Network monitoring applications - taking a look at Glasswire, Sniffnet, Postmaster, and alternatives
There are moments when you want to know what's your network usage due to for example cellular limits or want to check for suspicious activity on your PC. Easy-to-use tools for non-technical users are the way to go and multiple options are available.
Glasswire
Glasswire is an easy-to-use monitoring application available for Windows and Android. Most features are available at the free tier but there are few extras for the paid version (and Glasswire often sponsors some YT creators like LTT giving them discount codes).
The app groups network traffic by application and has some options to block traffic.
Portmaster
Portmaster is an Open Source application available for Windows and Linux. It offers similar network monitoring as well as options to block ads and trackers, known malware hosts, and more.
Sniffnet
Sniffnet is an application that focuses on network monitoring. It doesn't group traffic by applications but rather looks at a selected network interface. It's available for Windows, Linux, and macOS.
Other applications
There are a lot of such applications, but they quickly tend to go on the power-user side rather than simply for end-users. Little Snitch is a simple app for macOS. Checkmk is an example of a more advanced commercial tool, an IT monitoring platform.
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