Throughput vs Bandwidth: Understanding the Difference Plus Tools

Managing networks for IT admins and network engineers is no longer a simple task. The adaptation of cloud services, reliance on digital infrastructure, and real-time communication demands have increased the need for powerful bandwidth and throughput monitoring tools to maintain optimal network performance.

Bandwidth enables businesses to measure data capacity, whereas throughput refers to the amount of data that can be sent or received in a specific timeframe.

Be it small file transfer or slow server speed, business workflow and productivity can get affected due to poor bandwidth or throughput. Hence, having a trusted bandwidth and throughput monitoring tool for your business has become a necessity. With this tool, businesses can help overcome potential network issues. It is best to invest in a tool that is reliable, scalable, and offers real-time insights.

But, based on this list, you might find hundreds of tools in the market. Hence, it is important to check if they align with your business goals and requirements. Further, do they guarantee real-time traffic monitoring, bottleneck detection, etc.?

Some main key points responsible for the high demand for these robust tools by IT admins and network engineers are:

• Your team is struggling with slow file transfer due to other applications consuming more bandwidth.
• Your sales or customer trust is getting impacted due to slow servers or downtime issues.
• Some backend programs or services are consuming a disproportionate amount of network bandwidth
• Large businesses with complex networks might face network security issues
• Your company deals with real-time applications and demands consistent data transmission

Whether you have a small business or are running a large enterprise, investing in a suitable throughput or bandwidth analysis tool can improve your business performance and build customer trust. But how to determine which tool will be a perfect fit for your business?

Our goal is to provide more clarity on Bandwidth vs Throughput and help find the best tools for monitoring network bandwidth.

Here is our list of the best tools for throughput and bandwidth analysis:

1. Paessler PRTG Network Monitor EDITOR’S CHOICE A collection of sensors that includes a monitor for traffic activity, showing throughput, bandwidth, and latency. Runs on Windows Server.
2. Site24x7 Network Traffic Monitoring (FREE TRIAL) This cloud-based network traffic monitor uses flow protocols to extract traffic data from switches and routers and provides capacity planning utilities.
3. SolarWinds Network Bandwidth Analyzer Pack This package contains two tools that monitor the statuses and performance of network devices and track network bandwidth utilization. Runs on Windows Server.

If you need to know more, explore our vendor highlight section just below, or skip to our detailed vendor reviews.

Best Monitoring Network Bandwidth Tools highlights

Key points to consider before purchasing tools for throughput and bandwidth analysis

Purchasing the right tools for throughput and bandwidth analysis is important to deliver a secure network. If you, as a network engineer or IT business, are planning to purchase a throughput and bandwidth analysis tool for your business, make sure to evaluate the tool based on these factors:

• Define Your Objective and Measure Network Size: It is important to understand the objective behind tool selection, i.e, whether you need a tool for troubleshooting slow applications, identifying bandwidth hogs, or detecting security threats. Secondly, whether you run a small business or a large enterprise with complex networks. If in the future, you will need to grow or expand, will the tool be able to scale with your current and future network growth?
• Easy to Deploy and Use: Another factor to consider when selecting an analysis tool for throughput or bandwidth is whether it requires technical expertise to deploy or use. Or, its user-friendly interface makes it suitable for network engineers to conveniently use the tool and explore new features.
• Community Support: Businesses or network engineers might come across certain features that demand support or assistance with troubleshooting issues. In such a case, having support documentation or a good support team from the vendor can ease the hassle. Hence, consider opting for a tool that offers good support service post purchase.
• Granularity of Data and Reporting Capabilities: Each throughput and bandwidth analysis tool offers different levels of data granularity. Can the tool provide insights not just on total bandwidth usage, but also on specific applications and network flows? Make sure it offers robust reporting capabilities that can turn your complex network data into actionable insights for making informed decisions.
• Customization and Integration Flexibility: From a professional standpoint, it is best to invest in a tool that allows network and IT teams to customize different features, such as alert thresholds based on business criticality, personalized reports for different stakeholders, and flexible data collection procedures. A truly flexible tool allows businesses to tailor settings as per specific operational requirements and seamlessly integrate with existing IT service management (ITSM) systems or other network management tools.
• Cost and Licensing Option: Our in-depth analysis found that cost comparison is highly crucial. Instead of just going through the total cost, it is important to understand the complete pricing structure of the tool, i.e., upfront software and hardware costs, recurring subscription fees, maintenance contracts, and potential hidden costs. Vendors that offer a complete pricing structure and licensing option offer more transparency to businesses to view the overall product and make a decision.

