Applications are something that most modern enterprises use every day. While these applications have provided companies with new possibilities, they all take a toll on bandwidth (especially if there are some non-work streaming services thrown in!) Bandwidth limiter tools are vital for monitoring and restricting the amount of bandwidth that an application can consume which solves network congestion. In this article, we’re going to look at the six best bandwidth limiters.
Here is our list of the seven best bandwidth limiter tools:
- Paessler PRTG Network Monitor EDITOR’S CHOICE Our top pick for bandwidth limiting. Network monitoring tool with bandwidth monitoring and limiting features you can use to control consumption. Automatically discovers devices.
- ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer Netflow analyzer with bandwidth management with QoS policies, a customizable dashboard, alerts, and more.
- NetLimiter Bandwidth limiter for Windows devices with traffic prioritization, blocking and limiting.
- NetBalancer Bandwidth limiter with upload limits, download limits, interactive graphs, computer synchronization, and more.
- Zscaler Cloud-based firewall with bandwidth controls for traffic limiting, prioritization, traffic usage reports, and more.
- SoftPerfect Bandwidth Manager Bandwidth limiter with traffic prioritization rules, a live usage monitor, email notifications, usage reports, and more.
- Untangle NG Firewall Bandwidth management software available with Untangle NG Firewall, with traffic blocking and reports.
Best Bandwidth Limiter Software
1. Paessler PRTG Network Monitor
Paessler PRTG Network Monitor is a network monitoring tool with bandwidth monitoring. With Paessler PRTG Network Monitor you can monitor the bandwidth consumption of devices and applications through usage graphs. Graphs provide you with a top-down perspective for managing bandwidth usage.
You can also use the platform to control bandwidth consumption. You can monitor and limit the distribution of bandwidth amongst your devices. Bandwidth limiting is useful for those scenarios where you want to stop a resource-hogging application and improve the performance of the network, reducing network congestion along the way.
Setting up your monitoring environment is easy, with the assistance of an autodiscovery feature, which automatically discovers devices. Once they’ve been added you can choose between a range of out-of-the-box sensors to manage bandwidth usages such as the SNMP traffic sensor and the Packet Sniffer Sensor.
Paid versions start at $1,750 (£1,410) and are available on Windows and MacOS. You can download the 30-day free trial.
Key features:
- Automatically discovers devices
- Monitor bandwidth
- Set bandwidth limits
- Out-of-the-box monitoring templates
- Graphs
EDITOR’S CHOICE
Paessler PRTG Network Monitor is easy to use and provides you with the visibility you need to control bandwidth usage effectively. It’s also free for less than 100 sensors.
Get 30 Day Free Trial: paessler.com/bandwidth_control
OS: Windows or Hosted
2. ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer
ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer is a NetFlow traffic analyzer and bandwidth management tool that can monitor traffic patterns. Through a customizable dashboard, you can monitor the top usage by application and protocol with the support of pie charts. Using these views allows you to tell immediately if there are any bandwidth hogs you need addressing.
If there is excessive bandwidth consumption then you can add QoS policies to limit the traffic. You can also create access to contours lists to determine which applications can have access to your network. This is useful for eliminating any non-work applications!
If there is excessive bandwidth consumption then you can add QoS policies to limit the traffic. You can also create access to contours lists to determine which applications can have access to your network. This is useful for eliminating any non-work applications!
ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer is one of the best dynamic bandwidth limiters with NetFlow monitoring. Whether you’re monitoring overall traffic usage from a distance or taking a microscope to one application, the platform has everything you need. Prices start at $595 (£479) for up to 50,000 flows and it’s available for Windows and Linux. There is also a 30-day free trial that you can download from this link here.
Key features:
- Customizable Dashboard
- Visualizations (Graphs, Charts, Pie Charts)
- Bandwidth usage reports
- Apply QoS policies
- Threshold-based Alerts
3. NetLimiter
NetLimiter is a bandwidth throttling tool that enables the user to allow or block applications and control the amount of bandwidth they’re allowed to use. NetLimiter comes with three tools that let you control network traffic: Limits, Priorities, and Blocker. Limits enable you to set a maximum bandwidth transfer speed limit for an application.
The Priorities tool allows you to pick which application traffic has priority. NetLimiter has an internal priority engine, which automatically restricts other applications when a high priority application is in use. There are four priority levels that can be assigned: Critical, High, Normal, and Low.
Blocker allows you to block particular applications such as non-work services to minimize distractions. All of these tools can be customized with filters with the Filter Editor. Here you can filter applications by a full path, part of the path, localhost/loopback traffic, local IP address, destination IP address, local port numbers, remote port numbers, and more.
NetLimiter is ideal for enterprises that desire a simple traffic monitoring tool for Windows. NetLimiter is available for Windows 7, Vista, 8, 10, Server 2008 R2, Server 2012, and Server 2016. A Standard License costs $29.95 (£24). You can download the software from this link here.
