Introduction
Website monitoring has become crucial for businesses of all sizes to ensure websites and online services are running optimally and customer experiences are positive. Downtime or performance issues can negatively impact conversions, sales and even brand reputation. In this post, we evaluate 15 of the most popular website monitoring platforms against key criteria to help you choose the best option for your needs.
Methods of Evaluation
To evaluate and rank the top website monitoring software, we considered the following factors: features and capabilities, pricing and plans, popularity based on number of customers, online reviews and ratings, integration options, ease of use, support availability and reliability of the vendor. We also looked at more qualitative factors like number of backlinks, traffic from relevant keyword searches and trends over time to determine which solutions are gaining the most traction in the industry.
1. Zendesk Sell
Zendesk is a customer support and sales platform that helps companies deliver experiences customers love. With Zendesk, companies can provide cross-channel support through email, chat, social media and self-service options. The platform provides a unified view of each customer so companies understand their customers better and can quickly resolve any issues.
Pros: Some key advantages of Zendesk include:
– Omnichannel platform for unified customer support across all channels like email, chat, social media etc.
– Agent productivity tools like dashboard views, macros and AI-powered suggestions to help agents quickly handle tickets
– Rich analytics and reporting capabilities to gain insights into ticket volume, resolution times and more
Cons: One potential disadvantage is that the more advanced Zendesk plans can be costly for larger teams and enterprises.
Pricing: Zendesk offers various pricing plans starting from a Basic plan for $10/agent/month up to Enterprise plans tailored for very large teams with custom quotes. Additional features like advanced analytics, apps marketplace etc. are available in higher tier plans.
Some key stats about Zendesk include:
– Used by over 200,000 paid customer accounts globally
– Trusted by brands like Airbnb, Pinterest, Spotify and Reddit
– Supports over 30 languages and 20 currencies
– Available on mobile and desktop platforms
2. Splunk
Splunk is an enterprise monitoring software used by many large organizations worldwide. Founded in 2003 and headquartered in San Francisco, Splunk provides analytics and monitoring solutions for infrastructure, applications and business.
Pros: Some key advantages of Splunk include:
– IT infrastructure monitoring and log management capabilities across one centralized platform
– Ability to gain business insights from machine data and track key performance indicators
– Troubleshooting tools for applications and infrastructure with search, dashboards and alerts
Cons: One potential disadvantage is the pricing, as the software has a reputation of being relatively expensive compared to some open source alternatives. However, Splunk also offers tiered pricing based on data volume.
Pricing: Splunk pricing is based on a perpetual or annual license model depending on data volume. Some general pricing tiers include:
– Up to 500GB data per day starts from around $300 per month
– Up to 10TB data per day from around $3,000 per month
– Above 10TB is custom priced
Some key stats about Splunk include:
– Used by more than 95,000 customers globally including 90% of Fortune 100 companies
– Monitors and analyzes over 1.5 trillion events per day
– Supports over 50 open APIs for third-party integrations
3. Grafana
Grafana is an open source analytics and monitoring solution developed by Grafana Labs. It allows users to query, visualize, alert on and understand metrics no matter where they are stored. Grafana supports dozens of database sources, log and time series databases, and backend services.
Pros: Some key advantages of Grafana include:
– Highly customizable open-source dashboarding and graphing capabilities
– Broad data source integrations that allow connecting to multiple databases, metrics sources, and services
– Rich out-of-the-box and customizable visualization capabilities like graphs, charts, tables etc.
Cons: One potential disadvantage is that since it is open source, commercial support options need to be purchased separately.
Pricing: Grafana offers both open source and commercial licensing options. The open source version can be downloaded and used for free. Grafana Labs also offers commercial subscriptions and support packages for enterprises starting at $50 per user per year.
Some key stats about Grafana include:
– Used by over 1,000,000 organizations globally
– Has a rich plugin ecosystem with over 1,900 plugins
– Has a large and active community with over 36,000 stars on GitHub
4. Tribe
Tribe is a powerful yet affordable website monitoring solution. Founded in 2018, Tribe helps businesses monitor the performance and availability of their websites and applications. With plans starting at just $29/month, Tribe is a cost effective option for teams of all sizes.
Pros: Some key advantages of Tribe include:
– Modern flexible alerting platform
– Focuses on notification delivery across email, SMS, push, and webhooks
– Cost effective pricing for small teams
Cons: The main potential disadvantage is that the free plan only allows for 5 monitors which may not provide enough coverage for large sites or applications.
