing:

• Pricing is determined by the amount of usage. Starting from $0.08 per hour for 8 GiB host for full-stack monitoring

6. ServiceNow

ServiceNow is mainly known for its comprehensive IT service management capabilities, but it also offers IT infrastructure, application, and network access monitoring. ServiceNow’s monitoring capabilities alert users to events related to system health, respond to these alerts, and prevent new incidents from occurring.

If you want to extend ServiceNow’s monitoring capabilities, it offers a variety of IT management products for service desk, asset management, security, risk management, and more.

G2 rating: 4.3 out of 5.0 (800+ reviews)

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

ServiceNow pricing:

Based on custom quotation. Contact the ServiceNow team to find out more.

7. Jamf Pro

Jamf Pro is an Apple device management solution capable of monitoring, managing, and securing Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV devices. Jamf Pro’s inventory management functionality lets you automatically collect details about Apple devices’ hardware, software, and security configurations.

One of Jamf’s strengths is its extensive integration options with different asset management, network access, and Apple ecosystem products like Apple Business Manager and School Manager. It also has some limitations, such as the fact that it can only monitor Apple ecosystem devices.

G2 Rating: 4.7 out of 5.0 stars (1,500+ reviews)

Capterra Rating: 4.7 out of 5.0 stars (500+ reviews)

Jamf Pricing:

• Business plan: $14.33 per technician, per month (25 technicians minimum)

8. Kaseya VSA

Kaseya VSA is RMM solution for IT departments and MSPs. As part of its RMM capabilities, you can monitor the performance, health, and availability of servers, workstations, network devices, and cloud infrastructure. Other key features of the platform include automated patch management, IT automation, scripting, remote access, and asset management.

Kaseya VSA charges pay-per-endpoint, and some G2 users complain that the cost is higher than competitors. The per-endpoint pricing has a disadvantage over Atera, which charges per technician and allows users to add unlimited endpoints.

G2 Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0 (250+ reviews)

Capterra Rating: 4.1 out of 5.0 (200+ reviews)

Kaseya VSA Pricing:

• Custom pricing system in place. Visit their website to learn more.

9. GoTo Resolve

GoTo Resolve is an IT management platform that combines RMM, helpdesk and ticketing, and remote support capabilities. The available RMM capabilities let you create alerts based on CPU usage, memory usage, free disk space, and software inventory. GoTo Resolve notifies the right technician automatically and has remote access capabilities to resolve issues remotely.

GoTo Resolve uses pay-per-technician pricing but also charges extra if you exceed the plan’s device limit, which is 25 devices for the standard plans. This is a drawback compared to Atera, which allows you to add an unlimited number of devices.

G2 Rating: 4.4 out of 5.0 (400+ reviews)

Capterra Rating: 4.5 out of 5.0 (190+ reviews)

GoTo Resolve Pricing:

• Free: Free to use, up to 3 technicians
• Standard: Starting at $57 per month, billed annually
• Premium: Custom pricing. Visit their website to get the pricing

10. Ivanti Neurons

One of Ivanti’s products, Ivanti Neurons, enables monitoring of mobile, desktop, and IoT devices and proactive security through AI-based capabilities. It works with iOS, Android, macOS, and Windows, as well as HoloLens, Oculus, and Zebra rugged devices.

Additionally, Ivanti offers products for asset discovery, RMM, service desk, mobile device management, and network security. If you’re looking for comprehensive IT management capabilities and the cost of multiple products isn’t a dealbreaker for you, Ivanti can prove to be a flexible solution.

G2 Rating: 4.2 out of 5.0 stars (130+ reviews)

Capterra Rating: 3.0 out of 5.0 stars (1 review)

Ivanti Neurons Pricing:

• Custom pricing. To get the pricing, fill out your details on Ivanti’s website.

11. Datto RMM

Datto RMM’s primary function is RMM, which is designed to help managed service providers (MSPs) and IT professionals manage their IT infrastructure effectively. Datto RMM also includes automated patch management, ransomware detection, and remote access capabilities.

For PSA capabilities, Datto RMM can be integrated with Autotask PSA. The native integration between the two products allows for faster ticket handling, improved customer service fix rates, and issue resolution.

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

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

Datto Pricing:

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

12. Action1

Action1 offers IT professionals centralized visibility and control over their endpoints. It allows you to monitor endpoints through threshold-based alerts and reports, run PowerShell scripts with prebuilt scripts, and maintain servers through remote access. Another key capability of Action1 is automated patch management, which allows you to keep all your systems up-to-date with the latest security patches automatically.

If you mainly need endpoint management capabilities, Action1 can be a suitable solution. However, it misses other crucial features IT professionals may need, such as helpdesk and ticketing and AI-powered capabilities. 

G2 Rating: 4.9 out of 5.0 (150+ reviews)

Capterra Rating: 4.9 out of 5.0 (80+ reviews)

Action1 Pricing:

• Custom quotation: To get pricing from Action1, you need to request a quote from their website.

Comprehensive IT monitoring accompanied with AI: Only with Atera

IT monitoring is part of Atera’s comprehensive RMM tool. It can be used by both IT departments and managed service providers (MSPs) to monitor, manage, and secure their network systems remotely. Aside from IT monitoring, Atera’s capabilities include remote access, patch management, scripting, helpdesk and ticketing, and network discovery.

Atera’s IT management platform is powered by AI through Atera Copilot, which improves nearly every aspect of IT management. The main AI capabilities include IT troubleshooting suggestions, auto ticket summarization and solution suggestions, and scripts generated by AI to fix various performance problems.

To see if Atera is right for your IT organization, you can start your 30-day free trial today with no credit card required or contact our sales team for a custom demo.