ntopng vs SoftPerfect Bandwidth Manager

ntopng monitors network traffic gathered from traffic mirrors, NetFlow exporters, SNMP devices, firewall logs and intrusion detection systems. Its encrypted web interface supports real-time and historical traffic exploration. Protocol detection powered by nDPI covers more than 450 Layer-7 application protocols, while metrics include application latency, round-trip time, throughput, TCP retransmission, packet loss, and VoIP jitter and MOS. It captures packets with libpcap or PF_RING and collects flows from nProbe, NetFlow and sFlow exporters. An HTTP-based RESTful API and Lua scripting are listed. Platforms include Linux, FreeBSD, Windows x64, macOS and RaspbianOS; pfSense and OPNsense are also named among supported Unix platforms. The free Community edition suggests limits of 256 live local hosts, 128K live flows and eight monitored interfaces. Paid perpetual licenses include one year of maintenance: Pro is €299, paid once, Enterprise M is €699.95, paid once, Enterprise L is €899.95, paid once, and Enterprise XL is €1,499.95, paid once.

SoftPerfect Bandwidth Manager monitors network traffic and applies bandwidth limits and quality-of-service rules. Administrators can target IP or MAC addresses, ports, protocols, and network interfaces, then set prioritized bidirectional rate and usage limits. Configuration can be centralized at one network location, and end users usually do not need client software. Quotas, scheduling, email notifications, reports, and a live usage monitor help track traffic. Enterprise adds deep packet inspection for detecting IM, P2P file sharing, gaming, and media streaming. Remote management uses a Windows GUI console connecting over TCP port 8701; the vendor says there is no web-based management interface. The product's stated purpose is Windows network management, and version 3.3.0 added Windows ARM64 support while setting Windows 10 as the minimum. The free Lite plan allows five rules or streams. Paid perpetual licences range from $49, paid once to $4,500, paid once and include one year of free updates. The vendor describes compatibility with Microsoft ISA Server and Internet Connection Sharing.