Pricing: Tribe offers three pricing tiers:
– Free plan: Up to 5 monitors
– Premium plan: Unlimited monitors for $29/month
– Enterprise plan: Custom quote for businesses with complex monitoring needs
Some key stats about Tribe include:
– Monitors over 50,000 websites globally
– Delivers over 1 billion notifications per month
– Uptime monitoring for HTTP(S) sites, TCP ports, DNS records and more
– 24/7 monitoring with alerts for downtime, slow page loads and other issues
5. New Relic
New Relic is an all-in-one observability platform that helps engineers monitor, debug and improve their entire software stack. Founded in 2008, New Relic helps over 15,000 customers in more than 100 countries improve performance, uptime and reliability of their web, mobile and internal applications.
Pros: Some key advantages of New Relic include:
– Browser and mobile application monitoring for front-end performance
– Server side performance monitoring for backend infrastructure and databases
– Actionable insights to optimize the entire software stack
Cons: One potential disadvantage is that New Relic has a freemium model so some advanced features require a paid subscription.
Pricing: New Relic offers a free basic plan as well as paid plans starting at $50 per server per month for their standard plan.
Some key stats about New Relic include:
– Monitors over 15,000 customers globally
– Available in over 100 countries
– Offers browser and mobile application monitoring as well as server-side performance monitoring
6. UptimeRobot
UptimeRobot is a website monitoring service that allows users to monitor the availability and response time of websites and web servers. Founded in 2011, it is one of the most popular and affordable website monitoring services available. UptimeRobot allows 50 free web monitors with basic monitoring functionality.
Pros: Some key advantages of UptimeRobot include:
– Free basic plan for up to 50 monitors
– Intuitive and easy to use web-based dashboard
– Reliable website monitoring with real-time notifications
– Advanced options like SSL, keyword and cron monitoring
– Good support through community forums and forums
Cons: One potential disadvantage is that the free plan only allows basic monitoring of up to 50 websites. To monitor more websites comprehensive monitoring features, a paid plan is required starting at $12.95/month.
Pricing: UptimeRobot offers 3 paid plans in addition to the free plan:
– Startup ($12.95/month): Up to 500 monitors
– Professional ($19.95/month): Up to 1,000 monitors
– Enterprise ($49.95/month): Up to 10,000 monitors
Some key stats about UptimeRobot include:
– Over 500,000 active users
– Supports up to 10,000 monitors on the paid plans
– Completes over 2 billion checks per month
– Monitors websites, HTTP, HTTPS, TCP, ping and keyword pages
7. Datadog
Datadog is an all-in-one observability platform for IT infrastructure and applications. Founded in 2010, Datadog allows teams to monitor their entire cloud infrastructure including servers, databases, tools and services through a modern and unified interface.
Pros: Some key advantages of Datadog include:
– All-in-one observability platform for infrastructure and applications
– Real user monitoring for end-user experience
– Strong security posture and compliance monitoring
Cons: One potential disadvantage is that Datadog is generally more expensive than some other monitoring tools for large infrastructures with very high compute and storage needs.
Pricing: Datadog pricing starts from a free plan for development and test environments. Their paid plans are based on infrastructure size with pricing starting from $300/month for the basic plan.
Some key stats about Datadog include:
– Used by over 15,000 companies globally including Reddit, GE, and Cisco
– Processes over 1 trillion events and metrics each day
– Supports monitoring of AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Kubernetes and other platforms
8. Dynatrace
Dynatrace is an AI-powered, full-stack application monitoring solution that provides performance monitoring, digital experience monitoring, anomaly detection, and AI-assisted analysis capabilities out of the box. Dynatrace helps organizations gain insights into applications and infrastructure to accelerate innovation, optimize resources, and deliver exceptional digital experiences.
Pros: Key advantages of Dynatrace include:
– Application performance monitoring (APM)
– Automatic maping of microservices dependencies
– Proactive anomaly detection and root cause analysis
Cons: One potential disadvantage is the higher cost compared to some open source APM tools due to Dynatrace being a proprietary commercial solution.
Pricing: Dynatrace offers perpetual and subscription licensing. Pricing is based on the number of nodes or hosts being monitored. Contact Dynatrace sales for an exact quote tailored to your specific environment and needs.
