Networking & Network Management

Explore VPNs, routers, DNS servers, proxies and network monitoring tools around an explicit connectivity and administration requirement.

SoftwareRadarUpdated: 23 October 2026
Filter and sort 22 products
22 productsCompare features and plan options

Nginx

Updated 2026-10-23

Nginx serves web traffic and proxies requests to application services. Learn more about Nginx

Who should take a closer look?

Teams responsible for networking & network management that need http serving and want to evaluate the complete delivery, access and cost requirements.

Capabilities to explore

  • HTTP serving
  • Reverse proxying
  • Traffic load balancing
Open-source softwareAn open-source software edition is available. Hosting, infrastructure, administration, support and separately licensed extensions can still cost money.

Consul

Updated 2026-10-23

Consul connects and discovers services across distributed infrastructure. Learn more about Consul

Who should take a closer look?

Teams responsible for networking & network management that need service discovery and want to evaluate the complete delivery, access and cost requirements.

Capabilities to explore

  • Service discovery
  • Service networking
  • Configuration management
Check current plansReview the current free, trial and paid access options with the vendor. A trial or demonstration does not establish an ongoing free production entitlement.

WireGuard

Updated 2026-10-23

WireGuard connects peers through encrypted network tunnels. Learn more about WireGuard

Who should take a closer look?

Teams responsible for networking & network management that need vpn tunnels and want to evaluate the complete delivery, access and cost requirements.

Capabilities to explore

  • VPN tunnels
  • Peer configuration
  • Encrypted network transport
Open-source softwareAn open-source software edition is available. Hosting, infrastructure, administration, support and separately licensed extensions can still cost money.

OpenVPN

Updated 2026-10-23

OpenVPN connects remote users and networks through VPN software and services. Learn more about OpenVPN

Who should take a closer look?

Teams responsible for networking & network management that need remote access vpn and want to evaluate the complete delivery, access and cost requirements.

Capabilities to explore

  • Remote access VPN
  • Network connections
  • VPN administration
Check current plansReview the current free, trial and paid access options with the vendor. A trial or demonstration does not establish an ongoing free production entitlement.

Tailscale

Updated 2026-10-23

Tailscale connects devices and users through an identity-aware private network. Learn more about Tailscale

Who should take a closer look?

Teams responsible for networking & network management that need private device networking and want to evaluate the complete delivery, access and cost requirements.

Capabilities to explore

  • Private device networking
  • Identity-based access
  • Network administration
Check current plansReview the current free, trial and paid access options with the vendor. A trial or demonstration does not establish an ongoing free production entitlement.

ZeroTier

Updated 2026-10-23

ZeroTier connects devices through software-defined virtual networks. Learn more about ZeroTier

Who should take a closer look?

Teams responsible for networking & network management that need virtual networks and want to evaluate the complete delivery, access and cost requirements.

Capabilities to explore

  • Virtual networks
  • Device connectivity
  • Network access administration
Check current plansReview the current free, trial and paid access options with the vendor. A trial or demonstration does not establish an ongoing free production entitlement.

NetBird

Updated 2026-10-23

NetBird connects devices using WireGuard-based networking and access policies. Learn more about NetBird

Who should take a closer look?

Teams responsible for networking & network management that need overlay networking and want to evaluate the complete delivery, access and cost requirements.

Capabilities to explore

  • Overlay networking
  • Access policies
  • Device connectivity
Open-source softwareAn open-source software edition is available. Hosting, infrastructure, administration, support and separately licensed extensions can still cost money.

pfSense

Updated 2026-10-23

pfSense provides firewall and routing functions for network gateways. Learn more about pfSense

Who should take a closer look?

Teams responsible for networking & network management that need firewall rules and want to evaluate the complete delivery, access and cost requirements.

Capabilities to explore

  • Firewall rules
  • Network routing
  • VPN connectivity
Check current plansReview the current free, trial and paid access options with the vendor. A trial or demonstration does not establish an ongoing free production entitlement.

OPNsense

Updated 2026-10-23

OPNsense provides an open-source firewall and routing platform. Learn more about OPNsense

Who should take a closer look?

Teams responsible for networking & network management that need network firewalling and want to evaluate the complete delivery, access and cost requirements.

Capabilities to explore

  • Network firewalling
  • Routing
  • VPN services
Open-source softwareAn open-source software edition is available. Hosting, infrastructure, administration, support and separately licensed extensions can still cost money.

OpenWrt

Updated 2026-10-23

OpenWrt provides a Linux-based operating system for embedded networking devices. Learn more about OpenWrt

Who should take a closer look?

Teams responsible for networking & network management that need router operating system and want to evaluate the complete delivery, access and cost requirements.

Capabilities to explore

  • Router operating system
  • Package installation
  • Network configuration
Open-source softwareAn open-source software edition is available. Hosting, infrastructure, administration, support and separately licensed extensions can still cost money.

Wireshark

Updated 2026-10-23

Wireshark captures and analyses network protocol traffic. Learn more about Wireshark

Who should take a closer look?

Teams responsible for networking & network management that need packet capture and want to evaluate the complete delivery, access and cost requirements.

Capabilities to explore

  • Packet capture
  • Protocol inspection
  • Traffic filtering
Open-source softwareAn open-source software edition is available. Hosting, infrastructure, administration, support and separately licensed extensions can still cost money.

Nmap

Updated 2026-10-23

Nmap discovers network hosts and services during authorised assessments. Learn more about Nmap

Who should take a closer look?

Teams responsible for networking & network management that need host discovery and want to evaluate the complete delivery, access and cost requirements.

