A straightforward look at two cloud network platforms — what each is built to do, and when NMSaaS is the better fit.
Both NMSaaS and Auvik are cloud-based network monitoring and management products. Auvik is widely used by IT teams and MSPs who want fast, self-serve visibility. NMSaaS is a network-centric platform — discovery, monitoring, configuration backup, policy checks, and vulnerability and end-of-life reporting — set up and supported by the engineers who built it.
The table below uses only facts published on each company’s site, or already stated on nmsaas.com. It is not a claim that one product is better in every environment. Competitor list prices are not quoted here.
| Topic | NMSaaS | Auvik |
|---|---|---|
| Deployment | Cloud platform with a single on-site agent (Windows or Linux, physical host or VM). NMSaaS engineers handle setup, upgrades, and integrations. | Cloud-based. After you install an Auvik collector, Auvik says the network map draws itself and most networks have visibility in under an hour. Collectors can be deployed as often as you like; Auvik states they are free. |
| Audience (public positioning) | Enterprises and MSPs that need to monitor and manage large, multi-vendor networks (the site describes a range from 100 to over 75,000 devices). | IT professionals and MSPs. Auvik's homepage states: “80,000+ IT pros and MSPs manage their networks with Auvik.” |
| Core scope | Network discovery, inventory and mapping, performance, event and fault management, configuration backup and change, policy checks, vulnerability and end-of-life reporting, and managed integrations through NMLink. | Real-time monitoring, live topology mapping, automated inventory, traffic analysis, 64+ preconfigured alerts, configuration backup, and AI-guided troubleshooting and lifecycle insights, as described on Auvik's site. |
| Device coverage (public claim) | Vendor-agnostic. Discovery uses SNMP (v1, v2c, and v3), WMI, ICMP, APIs, and more. | Auvik's trial page states it works with 700+ device vendors and supports SNMP, NetFlow, SSH, vendor APIs, and more. |
| Configuration management | Save, store, and compare unlimited backups for any duration; automatic backup when a change is detected; scheduled and automated configuration changes; a full audit trail. | Auvik describes automatic configuration backups, side-by-side version comparison, change history, and restore of known-good configurations. |
| Policy and compliance checks | Policy Management applies rules to all devices or to a subset, with pattern-matching and script logic, violation alerts, and reports. Inventory, change history, and policy checks can support work related to SOC 2 Type II and ITIL. NMSaaS supports that work; it does not guarantee compliance. | Auvik's public pages emphasize backup, comparison, change history, and audit trails for device access and changes. |
| Vulnerability and end-of-life | Vulnerability and end-of-life reporting with configuration analysis, comparative EoL reports, and customizable alerts. Named coverage includes Cisco and Juniper, plus other vendors per request. | Auvik describes AI-powered lifecycle insights that flag aging hardware, security vulnerabilities, and performance risks. |
| Integrations | NMLink is a managed orchestration layer for service desks, CMDBs, and other applications. NMSaaS takes care of the integration work. | Auvik publishes a list of integrations (including ServiceNow, ConnectWise, Autotask, PagerDuty, Slack, Microsoft Teams, and others) plus APIs and webhooks. |
| Setup model | Done with you. A dedicated success engineer is committed to understanding your network. Provisioning, installation, and upgrades are handled in the cloud. | Self-serve is the lead story: Auvik says you can get started in minutes by installing a lightweight collector, with optional help from its sales team during a trial. |
| Trial | 45-day free trial. On the MSP page, evaluation software can be used on a client network, with training and dedicated support. | 14-day free trial, no credit card required, all features included, as stated on Auvik's trial and support pages. |
| Pricing | Typically costs less than comparable tools, with no upfront cost and pay-as-you-go billing. For MSPs, billing can be monthly or quarterly, and you only pay for the features you sell. | Auvik does not publish a list price; its pricing page is a quote form. |
Auvik and NMSaaS are closer to each other than either is to a general observability platform. Both discover devices, keep an inventory, draw topology, monitor the network, raise alerts, and back up device configurations in the cloud. Both use an on-site collector or agent and a web portal.
If the main need is fast, self-serve visibility — a live map, traffic insights, and config backups you turn on yourself — Auvik’s public story is built around that. Its trial is short and easy to start, and it publishes a long list of MSP-oriented integrations.
Setup and ongoing operation are part of the service. NMSaaS is sold as a platform that is set up and run with you, not only as software you deploy. That includes a single on-site agent, a dedicated success engineer, and cloud-side provisioning and upgrades. For integrations, NMLink is delivered as a managed service: you do not have to build the connections yourself.
“The team at NMSaaS made it a turn key set up. They did all the work for us, handed us the keys, and we were good to go.”
— Michael B., Director of Application Security
Operating since 2003, our team has delivered solutions to over 200 of the Fortune 1,000. NMSaaS customers include a U.S. state government, a top 10 global bank, a large Midwest state university system, an international MSP serving hundreds of clients, and one of the largest K-12 school systems in the U.S., on the Pacific coast.
A large Midwest state university system. A large Midwest state university system uses NMSaaS as a service provider to multiple colleges and universities in the system. It monitors over 800 Windows and Linux servers, runs a full inventory discovery every day, and sets custom monitoring KPIs by device classification, which gives the team complete control over the monitoring estate.
One of the largest K-12 school systems in the U.S., on the Pacific coast. One of the largest K-12 school systems in the U.S., on the Pacific coast, uses NMSaaS across more than 45,000 devices and 1,500 individual school locations. The platform monitors internet bandwidth usage and KPIs from every device for performance and fault data, and takes a daily backup of every device’s configuration.
Auvik may be a better starting point if you want to stand the product up yourself in minutes or hours, you are primarily buying live mapping, traffic analysis, and config backup, and a 14-day trial is enough to decide.
NMSaaS is usually the better fit if you want the vendor to handle setup, upgrades, and integrations; you need policy checks, automated configuration changes, or vulnerability and end-of-life reporting as part of the same platform; you are monitoring a large or complex multi-vendor network; or you want 45 days to evaluate the service on a real network.
MSPs comparing the two should also read the MSP page. NMSaaS is positioned for selling higher-margin services — compliance policy checking, configuration backup, NetFlow, lifecycle and vulnerability checks — with multi-tenant deployment and billing only for the features you sell.
Yes. NMSaaS is a cloud-based network monitoring and management platform. You install a single on-site agent; inventory, maps, dashboards, backups, and reports are used from your web portal.
NMSaaS offers a 45-day free trial. Auvik publishes a 14-day free trial with no credit card required. On the NMSaaS MSP page, evaluation software can be used on a client network, with training and support included.
Yes. Network Configuration & Change Management stores and compares unlimited backups, can back up a device automatically when a change is detected, and can schedule and automate configuration changes. Policy checks sit on the same platform.
No. NMLink is fully managed by NMSaaS. It can create and sync tickets in an existing service desk, keep a CMDB current from live inventory, and connect other applications by request.
NMSaaS typically costs less than comparable tools, with no upfront cost and pay-as-you-go billing. For MSPs, billing can be monthly or quarterly, and you only pay for the features you sell.
If you are comparing cloud network platforms and want to see NMSaaS against the network you actually run, book a call or start a 45-day free trial.