Some key stats about Dynatrace include:
– Monitoring over 1 trillion web interactions daily for customers
– AI-based automatic dependency mapping for microservices
– 99.95% accuracy for anomaly detection and root cause analysis
9. Prometheus
Prometheus is an open-source systems monitoring and alerting toolkit originally built at SoundCloud. Some key aspects of Prometheus include its time-series database functionality for storing numeric time-series data, its multi-dimensional data model, and its client-side scraping for metric collection.
Pros: Some key advantages of Prometheus include: – Time-series database for efficient storage and querying of metrics over time – Multi-dimensional data model via labels allows querying by metadata like service or job name – Pull-based model via client scraping reduces infrastructure needs compared to other push models
Cons: One potential disadvantage is that Prometheus is self-hosted rather than offered as a SaaS, so organizations need to dedicate resources to its operation and maintenance.
Pricing: Prometheus is open source and free to use with no restrictions. Organizations can either host it themselves or use commercial support from vendors like CloudWatch.
Some key stats about Prometheus include: – Used by over 30,000 teams globally including Adidas, The New York Times, and Dailymotion – Can store trillions of time-series data points – Supports over 30,000 timeseries queries per second – Pull based monitoring mechanism that leverages client side scraping
10. Zabbix
Zabbix is an open source network monitoring solution used by enterprises worldwide to monitor their network infrastructure and applications. Originally started in 1998, Zabbix offers a full-featured monitoring platform to monitor complex and distributed IT infrastructures at scale.
Pros: Some key advantages of Zabbix include:
– Network monitoring and metrics collection tool
– No limits on infrastructure components that can be monitored such as network devices, virtual machines, cloud infrastructure etc.
– User friendly dashboards and reporting for quick visualization of metrics and generating monitoring reports.
Cons: One potential disadvantage is that as an open source tool, support options are limited compared to proprietary monitoring solutions. Commercial support subscriptions are available but may not suit all budgets.
Pricing: Zabbix is open source and can be downloaded and used for free indefinitely. For enterprises requiring additional features or commercial support, various pricing plans are available starting from $3,000 per year.
Some key stats about Zabbix include:
– Monitors over 500,000 metrics per second
– Supports monitoring of over 25,000 network devices, end-user machines and cloud infrastructure
– Used by over 100,000 organizations globally including NASA, Cisco and BMW
11. ManageEngine OpManager
ManageEngine OpManager is a leading network and infrastructure monitoring software developed by ManageEngine. It provides comprehensive monitoring of devices, systems, applications and services across physical, virtual and cloud infrastructures from a single console. OpManager helps IT teams gain visibility into the performance and availability of IT resources to ensure smooth operations.
Pros: Some key advantages of ManageEngine OpManager include:
– Unified network and infrastructure monitoring for servers, websites, applications and more
– Cloud and hybrid monitoring capabilities for IaaS, PaaS and SaaS environments
– Network topology visualization for easier troubleshooting
– Automated monitoring via customizable templates
– Intuitive dashboards for at-a-glance health status
Cons: One potential disadvantage is that the professional version has some advanced features locked behind a paid subscription model.
Pricing: ManageEngine OpManager is available in various editions – Basic, Standard and Professional. Pricing starts from free for 50 devices/nodes and goes up to $2995 per year for the professional edition supporting unlimited monitoring.
Some key stats about ManageEngine OpManager include:
– Monitors over 500,000 devices worldwide
– Supports monitoring of over 250 technologies out of the box
– Has over 10,000 active installations
– Backed by a team of over 500 professionals
12. Nagios
Nagios is free and open-source infrastructure monitoring software that helps you identify and resolve IT infrastructure outages and performance issues. Initially developed in 1999, Nagios continues to be enhanced and maintained by active developers to meet the needs of modern IT operations.
Pros: Some key advantages of Nagios include: It is free and open-source software so there is no software cost. It offers configurable alerts and notifications to notify operations teams of any issues. The large ecosystem of addons and plugins allow for monitoring of nearly any technology infrastructure component or application.
Cons: As an open-source project maintained voluntarily by developers, new releases may not always be as timely as commercially supported alternatives. The interface is text-based which some may find less intuitive compared to graphical monitoring tools.
Pricing: Nagios Core is free and open source software. There are also commercial support plans available from Nagios Enterprises for enterprises requiring additional services and support. But the software itself can be used at no cost.
