This collection of free network monitoring tools will help analyze, monitor and report on your network performance without spending a dime.
Daniele Giabbai's Net Meter 1.1.20
Track network usage with Daniele Giabbai's Net Meter. The program also features a system tray icon and Visual Basic 6 source code.
IPNetMon 1.0
This application monitors network traffic and extracts IP addresses and MAC hardware addresses. If any new combination is detected it is logged to a database and in addition an e-mail can be sent via SMTP to the network manager or security staff. You can print reports directly to PDF or Excel. IPNetMon can be used to determine the active IP devices in your network as a starting point of a security review. After the network inventory is complete, placing IPNetMon in Warn mode will send an e-mail to a selected recipient. Using debug mode will show source and destination in real-time as well as identify SNMP community strings on the network.
NET Traffic Meter 1.4
This tool allows you to monitor the traffic on a network or modem interface. You can monitor your volume, down and upload rates, view general statistics and measure specifications of your interface. You can export statistics as a Rich Text document, analyze traffic with the stopwatch function, configure alerts and audio notifications, and customize the traffic meter.
Bandwidth Monitor 1.0
An ideal tool for the bandwidth conscious, Bandwidth Monitor enables you to keep a close eye on the amount of bandwidth accumulated over the current day, week, month, or even year. Watch the current bandwidth in and out of your network devices with Bandwidth Monitor.
BitMeter 2
BitMeter 2 is a small bandwidth meter that allows you to monitor your Internet connection with the help of a real-time graph that shows your upload and download speed over time. It offers long-term upload/download history to track your usage over time, as well as customizable speed and volume alerts. It also includes a download time calculator and a download stopwatch. The small graph can be placed on your desktop as a floating window or in click-through mode.
Look@LAN Network Monitor
Look@LAN Network Monitor is an advanced network monitor that is easy to use and automatically detects and analyzes your network nodes, including operating system. The program can monitor the nodes and alert you of any changes (new nodes, offline nodes etc.). The main window lists all available nodes and detailed statistics and scan results are available for each individual machine, including a real-time traceroute report, ping results, active services (open ports) and more. In addition to the auto-detected nodes, you can also customize the scan ranges and add additional networks. Additional features include HTML reports, statistical graphs, network tree view, single node scanning and more. The program comes with a unique, user-friendly interface, but no documentation.
NetGraph
NetGraph is a small network connection monitoring tool that shows a realtime graph of your download and upload activity for the selected interface. In addition to the graph display, it also comes with a dynamic tray icon and an option to auto-hide the graph when there is no activity. Additional features include a handy move-out-of-the-way feature that automatically moves the graph display if your mouse comes near it, as well as customizable graph and support for transparency.
MZL & Novatech TrafficStatistic
MZL & Novatech TrafficStatistic allows you to monitor and log your Ethernet traffic statistics, and provides a detailed breakdown on daily usage, as well as per service and target host. If your Internet connection has a bandwidth limit, you can also configure the program to provide you with details and remaining bandwidth for the current billing period. The program works on the IP packet level, therefore it can report on all the traffic, regardless whether this traffic was made by a browser, e-mail or any other connection. Additional features include optional exclusion of LAN traffic, user-friendly report interface and more.
Do you know of a free monitoring tool that's not included in this list? Send it to Editor@SearchNetworking.com and we'll add it to the list.
