Custom alerts and data visualizations let you quickly identify and prevent slow response times, bottlenecks, downtime, and other network availability issues.
It's the number every sysadmin strives for: 99.999% uptime. It doesn't get more stable and reliable than that.
But, with so many variables that could impact your network's performance, hitting that mythical benchmark can seem as likely as becoming an overnight millionaire.
With more than 250 preconfigured sensors for monitoring your entire network, Paessler PRTG uptime monitoring software can continuously track servers, routers, switches, applications, virtual machines, and every other component that could fail and cause disruption, alerting you as soon as your network's uptime is at risk.
That means more availability, less unplanned downtime, and happier colleagues, higher-ups, and customers.
Just install PRTG with a few clicks and let the automatic network discovery ping your chosen IP address range. PRTG automatically detects any devices in that range that are connected to your network and adds the sensors you need to monitor their uptime and other key metrics for you to configure as needed later. Could it be any simpler?
Get in front of potential issues, before they cause real problems. Set your preferred thresholds, and PRTG will sound the alarm via SMS, email, Slack message, in-app push notification, webhook, and other methods, as soon as a device is down. You can even automatically inform customers in real time if a potential outage might affect them – no false positives included.
Knowledge is power. PRTG's uptime monitoring service doesn't only help you spot and fix issues and optimize your network. Just as important, its wealth of historic data enables you to anticipate your network's medium and long-term needs. Which means you can have the peace of mind to plan ahead instead of scrambling to catch up.
PRTG works with most major manufacturers and infrastructure providers, including AWS, Azure, Cisco, Dell, Oracle, and HPE, and uses standard protocols to collect data. Can't find a preconfigured sensor or other functionality for your preferred vendor or technology? Create your custom sensor using Python script or the PRTG API.
Diagnose network issues by continuously tracking servers, routers, switches, applications, virtual machines, web servers, and other network components. Show uptime, page speed, SSL certificate expiry, bandwidth, hardware health, and other key metrics in real time. Visualize uptime monitoring data in clear graphs and dashboards to identify problems more easily. Gain the overiew you need to troubleshoot bottlenecks, downtime, and other network performance problems, and enhance overall end-user experience.
Device tree view of the complete monitoring setup
Custom PRTG dashboard for keeping an eye on the entire IT infrastructure
Live traffic data graph in PRTG
“All-around winning
network monitor”
“The real beauty of PRTG is the endless possibilities it offers”
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PRTG comes with more than 250 native sensor types for monitoring your entire on-premises, cloud, and hybrid cloud environment out of the box. Check out some examples below!
The Ping v2 sensor sends an Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) echo request ("ping") from the probe system to the parent device to monitor its availability. It can show the following:
• Response time
• Packet loss
• Target status
• Minimum and maximum ping time
The Windows System Uptime sensor monitors the uptime of a Windows system via Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) or Windows performance counters. It can show the following:
The SNMP Uptime v2 sensor monitors the uptime of a device. It can show the following:
The Multi-Platform Probe Health sensor monitors the status of a multi-platform probe device. It can show the following:
See the PRTG Manual for a list of all available sensor types.
Custom alerts and data visualization let you quickly identify and prevent slow response times, bottlenecks, downtime, and other network availability issues.
PRTG is set up in a matter of minutes and can be used on a wide variety of mobile devices.
“Great interface, intuitive, full REST support. custom scripts, rest sensors add extra value. We have been using PRTG for 10 years now in multiple environments and use cases. it has by far the best interface and very easy to setup without prior experience.”
Partnering with innovative IT vendors, Paessler unleashes synergies to create
new and additional benefits for joined customers.
Combining PRTG’s broad monitoring feature set with IP Fabric’s automated network assurance creates a new level of network visibility and reliability.
Paessler and Plixer provide a complete solution adding flow and metadata analysis to a powerful network monitoring tool.
With ScriptRunner Paessler integrates a powerful event automation platform into PRTG Network Monitor.
Real-time notifications mean faster troubleshooting so that you can act before more serious issues occur.
Network Monitoring Software – Version 26.1.116.1532 (February 9th, 2026)
Download for Windows and cloud-based version PRTG Hosted Monitor available
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The term "uptime" is used in IT to define the period of time in which a computer system is functional and available. When referring to a network, uptime is defined in terms of the availability and reliability of servers and devices, or by domain and website availability. Most of the time, availability is displayed as a percentage. An availability of 90% measured over the course of a day means the system was functional and available for exactly 1296 minutes (21.6 hours) on that particular day.
PRTG is a proprietary software tool that tracks and analyzes uptime across your network. Available for Windows-based on-premises servers or as a cloud-hosted solution, it continuously monitors hardware and software availability, response times, latency, error rates, and other key performance metrics, so you can prevent bottlenecks and other network issues, and ensure you keep unplanned downtime to a minimum.
The gold standard is 99.999%. A network with 99.999% uptime has around 5.26 minutes of unplanned downtime in a given year. In practice, very few networks achieve that level of uptime consistently, with the most stable networks typically having 99.9% or 99.95% uptime – equal to around four to eight hours of unplanned downtime each year.
Of course, the more closely you monitor your network, the easier it is to achieve a high level of uptime. PRTG is designed to sound the alarm as soon as there are potential issues, so you can fix them before they cause a network outage.
Monitoring uptime is crucial for maintaining the health and performance of your systems. Regular uptime monitoring helps ensure that your services are consistently available to users.
Furthermore, by tracking uptime, you can quickly detect and address issues before they escalate. Monitoring uptime also provides insights into your system's performance, allowing you to identify and rectify bottlenecks or inefficiencies. Uptime metrics provide valuable data that can inform your IT and business strategies. With accurate uptime records, you can make informed decisions about capacity planning, resource allocation, and service improvements.
In addition, many businesses have Service Level Agreements (SLAs) that require a certain level of uptime. Monitoring helps you meet these obligations, avoid penalties, and demonstrate compliance to stakeholders.
With our free plan, you get:
With the freeware edition of PRTG, you can get started with network monitoring in a matter of minutes. Our auto-discovery function detects all the devices within a given IP address range and automatically incorporates them into your monitoring environment.
You can upgrade to a paid subscription license anytime. See pricing
In PRTG, “sensors” are the basic monitoring elements. One sensor usually monitors one measured value in your network, for example the traffic of a switch port, the CPU load of a server, or the free space on a disk drive. On average, you need about 5-10 sensors per device or one sensor per switch port.
Paessler conducted trials in over 600 IT departments worldwide to tune its network monitoring software closer to the needs of sysadmins. The result of the survey: over 95% of the participants would recommend PRTG – or already have.
Paessler PRTG is used by companies of all sizes. Sysadmins love PRTG because it makes their job a whole lot easier.
Bandwidth, servers, virtual environments, websites, VoIP services – PRTG keeps an eye on your entire network.
Everyone has different monitoring needs. That’s why we let you try PRTG for free.