Some key stats about Nagios include: Used by over 50,000 organizations worldwide to monitor servers, switches, applications and services. Supports monitoring over 500,000 hosts and has over 1500 addons and plugins available for custom monitoring requirements.
Nagios Open Source | Nagios Open SourceDownload Nagios Core.nagios.org
13. PRTG Network Monitor
PRTG Network Monitor is powerful network monitoring software developed by Paessler. It allows organizations to monitor their IT infrastructure including servers, websites, applications and networks. PRTG offers deep visibility into networks with customizable alerts when issues arise. It monitors over 100 technologies without installing agents.
Pros: Some key advantages of PRTG Network Monitor include:
– Real-time network monitoring and bandwidth monitoring
– No agents required for monitoring many systems like switches and firewalls
– Customizable dashboards and alerts for issues
– Unlimited built-in sensor types for flexible and deep monitoring
– Scales well from small to large, complex networks and IT infrastructures
Cons: One potential disadvantage is that the commercial licenses can get expensive for very large monitoring deployments with thousands of sensors and devices.
Pricing: Pricing for PRTG starts with a free version that allows 100 sensors. Paid licenses begin at $995 per year for up to 500 sensors. Commercial licenses vary based on the number of sensors needed but often range from $5,000-$25,000 per year depending on device count.
Some key stats about PRTG Network Monitor include:
– Works on Windows, Linux and Mac OS operating systems
– Over 5,000 pre-defined sensor types for monitoring devices and technologies
– Can monitor up to 10,000 devices on a single server
– No limit on the number of monitored sensors
– Integrates with IT ticketing and reporting systems
14. Telegraf
Telegraf is an open source agent developed by InfluxData for collecting, processing, aggregating, and writing metrics and events to InfluxDB. Telegraf is lightweight, pluggable and easy to install as it requires very few resources. It is commonly used for collecting system and application metrics as well as monitor websites, servers and other services.
Pros: Some key advantages of Telegraf include:
– Open source and free to use which offers cost savings
– Lightweight and has very low resource usage (memory, CPU, etc)
– Highly customizable with over 100 plugins for various data sources
– Simple to configure through a single configuration file
– Seamless integration with InfluxDB makes it a great time-series data collection solution
Cons: One potential disadvantage is that as an open source project, it lacks formal support options. However, the active community provides plenty of help through forums, documentations and issues on GitHub.
Pricing: Telegraf is open source and free to use. Commercial support and services are available from InfluxData starting at $1,000/month based on requirements.
Some key stats about Telegraf include:
– Used by over 250,000 end users
– Over 100 plugins available for collecting metrics from different sources
– Collects over 2 trillion data points per day
– Can run on Linux, Windows, ARM, Solaris and more
– Actively maintained with new releases every 3-4 months
15. WhatsUp Gold
WhatsUp Gold is a network monitoring and IT infrastructure management software developed by Ipswitch. WhatsUp Gold allows organizations to monitor networks, servers, applications and other IT infrastructure components from a single console.
Pros: Some key advantages of WhatsUp Gold include:
– Robust network mapping, monitoring and alerting
– Device and application dependency mapping
– Custom dashboards and reporting
– Discovery and topology mapping of network infrastructure
– Flexible and customizable alerting rules
Cons: One potential disadvantage is that the basic version has limitations on the number of devices that can be monitored. For large network environments, businesses will need to upgrade to a higher tier product.
Pricing: WhatsUp Gold pricing starts from free perpetual license for 10 devices. It has different tiers based on number of devices – Pro (unlimited devices) is priced at $2,495 per year. On-premise licenses are also available with perpetual licenses starting at $995 and annual maintenance at 20% of license fee.
Some key stats about WhatsUp Gold include:
– Monitors over 50,000 devices
– Supports monitoring over 50 technologies including networking, servers, applications etc.
– Comes with over 500 monitors and alerts out of the box
– Has been on the market for over 20 years
– Used by over 85,000 customers worldwide
Conclusion
While all the platforms mentioned in this post are excellent solutions, the top picks based on our evaluation are Zendesk Sell, Splunk and Grafana for large enterprises due to their extensive feature sets and proven scalability. For growing small and medium businesses, UptimeRobot, New Relic and Tribe offer powerful monitoring capabilities at affordable monthly rates. We hope this guide helps you choose the right website monitoring software to keep your digital assets running smoothly in 2023 and beyond.