What is Throughput?

Throughput is the name given to the amount of data that can be sent and received within a specific timeframe.

In other words, throughput measures the rate at which messages arrive at their destination successfully. It is a practical measure of actual packet delivery rather than theoretical packet delivery. Average data throughput tells the user how many packets are arriving at their destination.

Related post: How to measure your network throughput

In order to have a high-performance service packets need to reach their destination successfully. If lots of packets are being lost in transit and therefore are unsuccessful, then the performance of the network will be poor. Monitoring network throughput is crucial for organizations looking to monitor the real-time performance of their network and successful packet delivery.

Most of the time network throughput is measured in bits per second (bps) but sometimes it is also measured in data packets per second. Network throughput is measured as an average figure used to represent the overall performance of the network. Measuring a low data throughput indicates problems like packet loss where packets are lost in transit (these can be devastating to VoIP audio calls where audio skips).

What is Bandwidth?

Bandwidth is a measure of how much data can be sent and received at a time. The higher the bandwidth a network has, the more data it can send back and forth. The term bandwidth isn’t used to measure speed but rather to measure capacity.

Bandwidth can be measured in bits per second (bps) megabits per second (Mbps) and gigabits per second (Gbps).

The key thing to remember about bandwidth is that having a high bandwidth doesn’t guarantee high network performance. If throughput in the network is being affected by network latency, packet loss, and jitter then your service will see delays even if you have a substantial amount of bandwidth available.

For more information, we have a guide that looks at the difference of throughput vs latency.

Bandwidth vs Throughput: Theoretical Packet Delivery and Actual Packet Delivery

On the surface bandwidth and throughput appear to be similar but they couldn’t be further apart in practice. The most common analogy used to describe the relationship between the two is to consider bandwidth as a pipe and throughput as water. The larger the pipe or bandwidth is, the more water or data can flow through it at one time.

Within a network, this means that the amount of bandwidth determines how many packets can be sent and received between devices at one time and the amount of throughput tells you how many packets are actually getting transmitted.

To put it another way, bandwidth provides you with a theoretical measure of the maximum number of packets that can be transferred and throughput tells you the number of packets that are actually being successfully transferred. As a result, throughput is more important than bandwidth as a measure of network performance.

Although throughput is the better term to measure network performance, this doesn’t mean that bandwidth doesn’t have any influence on performance. For instance, bandwidth has a significant influence on how fast a web page will load on a browser. So if you were looking to use web hosting for an application the amount of bandwidth you have available would impact the performance of certain services.

Bandwidth and Speed Aren’t the Same Thing

A common misconception is that bandwidth can be used as a measure of speed. We have discussed this briefly above but it is worth revisiting because of how commonly the two are mixed up. For instance, you’ll often see Internet Service Providers advertising high-speed services that are marketed as being due to the amount of maximum bandwidth you have available.

This makes for good marketing but it isn’t correct. If you increase the amount of bandwidth the only thing that changes is that more data can be sent at one time. Being able to send more data at once appears to make the network faster but it doesn’t change the actual speed at which the packets are traveling.

The truth is bandwidth is just one of a multitude of factors that tie into the speed of a network. Within a network, speed is a measure of response time. Factors like packet loss and latency impact speed.

