For a 100-device network, PRTG is cheaper than LogicMonitor on list price in every realistic mix. One hundred servers at ten sensors each fit PRTG 1000 at $358 a month, while LogicMonitor Essentials is $1,600, about 4.5 times as much. The gap closes on switch-heavy networks: 60 servers and 40 switches need PRTG 5000 at $1,300, only $300 a month below LogicMonitor.
The reason is the billing unit. LogicMonitor charges per device, $16 a month on Essentials, $27 on Advanced and $53 on Signature with Edwin AI. PRTG charges for a ceiling on sensors, where a sensor is one thing you measure on one device. So the question that decides the comparison is not which vendor is cheaper, it is how many sensors each of your devices really needs.
Every price here is US list, read from logicmonitor.com/pricing and paessler.com/pricing, with PRTG billed annually. LogicMonitor calls its figures starting prices based on standard minimum quantities and terms, so treat both as the point where a quote starts. The arithmetic is shown so you can swap in your own counts.
LogicMonitor vs PRTG pricing for 100 devices
Six versions of a 100-device estate, priced monthly. LogicMonitor is Hybrid Units times $16 on Essentials. PRTG is the smallest license whose sensor ceiling covers the estate. Servers are counted at 10 sensors, the figure Paessler uses to build the device column on its own price list. A 48-port switch is counted at 49, one sensor per port plus a ping.
| Estate | PRTG sensors | PRTG license | LogicMonitor Essentials | LogicMonitor costs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 devices at 5 sensors each | 500 | PRTG 500, $200 | 100 units, $1,600 | 8.0x |
| 100 servers at 10 sensors each | 1,000 | PRTG 1000, $358 | 100 units, $1,600 | 4.47x |
| 100 firewalls at 14 sensors each | 1,400 | PRTG 2500, $742 | 100 units, $1,600 | 2.16x |
| Campus: 20 servers, 20 switches, 300 access points | 1,780 | PRTG 2500, $742 | 100 units, $1,600 | 2.16x |
| 60 servers and 40 switches | 2,560 | PRTG 5000, $1,300 | 100 units, $1,600 | 1.23x |
| 100 switches, 48 ports each | 4,900 | PRTG 5000, $1,300 | 100 units, $1,600 | 1.23x |
The firewall row uses Paessler's own knowledge base example, a single firewall watched with a ping, six interfaces, CPU, DNS, UDP and SNMP counters and an HTTP check, 14 sensors in all. The campus row counts two sensors per access point. LogicMonitor counts five access points as one unit, so the 300 access points are 60 units and the whole campus lands on exactly 100.
Over a year the smallest gap is $3,600 ($15,600 against $19,200) and the largest is $16,800. On LogicMonitor Advanced, which is where LM Uptime becomes included, 100 units are $2,700 a month and every gap widens by $1,100.
Per device against per sensor, where the two prices cross
Divide LogicMonitor's $16 by what PRTG charges per sensor and you get the number of sensors a device would need before PRTG costs more for it. That number depends on the tier, because PRTG's per-sensor rate falls as the license grows.
| PRTG license | Price a month | Per sensor | Break-even vs Essentials $16 | Break-even vs Advanced $27 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PRTG 500 | $200 | $0.40 | 40.0 sensors | 67.5 sensors |
| PRTG 1000 | $358 | $0.358 | 44.7 sensors | 75.4 sensors |
| PRTG 2500 | $742 | $0.2968 | 53.9 sensors | 91.0 sensors |
| PRTG 5000 | $1,300 | $0.26 | 61.5 sensors | 103.8 sensors |
| PRTG 10000 | $1,642 | $0.1642 | 97.4 sensors | 164.4 sensors |
Paessler's knowledge base puts a well-covered server at 5 to 10 sensors. That is a quarter or less of every break-even in the table, which is why PRTG wins servers so comfortably. The only common device that gets close is a large switch.
The 48-port switch, the one device LogicMonitor prices lower
A 48-port switch with a sensor on every port and a ping is 49 sensors. At the PRTG 1000 rate that is $17.54 a month, and at the PRTG 500 rate it is $19.60, both above LogicMonitor's $16 for the same switch. Only on the PRTG 10000 license does the switch fall to $8.05. So if you are pricing a network of big access switches on one of PRTG's smaller licenses, the per-device vendor is genuinely competitive, and it will not show up until you count ports.
In practice you rarely buy PRTG sensor by sensor, you buy a tier. That brings in the rule that matters more than any rate.
