Obkio

Obkio is a network performance monitoring service for teams tracing intermittent problems across sites, devices, and applications. It is best suited to organizations that need frequent synthetic checks and route-level diagnosis; its two-agent free plan is a narrow starting point, while broader use requires a quote.

Overview

Obkio combines synthetic tests between locations with device health monitoring, application checks, and visual traceroutes. Agents run tests every 500 milliseconds, measuring latency, packet loss, jitter, throughput, and MOS score. That regular cadence and breadth of signals can help teams narrow down where a performance problem emerges, rather than relying on a single connectivity measure.

Its synthetic-traffic approach avoids capturing real user traffic, which may suit teams that want network signals without collecting user sessions. The trade-off is that synthetic checks do not amount to monitoring actual user traffic.

For more options, browse Network Performance Monitoring Software, VoIP Monitoring Software, and Network Monitoring.

Key features

• Frequent synthetic checks: Distributed agents test network paths every 500 milliseconds. Teams can track latency, packet loss, jitter, throughput, and MOS score, useful for spotting intermittent changes over time.
• Device health correlation: SNMP monitoring gathers health data from routers, switches, and firewalls. Correlating that data with performance metrics can help distinguish a device problem from a broader network issue.
• Application checks and traceroutes: Application monitoring helps separate network trouble from application or user issues, and HTTP URLs can be tested. Visual traceroutes expose each hop and its latency, giving teams a practical way to locate where a path degrades.
• Operational workflow: Notifications or events can connect to Slack, Microsoft Teams, PagerDuty, and HTTP webhooks. Reports can be exported to Excel, PDF, or JSON and scheduled daily, weekly, or monthly.
• Security and support: MFA, TLS-encrypted communications, stored-data encryption, user roles, and audit logs are included among the security provisions. Documentation is available around the clock; live chat and email support run weekdays from 9am to 5pm EST.

Pricing

Obkio is freemium. The Free plan is free, lasts indefinitely, and supports up to two software agents. That is useful for a small proof of concept, but the cap is restrictive for monitoring multiple locations.

The 14-Day Free Trial is free and includes Premium features for 14 days, with a maximum of 10 agents and no credit card needed. At the end, the account switches to Free and agents above two are disabled, so teams should plan for that cutover rather than treating the trial as an ongoing tier.

Paid options use custom pricing. Starter is aimed at SMEs with fewer than three locations; Basic is for multiple network locations; and Premium targets mid-to-large multisite networks. The 50 Remote Users plan includes 50 agents, 10 devices, two users, Public Monitoring Agents, and Windows 11 and macOS workstations; 100 Remote Users doubles the agent count, with the same stated device, user, monitoring-agent, and workstation limits. Non-Profit Organizations is for multi-site NPOs, Custom Enterprise is for MSPs and large businesses, and Education Sponsorship serves colleges and universities. These are quote-based rather than price-transparent tiers, so organizations must contact Obkio to assess cost.

Platforms

Obkio supports Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, web, and Windows, and offers an API. Hybrid deployment gives teams flexibility in how they place monitoring components, while email is the stated alert channel.

Who it's for

Obkio is a strong fit for small businesses growing into multisite monitoring, distributed organizations, MSPs, remote users, nonprofits, and educational institutions that need to investigate network performance across locations. Its application checks and hop-level traceroutes are particularly relevant when teams need to separate service problems from network-path faults. It is less compelling for a team that needs broad coverage without requesting a quote, or one whose priority is observing real user traffic.

Pros and cons

• Pros: 500-millisecond synthetic checks combine several performance measures; SNMP device data, application checks, and visual traceroutes provide complementary ways to isolate a fault; scheduled exports and named integrations support operational follow-through.
• Cons: The free plan stops at two agents, and the 10-agent Premium trial falls back to that cap after 14 days; paid plans require a quote, making costs harder to compare upfront; synthetic traffic does not capture real user traffic.

Alternatives

Choose Paessler PRTG Network Monitor if a freeware allowance of up to 100 sensors (about 10 devices) better fits the initial scope. ManageEngine OpManager is another option when a perpetual free edition covering three devices is the better match.

PingPlotter may suit a narrow path-monitoring need: its free plan permits one connection, has no remote collection, and keeps 10 minutes of monitoring history. For bandwidth rules and usage monitoring on a limited setup, consider SoftPerfect Bandwidth Manager, whose Lite plan is free and allows five rules or streams.

Checkmk is an alternative with a free Community edition, 2,000+ pre-built integrations, and support for up to about 100 hosts. Zabbix is another option. Riverbed Aternity is an enterprise offering. Choose perfSONAR if an open-source, free network measurement toolkit is preferable and you can manage its installation and infrastructure yourself.

Verdict

Obkio is worth considering for teams that need frequent synthetic monitoring, device and application context, and clear route-level clues to diagnose intermittent network trouble. The free tier can establish a small foothold, but the two-agent cap and quote-based paid plans make it a less suitable choice for buyers who need a larger deployment with straightforward, published pricing.