Network Bandwidth and Network Latency

Bandwidth and latency are also discussed together regularly but each has its own unique meaning. We’ve already established that bandwidth is the capacity of the network or how much data can be transferred in a window of time. Latency is simply the amount of time that it takes for data to travel from a sender to its destination.

The relationship between the two is close, as bandwidth determines how much data can theoretically be sent and received at one time. However, latency determines how fast these packets actually reach their destination. Minimizing latency is important for keeping the network moving as fast as possible.

Monitoring Network Performance with Throughput (Including Latency and Packet Loss)

If you were looking to measure network performance it makes more sense to use network throughput rather than looking at capacity with bandwidth. Network administrators have a number of ways that they can use to measure for poor performance within an enterprise-grade network.

Using throughput to measure network performance is useful when troubleshooting because it helps administrators to pinpoint the root cause of a slow network. However, it is just one of the three factors that determine network performance. The other two are latency and packet loss:

• Latency – The term used for the amount of time taken for a packet to be transmitted from the source to its destination. Latency can be measured a number of ways such as round-trip time, or a one-way data transfer
• Packet loss – A term used to specify the number of packets lost in transit during a network transfer

Measuring these three together provides administrators with a much more complete perspective of the network’s performance.

See Also: How to Fix Packet Loss

Tools for Monitoring Network Bandwidth

Get more detailed insights about our recommended SIEM vendors. This additional information will give more clarity into their pricing structure, features, and support services.

1. Paessler PRTG Network Monitor (FREE TRIAL)

Best for: From small, medium to large enterprises, businesses of all sizes can purchase the product as per their need and requirements. Even businesses with a highly complex network system may find it a suitable option.

Price: Paessler PRTG Network Monitor offers 5 different packages for businesses of all sizes. Starting from $2,149 per year, the package is designed for small businesses, which allows network engineers to monitor up to 50 devices. Small and medium businesses can even invest in 100 device monitoring packages, available at $3,899 per year. Businesses with very large environments can monitor 1000 devices at a price of $17,899 per year. If you want to test the product, the vendor even offers a 30-day free trial.

Another great tool for monitoring bandwidth usage is Paessler PRTG Network Monitor. PRTG Network Monitor allows you to autodiscover devices within your network and monitor their traffic usage. With PRTG Network Monitor you can monitor SNMP, NetFlow, and WMI traffic to keep tabs on bandwidth availability.

Paessler PRTG Network Monitor’s key features:

• Autodiscovery and inventory of devices
• Throughput data from SNMP
• QoS sensor

Unique buying proposition

It is an all-in-one monitoring that comes with unlimited sensor flexibility. Further, it offers a sensor-based model, allowing granular control and extensive customization for networks of all sizes. IT businesses and network engineers looking for versatile monitoring within a single platform might find it a right choice.

Feature-in-focus: Sensor-based monitoring across bandwidth, server health, and applications

PRTG uses a unique system of “sensors” to let users tailor their monitoring setup precisely. The model supports everything from bandwidth to server health and application performance.

Why do we recommend it?

Paessler PRTG is a bundle of more than a thousand monitors that includes network testing systems such as Ping and TraceRoute. A series of sensors that implement packet sampling and traffic performance testing, such as NetFlow, provide insights into packet flows around the network.

PRTG Network Monitor also helps you to deal with bandwidth hogs so that you can see how much bandwidth is being consumed by individual devices and applications. This ensures that your network is optimized for every device and that you don’t have a few services slowing your connectivity down to a crawl.

Who is it recommended for?

Paessler PRTG is a very comprehensive package but you can spend less money by only accessing the sensors that you need instead of all of them. This makes the system accessible to businesses of all sizes. A free allowance of 100 sensors is appealing to small business owners.

Paessler offers unlimited use of PRTG for the use of up to 100 sensors. You can access a 30-day free trial to figure out what your network requirements are.

