What Is ntop and ntopng? Monitoring Explained
ntop is the company, ntopng is the tool most people mean
ntop is a company and an open source project that builds software to monitor network traffic. ntopng is its best known tool: a web based traffic analysis and flow collection application.
In short: ntop makes the tools, and ntopng is the one you open in your browser to see what happens on your network.
first ntop release
Layer-7 protocols
source tools
Quick answers
What is ntop? What is ntopng?
What is ntopng?
ntopng is a web based network traffic probe and flow collector. It shows hosts, flows, applications and alerts in real time, keeps history and works with packets, NetFlow, sFlow and IPFIX. The Community edition is free and open source.
What is ntop?
ntop is the company behind ntopng, nProbe, nDPI, PF_RING, n2disk, nEdge and nScrub. The name also comes from the original ntop tool, released in 1998, whose successor is ntopng (next generation).
What is the difference between ntop and ntopng?
ntop is the original tool and the company name. ntopng is the current product. If you want to monitor a network today, you want ntopng.
Is ntopng free?
Yes, the Community edition is free and open source (GNU GPLv3). Pro and Enterprise editions are commercial. See the pricing page.
The tools
The ntop product family
ntopng
Traffic analysis and flow collection in a web interface.
nProbe
NetFlow, IPFIX and sFlow probe and collector.
nDPI
Open source deep packet inspection library.
PF_RING
Packet capture acceleration for Linux.
n2disk
Record full packets to disk without loss.
nEdge and nScrub
Gateway policies and DDoS mitigation.
What it does
What ntopng helps you do
- See which hosts and applications use your bandwidth.
- Detect unusual behavior and security issues with alerts.
- Collect NetFlow, sFlow and IPFIX from routers and switches.
- Keep a history of traffic for troubleshooting and capacity planning.
- Identify applications, even in encrypted traffic, with nDPI.
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Brand and logos
Logos and colors of ntop and its products.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
What does ntop stand for?
ntop is the name of the project and company. It comes from the original tool, a network top: a top-like view of network traffic.
Who makes ntopng?
ntopng is developed by ntop, with a community of contributors, as open source software on GitHub.
Where can I download ntopng?
From packages.ntop.org/, see the download hub, or from GitHub for the source code.
Get started
Try ntopng on your network
Download the free Community edition, compare editions and buy in the shop, or talk to the ntop team about your requirements.
