Intermapper vs SparrowIQ

Intermapper helps IT teams discover network devices and servers, map their relationships, monitor health and performance, and receive alerts when conditions change. Its live maps show infrastructure, dependencies, device status, and network connections. Auto-discovery identifies devices and helps keep the network view current as environments change. Flows Insight analyzes NetFlow, sFlow, jFlow, and cFlow data to show traffic patterns, utilization, and top talkers. Advanced Reporting provides dashboards and automated reports for uptime, service health, SLA performance, and infrastructure trends. Intermapper supports SNMPv3, includes built-in probes, and allows custom probes. APIs and add-ons, including the Intermapper App for Splunk, can complement other tools. Remote access supports SSL and username/password or network-address authentication. A fully functional 30-day trial is available, but continuing afterward requires a purchase. Licensing is based on monitored devices, with subscription or perpetual options starting at 10 devices and extending to unlimited; pricing is by custom quote. Paid licenses include 24/7 technical support according to the upgrade page.

SparrowIQ analyzes network traffic and adds visibility alongside existing network management systems. Its dashboard updates automatically with summaries of bandwidth use, applications, destinations and timing, with interactive drilldowns. Users can set email alerts when a user, group or application exceeds its share of network resources, and generate daily, weekly or monthly reports, from executive summaries to individual activity. Monitoring uses a switch SPAN or mirror port, or a network tap. SparrowIQ examines traffic headers rather than payload data and stores analyzed information in a database on the local PC. It is installed on a Windows PC, with a browser interface accessible from a PC, Mac or mobile device, including remotely through the installation machine. The product is aimed at smaller businesses with limited technical resources, time and budget. Paid plans require a quote and can be billed monthly or annually; plan limits vary by throughput, concurrent users, reporting history and alerts. A free 15-day trial is available without a credit card.