2. Site24x7 Network Traffic Monitoring (FREE TRIAL)

Best for: Small businesses might find it a perfect fit as it offers a good price in exchange for the quality and features. With a comprehensive set of network traffic monitoring features, businesses can better measure bandwidth consumption by devices and interfaces in real-time.

Price: Starting from $35/month (Pro, paid annually), small businesses can access the tool at an affordable price. It includes 5 Network monitoring interfaces and 2 Netflow analyzer interfaces. One can even proceed with the free trial session available for 30 days to test its features and other aspects.

Site24x7 Network Traffic Monitoring is the best option available for companies that want to use SaaS packages for their system monitoring services. This tool installs an agent on the network to gather data and works with flow protocols to identify traffic anomalies per link.

Site24x7‘s key features:

• Extracts data from switches
• Records link capacity
• Identifies capacity utilization

Unique buying proposition

Site 24×7 offers multi-location visibility. It stands out for its ease of deployment, agentless monitoring, and global reach — all managed from the cloud. Businesses with distributed infrastructure might find it a suitable option.

Feature-in-focus: Flow analytics pinpoints top talkers and bottlenecks

The tool offers flow-based traffic analysis that enables businesses to collect traffic data via flow protocols (NetFlow, J-Flow, etc.), helping pinpoint top devices, bandwidth hogs, and bottlenecks across hybrid environments. It can even generate intuitive visualizations for making informed decisions.

Why do we recommend it?

Site24x7 Network Traffic Monitoring sets itself up through a network discovery routine and then queries all discovered network devices for traffic data. Throughput information is compared to full capacity per interface so the tool can spot when one link is nearing its full capacity. This raises an alert, notifying technicians so they can take action and head off disaster.

The Site24x7 system communicates with switches and routers using flow protocols. As different manufacturers load their devices with different protocols, the Network Traffic Monitoring system needs all of them in order to collect data from all devices no matter the brand. The tool can use the NetFlow, IPFIX, sFlow, J-Flow, cFlow, AppFlow, and NetStream protocols. Data is uploaded to the server for assessment against alert thresholds and it is also stored for capacity planning analysis.

Who is it recommended for?

This package is sold in plans that also include network device status tracking and server and application monitoring. Base plans are sized and priced to suit small businesses and larger businesses pay extra for capacity expansions. Therefore, the package is suitable for any size or type of business and there is also a plan for managed service providers.

Site24x7 is a cloud-based system that has many monitoring modules that cover different technologies. The Network Traffic Monitoring service is just one of the units on the platform that also offers network device configuration management and log collection. Examine the Site24x7 platform with a 30-day free trial.

Site24x7 Network Traffic Monitoring Start a 30-day FREE trial

Also, the free SolarWinds Flow Tool Bundle is a useful addition to your analysis armory. The pack includes an interface that helps you to configure your Cisco routers to send NetFlow data to your collector. Two more utilities enable you to circulate traffic data around the network for testing purposes and also generate traffic to examine the performance of your equipment and network services in the face of extra demand.

Tools for Monitoring Throughput and Performance

3. SolarWinds Network Bandwidth Analyzer Pack

Best for: The network bandwidth analyzer tool is an ideal fit for large enterprises, network administrators, and multi-Vendor environments.

Price: Solarwinds Network Bandwidth Analyzer pack is available for free for 30 days. But the paid versions are also available for Network Performance Monitor (NPM), NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA), combined bandwidth analyzer pack.

SolarWinds Network Bandwidth Analyzer Pack is a product that can accurately measure the throughput of your network.

SolarWinds’s key features:

• Device discovery and logging
• Tracks the statuses of network devices
• Selects traffic data
• Alerts for performance problems
• Includes the NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

Unique buying proposition

Enterprise-grade depth with advanced analytics. SolarWinds offers deep insights into bandwidth and performance, a perfect tool for large organizations with complex networks demanding proactive traffic and capacity planning.