The tier cliff, 60 sensors that cost $6,696 a year
The 60 servers and 40 switches in the table need 2,560 sensors. PRTG 2500 would have covered 2,500 of them for $742 a month. The last 60 force the step to PRTG 5000 at $1,300, so those 60 sensors cost $558 a month, $6,696 a year. Paessler's licensing rules make it hard to patch around: one license key runs one PRTG server and two licenses cannot be combined, so you cannot add the free 100-sensor edition on top.
Before you sign, switch off the sensors nobody reads. Unused switch ports are the usual candidates, and on this estate pausing 60 of them keeps you on PRTG 2500. LogicMonitor has no equivalent cliff at this size, because every device is a unit whatever you measure on it. Its cliff sits at 1,000 units, where Essentials stops, and our LogicMonitor pricing breakdown covers what happens there. The full PRTG tier ladder and the marginal cost of each step are in our PRTG pricing guide.
What each price includes
The license covers different things, and that is where the price difference buys something. LogicMonitor is SaaS with collectors inside your network, and every package includes logs, NetFlow, configuration monitoring, topology and SMS alerting. PRTG Network Monitor is software you install on your own Windows server, with support and updates in the subscription. PRTG Hosted Monitor is the managed edition, and it costs almost exactly the same: $4,299 a year for 1,000 sensors hosted against $4,296 self-hosted.
| Item | LogicMonitor | PRTG |
|---|---|---|
| Billing unit | Hybrid Unit, monthly average of daily totals | Sensor ceiling per license |
| Entry price | $16 per unit a month | $200 a month for 500 sensors, billed annually |
| Where it runs | SaaS plus collectors | Your Windows server, or Hosted at the same price |
| Access points | 5 per unit | Sensors per access point |
| Cloud PaaS | 7 resources per unit | Sensors per metric |
| Logs | Included in every package | Syslog and trap receiver sensors |
| Plain URL uptime check | LM Uptime add-on on Essentials, included from Advanced | One HTTP sensor per URL |
| Largest size on the list | Essentials up to 999 units | 10,000 sensors, then Enterprise Monitor on quote |
| Trial | 15 days, any package | Free trial, plus a 100-sensor free edition |
Both vendors price by commitment. PRTG bills its licenses annually, and LogicMonitor's rates assume standard minimum quantities and terms it does not publish. Whichever you choose, put the renewal date and notice window into your contract management tracker the day you sign, because a missed notice window on a monitoring contract usually means another full year at the old count.
Where uptime checks fit in the bill
Both products can check that a website or API answers, and both charge for it inside the main bill. On PRTG each URL is an HTTP sensor, so 50 endpoints are 50 sensors, enough on their own to push a tight estate over a tier line. On LogicMonitor, LM Uptime is an add-on on Essentials and included on Advanced, which means paying $27 a unit across the whole estate to get it.
If the job is external checks with SMS and a public status page, a dedicated service does it for less and does not share a failure domain with the monitoring server. AlertPing's Starter plan is $49 a month for 20 monitors from two regions, and Team is $59 for 100 monitors with 30-second checks and on-call escalation. For the neighboring platform choices, see PRTG alternatives compared on price and our LogicMonitor vs Splunk pricing breakdown.
LogicMonitor vs PRTG, common questions
Is LogicMonitor more expensive than PRTG?
Yes, on list price for almost every network under 10,000 sensors. A 100-device estate costs $1,600 a month on LogicMonitor Essentials against $200 to $1,300 on PRTG, depending on how many sensors each device needs. LogicMonitor includes logs, NetFlow and configuration monitoring as SaaS, which is what the difference pays for.
How much does PRTG cost for 100 devices?
Paessler sizes PRTG 1000 at about 100 devices, $358 a month billed annually, or $4,296 a year. That assumes 10 sensors per device. At 14 sensors per device you need PRTG 2500 at $742 a month, and a network of 48-port switches needs PRTG 5000 at $1,300.
How much does LogicMonitor cost for 100 devices?
LogicMonitor lists $16 per Hybrid Unit a month on Essentials, so 100 devices are $1,600 a month or $19,200 a year. Advanced is $2,700 a month and Signature with Edwin AI $5,300. Five wireless access points or seven cloud PaaS resources count as one unit.
Is PRTG cheaper than LogicMonitor for switches?
Usually, but not always. A 48-port switch at 49 sensors costs $17.54 a month at PRTG 1000 rates, more than LogicMonitor's $16. Once the estate is large enough to buy PRTG 10000, the same switch costs $8.05. Count ports before you compare.
Does PRTG have a cloud version like LogicMonitor?
Yes. PRTG Hosted Monitor runs your PRTG instance on AWS and costs almost the same as the self-hosted license, $2,399 a year for 500 sensors against $2,400. LogicMonitor is SaaS only, with collectors installed inside your network.