Key features:
- Control application bandwidth usage
- Block applications
- Prioritize traffic
- Customizable filters
4. NetBalancer
NetBalancer is a dynamic bandwidth limiter that lets you control traffic usage on your computer. With NetBalancer you can implement download and upload limits to determine how many network resources are limited to an application. Traffic rules and filters give you complete control over the applications being used on your network.
The software also provides you with transparency over traffic and processes. You can view a history of upload and download traffic history, which you can interact with to edit the color scheme and adjust the time frame. There are also pie charts that you can use to view traffic data such as the top processes IPs in the last 24 hours.
For managing multiple computers, NetBalancer has a web-based console where you can synchronize settings. Simply set a time frame for the sync to take place and then check the events, traffic, and command settings that will be synced. All data will be encrypted and protected by TLS and SHA2 for additional security.
NetBalancer is a solid low-cost bandwidth limiting solution for Windows users. The software costs $49.95 (£40). You can start the 14-day free trial from this link here.
Key Features:
- Limit traffic
- Traffic prioritization
- Sync multiple computers
- Web API
- Graphs
- TLS and SHA2 encryption
5. Zscaler
Zscaler is a cloud-based firewall that offers bandwidth controls. With Zscaler, you can route local traffic to your internet connection and apply bandwidth policies to prioritize essential applications. The platform allows you to set traffic rules by class, location, and time. For example, you can create a class for Office 365 applications and assign it to the top priority in the traffic hierarchy.
When setting the rules, you can guarantee a particular percentage of bandwidth a class will have access to. For example, 40% for Office 365 while limiting non-essential applications like YouTube to 20%. You can speed limit large downloads to minimize the impact on network interface performance.
You can also use the program to monitor network usage with reports. Reports allow you to create graphs where you can view the difference in bandwidth usage among different applications.
Zscaler is a product designed for those using lots of cloud-based applications, who want a solution to manage bandwidth controls centrally. Zscaler has a subscription pricing model, but you need to contact the company directly for a quote. You can request a demo from this link here.
Key features:
- Bandwidth prioritization
- Restrict application usage
- Limit large downloads
- Bandwidth reports
6. SoftPerfect Bandwidth Manager
SoftPerfect Bandwidth Manager is a bandwidth limiter or traffic shaper that enables you to monitor and control network traffic. With SoftPerfect Bandwidth Manager, you can implement traffic prioritization rules to select which users have priority. You can also implement bandwidth throttling rules for IPs, MAC addresses, ports, and network interfaces, to make sure that network performance remains high.
Email notifications keep you notified about any important traffic changes. If you want to be more proactive then you can use usage reports to take a closer look at the activities of users throughout your network. Notifications and reports are great for helping you to stay on top of usage trends.
If you want to monitor live traffic then you can use the Live Usage Monitor. Here you can view streams in real-time and the most active streams in the past 30 seconds. There are network usage graphs to help to illustrate traffic changes over time to help you make sense of what’s going on.
SoftPerfect Bandwidth Manager is a fit for companies that require a basic bandwidth throttling. A single license costs $49.00 (£39), and the software is available for Windows. You can download the 30-day free trial from this link here.
Key features:
- Live usage monitor
- Traffic prioritization rules
- Usage reports
- Email notifications
7. Untangle Bandwidth Control (With Untangle NG Firewall)
Untangle Bandwidth Control is a bandwidth management tool that comes with Untangle NG Firewall. With Untangle Bandwidth Control you can monitor bandwidth usage throughout your network and impose controls. Create traffic rules to determine which applications have priority and give hosts quotas for traffic usage.
Quotas determine how much data a user can consume during a particular time period over the users’ Internet connection. If users exceed that quota, then you can configure the program to block their access automatically. This is great for blocking bandwidth hogs. All of these configurations can be edited easily through the Rules tab.
You can also create reports for more information on traffic usage. Reports can be managed through the Reports tab where you can view a range of reports on Bandwidth Usage, Top Hostnames Usage, Top Clients usage, Top Usernames Usage, Top Ports, Top Applications Usage, and more. These reports come with graphs so you can see inbound traffic as well as outbound patterns in more detail.
Untangle Bandwidth control is ideal if you want a tool for traffic prioritization that automatically blocks non-compliant users and bandwidth throttling. You can purchase the bandwidth control tool as part of Untangle NG Firewall Complete, which starts at $25 (£20) per month. You can start the 14-day free trial here.
Key features:
- Monitor bandwidth usage
- Traffic-shaping rules
- Bandwidth usage reports
- Block bandwidth hogs
Choosing a Bandwidth Limiter Tool
It only takes a couple of rogue bandwidth hogs to disrupt your network’s performance. Whether certain applications are consuming too much bandwidth or individual users are downloading lots of content or streaming, the best bandwidth limiters will be able to minimize the impact on the network.
Our top picks for this article are Paessler PRTG Network Monitor and ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer, as they offer a mix of bandwidth monitoring visibility coupled with QoS controls for reigning in bandwidth hogs and delivering solid user experience.