Feature-in-focus: NetFlow + NPM for real-time traffic, alerts, path analysis

Combining NetFlow Traffic Analyzer and Network Performance Monitor Integration capabilities allows businesses to gain real-time traffic insights with alerting and path analysis. The tool offers deep visibility into who is using your bandwidth, how, and why.

Why do we recommend it?

The SolarWinds Network Bandwidth Analyzer Pack is a package of monitoring tools that gives you a network device monitor and a traffic analyzer. The traffic monitoring services in this bundle identify the full capacity of all parts of the network and also shows the current data traffic volumes on each device and link. A path visualization service, called NetPath lets you see traffic on all of the links from one point on the network to another.

You can view throughput flow data alongside monitoring bandwidth with SNMP. There is also a network throughput test that can be mixed with pre and post-QoS policy maps to show if your QoS policy is improving the performance of the network over time.

Who is it recommended for?

This is a big package and it is suitable for the managers of large networks. Although the tools are useful for networks of all sizes, the complexities of all of the paths that are built into large LANs need a high-end tool like this.

See also: What is QOS

How to Optimize Network Bandwidth

Though bandwidth isn’t the same thing as speed, having poorly-optimized network bandwidth can have a negative impact on the performance of the network and produce a subpar user experience on many applications. In this section we’re going to look at how you can make sure that your bandwidth is optimized:

• Use QoS Settings
• Use Cloud-based Applications
• Eliminate Non-Essential Traffic
• Do Backups and Updates Outside Peak Hours

Use QoS Settings

Organizations commonly implement QoS or Quality of Service settings to help the network to support mission-critical applications. With QoS settings, you can set network traffic policies to prioritize certain types of traffic so that high-maintenance applications have all the bandwidth they need to perform well.

For example, if you were running a VoIP phone system you could set QoS settings to prioritize voice traffic. By prioritizing voice traffic you would make sure that end users have the best user experience possible as voice packets would take priority over less important forms of traffic.

Use Cloud-based Applications

Sometimes the easiest way to improve network optimization is to deploy applications in the cloud. By using public and private clouds you offload the pressure of maintaining that traffic within your own network. By letting a third-party company deal with the performance of these applications you reduce your monitoring burdens and can also increase the performance of your regularly-used applications.

Eliminate Non-Essential Traffic

Even in the most productive environments, it can be surprising how much non-essential traffic crops up on networks. It is not uncommon to find employees browsing on YouTube or streaming films on Netflix! Tightening up your internal policies to block this traffic can help to make sure that bandwidth isn’t being wasted on applications irrelevant to daily operations.

Do Backups and Updates Outside of Peak Hours

There are many instances where organizations put a strain on bandwidth by undergoing massive network backups and updates in the middle of the day. These software updates can have a substantial impact on the bandwidth availability of the network. This results in real-time latency and poor performance for users.

Scheduling backups and software patches outside of working hours or peak hours will help to minimize the impact that these changes will have on the network. Doing these necessary changes outside of normal working hours will make sure that the network is up and running for everyone.

See also: Best Free Bandwidth Monitoring Software and Tools

How to Optimize Network Throughput

Just like network bandwidth, data throughput can also be optimized. The key to optimizing your network throughput is to minimize latency. The more latency there is the lower the throughput. Low throughput delivers poor performance for end-users. There are many different ways to minimize latency and we’re going to look at some of the simplest ways here.

Monitor Endpoint Usage

The most common cause of latency is other users on the network. If employees are using traffic-intensive tools or applications then the performance of the network can slow dramatically, particularly if the individual is conducting downloads. Monitoring endpoint usage can allow you to find when employees are causing latency with applications that may or may not be related to work.

Using a network monitoring tool like Paessler PRTG Network Monitor or SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor can show you those devices that are eating up the available data. Once you’ve done so you can take action to get rid of them completely.

Find and Address Network Bottlenecks

Network bottlenecks are one of the main culprits behind networks with high latency. Network bottlenecks are where traffic becomes congested and slows the performance of the network. These bottlenecks can occur throughout the day depending on when traffic is most congested. In larger organizations, this tends to be after lunch when employees return to work, but it can be anytime the network is operational.

