PRTG alternative for a small MSP: when SoloNOC fits, and when PRTG is the better tool

PRTG sells by the sensor; SoloNOC sells flat plans with published site and device caps. Here are both price lists side by side, what each counts, and the cases where you should stay with PRTG.

The two price lists

PRTG (per month, paid annually)

  • Freeware: $0, up to 100 sensors, about 10 devices
  • PRTG 500: $200, up to 500 sensors, about 50 devices
  • PRTG 1000: $358, up to 1,000 sensors, about 100 devices
  • PRTG 2500: $742, up to 2,500 sensors, about 250 devices
  • PRTG 5000: $1,300, up to 5,000 sensors, about 500 devices
  • PRTG 10000: $1,642, up to 10,000 sensors, about 1000 devices

SoloNOC (monthly or annual)

  • Free: $0, 1 site, 10 devices
  • Solo: $29/mo or $290/yr, 5 sites, 50 devices
  • Pro: $99/mo or $990/yr, 50 sites, 1,000 devices
  • Enterprise: $249/mo or $2,490/yr, 250 sites, 5,000 devices

A 50-device, 3-site network needs PRTG 500 ($200 a month, paid annually) if each device carries ten sensors, and SoloNOC Solo ($29 a month, or $290 a year). Enter your own numbers in the monitoring cost calculator.

What each one counts

PRTG licenses differ by the number of sensors, and Paessler’s page equates 500 sensors with “about 50 devices”. A sensor is one measurement of one thing, so a switch where you watch ping, CPU and twenty ports uses many of them, and the license you need is set by the sensors, not the boxes. Licenses cannot be combined: PRTG accepts one license key per server.

SoloNOC counts sites and devices against the plan’s cap and has no per-sensor meter. Inside a plan the price does not move with what you measure on each device. The caps are the ones the service enforces, shown in the table above.

PRTG has a 30-day trial with no sensor or device limit. SoloNOC has a 14-day trial of Solo or Pro that takes no card, and a Free plan that does not expire.

Where SoloNOC fits a small MSP

  • One agent per site, outbound only. The agent runs on any Linux machine on the client’s network (a Raspberry Pi works), discovers devices with ping, ARP and SNMP, and connects out over HTTPS, so no inbound firewall port is opened.
  • A hosted dashboard. There is no monitoring server to run, patch or back up; you log in to the web app or the iOS app.
  • A predictable bill. Pro covers 50 sites and 1,000 devices for one flat price, and includes the MSP portal with white-labeled client portals.
  • Fewer duplicate pages. When a device’s declared upstream is down, downstream device-down alerts are suppressed and point at the root cause. How that works.

When to stay with PRTG, or pick something else

SoloNOC is deliberately narrower than a full monitoring suite. Do not move if any of these is a requirement today:

  • You need SNMPv3. SoloNOC polls SNMPv2c with a community string per device.
  • You need a Windows agent. The SoloNOC agent runs on Linux only.
  • You need flow analysis (NetFlow) at scale or carrier-grade capacity planning.
  • You need an Android app. There is an iOS app and no Android app yet.
  • You cannot run anything on the client’s network, or you need the whole product self-hosted. The agent is on-premise; the dashboard, accounts and billing are hosted by SoloNOC.
  • You need text-message alerts. SoloNOC delivers alerts by iOS push, email and webhooks (including Slack); text-message alerts are not live yet, so plan around the other channels.

Counter wrap: interface traffic is read from the 32-bit SNMP counters, so a very fast link can wrap between polls and understate its peak.

Try it on one site

Start the free plan (1 site, 10 devices, no card) or the 14-day trial of Solo or Pro, point one agent at a client site, and compare what it finds with what you monitor today. Create an account.

Sources

Every vendor figure on this page was read from the vendor’s own page on 2026-10-18. Prices change; check the link before you decide.

More from SoloNOC

SoloNOC is network monitoring for the one-person IT shop and the small MSP: one agent per site, flat plans, a 14-day trial with no card. Start free.