Capabilities to explore

  • Host discovery
  • Port scanning
  • Service identification
Check current plansReview the current free, trial and paid access options with the vendor. A trial or demonstration does not establish an ongoing free production entitlement.

LibreNMS

Updated 2026-10-23

LibreNMS discovers and monitors network devices. Learn more about LibreNMS

Who should take a closer look?

Teams responsible for networking & network management that need network autodiscovery and want to evaluate the complete delivery, access and cost requirements.

Capabilities to explore

  • Network autodiscovery
  • Device monitoring
  • Network alerts
Open-source softwareAn open-source software edition is available. Hosting, infrastructure, administration, support and separately licensed extensions can still cost money.

Cacti

Updated 2026-10-23

Cacti graphs infrastructure metrics collected over time. Learn more about Cacti

Who should take a closer look?

Teams responsible for networking & network management that need time-series graphing and want to evaluate the complete delivery, access and cost requirements.

Capabilities to explore

  • Time-series graphing
  • Network polling
  • Metric visualisation
Open-source softwareAn open-source software edition is available. Hosting, infrastructure, administration, support and separately licensed extensions can still cost money.

NetBox

Updated 2026-10-23

NetBox models network infrastructure and address allocations. Learn more about NetBox

Who should take a closer look?

Teams responsible for networking & network management that need ip address management and want to evaluate the complete delivery, access and cost requirements.

Capabilities to explore

  • IP address management
  • Data centre inventory
  • Network documentation
Check current plansReview the current free, trial and paid access options with the vendor. A trial or demonstration does not establish an ongoing free production entitlement.

HAProxy

Updated 2026-10-23

HAProxy distributes TCP and HTTP traffic across application services. Learn more about HAProxy

Who should take a closer look?

Teams responsible for networking & network management that need traffic load balancing and want to evaluate the complete delivery, access and cost requirements.

Capabilities to explore

  • Traffic load balancing
  • Health checks
  • Reverse proxying
Open-source softwareAn open-source software edition is available. Hosting, infrastructure, administration, support and separately licensed extensions can still cost money.

Traefik Proxy

Updated 2026-10-23

Traefik Proxy routes application traffic using a dynamically configured proxy. Learn more about Traefik Proxy

Who should take a closer look?

Teams responsible for networking & network management that need reverse proxying and want to evaluate the complete delivery, access and cost requirements.

Capabilities to explore

  • Reverse proxying
  • Service routing
  • Traffic load balancing
Open-source softwareAn open-source software edition is available. Hosting, infrastructure, administration, support and separately licensed extensions can still cost money.

Caddy

Updated 2026-10-23

Caddy serves web applications with integrated HTTPS automation. Learn more about Caddy

Who should take a closer look?

Teams responsible for networking & network management that need web serving and want to evaluate the complete delivery, access and cost requirements.

Capabilities to explore

  • Web serving
  • Automatic HTTPS
  • Reverse proxying
Open-source softwareAn open-source software edition is available. Hosting, infrastructure, administration, support and separately licensed extensions can still cost money.

Lighttpd

Updated 2026-10-23

Lighttpd serves web content through a configurable HTTP server. Learn more about Lighttpd

Who should take a closer look?

Teams responsible for networking & network management that need http serving and want to evaluate the complete delivery, access and cost requirements.

Capabilities to explore

  • HTTP serving
  • Web server configuration
  • Application gateway interfaces
Open-source softwareAn open-source software edition is available. Hosting, infrastructure, administration, support and separately licensed extensions can still cost money.

Squid

Updated 2026-10-23

Squid proxies and caches web traffic. Learn more about Squid

Who should take a closer look?

Teams responsible for networking & network management that need forward proxying and want to evaluate the complete delivery, access and cost requirements.

Capabilities to explore

  • Forward proxying
  • Web caching
  • Access controls
Open-source softwareAn open-source software edition is available. Hosting, infrastructure, administration, support and separately licensed extensions can still cost money.

BIND 9

Updated 2026-10-23

BIND 9 serves and resolves DNS information for network infrastructure. Learn more about BIND 9

Who should take a closer look?

Teams responsible for networking & network management that need authoritative dns and want to evaluate the complete delivery, access and cost requirements.

Capabilities to explore

  • Authoritative DNS
  • Recursive resolution
  • DNS administration
Open-source softwareAn open-source software edition is available. Hosting, infrastructure, administration, support and separately licensed extensions can still cost money.

PowerDNS Authoritative Server serves authoritative DNS records from configurable storage backends. Learn more about PowerDNS Authoritative Server

Who should take a closer look?

Teams responsible for networking & network management that need authoritative dns and want to evaluate the complete delivery, access and cost requirements.

Capabilities to explore

  • Authoritative DNS
  • Zone management
  • Storage backend integrations
Open-source softwareAn open-source software edition is available. Hosting, infrastructure, administration, support and separately licensed extensions can still cost money.

How to choose networking & network management

Start with the intended workflow and the people responsible for it. Does the software support your network topology, protocols, devices and access policies? Evaluate the exact edition and deployment arrangement, with a written scope for integrations, permissions, maintenance and connected services.

Questions to ask before you buy

Put your shortlist to the test

Use an authorised isolated network to test the intended connection or service and a failure case. Check logs, permissions, recovery, hardware compatibility and ongoing maintenance. Product features do not establish a guarantee of security or availability.

A useful next step

Use the software buying checklist →

Choose the same workflow, team size and required features when comparing your shortlist.

Frequently asked questions

Is there one best networking & network management tool?

Fit depends on your workflow, required capabilities, team size and budget. Compare the appropriate plan and test it with your own requirements.

How current is this research?

This category was last updated on 23 October 2026. Confirm current plan details before buying.