Addressing network bottlenecks can be done a number of ways starting with upgrading a router or switch to keep up with the traffic levels. Another way is to reduce the overall number of nodes (this will shorten the amount of distance that packets have to travel and reduce congestion).

See also: Best Tools To Monitor Throughput

Throughput vs Bandwidth: Closing Words

Throughput and bandwidth are two different concepts but they still have a close relationship with each other. Paying attention to both will help to make sure that your network holds the best performance possible. Remember that bandwidth is the pipe of theoretical transfer capacity whereas throughput is the water that tells you the rate of successful packet delivery.

Monitoring bandwidth usage and throughput together will provide you with the most comprehensive view of your network performance. Combining the two can allow you to make sure that your allocated bandwidth is being used optimally and allows you to confront performance issues like packet loss head on.

Our methodology for choosing Network Bandwidth Monitoring Tools

Network engineers and IT admins can easily find a wide range of networks bandwidth monitoring tools from the market. But determining the best one that aligns with their organizational goals can be challenging. So, we recommend comparing the key factors when figuring out a suitable tool for your organization. These methodologies will make it easier to compare and choose a suitable tool.

1. Traffic Flow Protocol Support

NetFlow, sFlow, and similar packet-based protocols are the backbone of most advanced network monitoring tools. Hence, check if your selected solution supports these standards. Also, if the tool can interact smoothly with routers and switches using these protocols.

2. Link & Path Visibility

Another key factor that a business must not miss when comparing tools, especially when considering large businesses with complex networks. In today’s time, end-to-end visibility is important. Hence, prioritize a tool that can map out traffic paths and provide link-by-link analysis. Thus, helping your network team identify the bottleneck in real-time.

3. Application-Level Insights

Some bandwidth issues might be generated from specific apps hogging resources. Having a tool in hand that can inspect and drill down into an application’s traffic can be a great choice. Compare tools based on their ability to trace the root cause at the application layer.

4. Throughput Trends

Monitoring tools are not only about generating real-time insights. It is also important to ensure that one can view trends over time and measure performance consistency with the robust tool.

5. Trial and Testing Options

In my professional opinion, tools that offer free trial or demo options can be a good choice as they will allow network admins to test compatibility and other features without stressing over the cost.

6. Value for Money

A bandwidth monitoring tool isn’t just about what it offers — it’s also about whether the price reflects its capabilities. We look at the complete package, including alerting systems, dashboards, scalability, and licensing terms, to help you decide if it’s worth the investment.

Broader B2B software selection methodology

Selecting B2B software is not only about measuring product quality but also covers various factors, including analysis of the company behind the product. Apart from comparing a product’s features and pricing, our Comparitech team takes a closer look at the vendor, too.

Here are a few more things that our team reviews or evaluates when selecting a tool or product:

• Is the price determined by the vendor fair to what the software helps you do?
• Software work quality analysis, and is it capable enough to grow with your business?
• How users have reviewed the product in the past.
• Does the vendor support its business partners or users actively? Do they work on product suggestions?
• Is the information provided by the vendor open and clear to the business, i.e., how it works?

Not all of these pointers are called out in each review, but the ones that stand out are clearly highlighted for the buyer’s guidance. For instance, if there is any information that is unique and important for the buyer to learn when purchasing a product, we call out loud.

Go through the detailed B2B software methodology page.

Why Trust Us?

Years of experience and a team of experts in software testers, network engineers, and IT analysts have made Comparitech a trusted platform. Over the years, our experts have reviewed countless products in this category, including how each tool performs in live environments. We also use our proprietary SupportScore methodology to share insights on how vendors might support your business post-purchase, making it easier to compare and make informed decisions.

Throughput vs Bandwidth & Related FAQs

Related: Network capacity planning tutorial