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What’s so different about Spiceworks and other network monitoring and inventory software?

The biggest difference between Spiceworks and other software is the fact that its FREE for anyone to use. Spiceworks was formed in Jan 2006 by Jay Hallberg and Scott Abel is free to use and recommend for all Small to medium businesses.

The biggest thing IT managers have to deal with is tracking the patchwork of all the IT equipment in a company network, from printers to routers, servers to PCs and all the other assorted peripherals that go along with any network.

Being free Spiceworks enables IT pro’s to quickly test before implementing fully. Unlike LANDesk or Alteris you don’t have to worry about it not working right on your network or not doing 100% what you want. Spiceworks provides plugins in which allow you to change the whole look and feel.

Plugins

Something that is not in most network inventory tools are plugins. These allow you to either use someone else’s or create your own helping you develop Spiceworks and get the product you want. You can change how the interface looks, create reports, add in RSS feeds or even Dilbert comments.

Community

The Spiceworks community provides you with a great resource for all things IT, you can get help with a wide range of issues from Spiceworks to DNS problems. With more than 500,000 IT pro’s using Spiceworks there is a huge community ready to talk.

Reports

With the great reporting tools in Spiceworks you can quickly make and share reports with people who need them. Spiceworks gives you 20 ready-to-use reports but there are hundreds on the community waiting for you to use.

Works on Windows

Most of network monitor software works better on Linux as it is designed for geeks and network pro’s. Spiceworks breaks this wall down and allows anyone to quickly install and use all the features. Its hassle free setup makes it easy to use without any hassle.

Its free

Spiceworks is 100% free and always will be, this is one of the major differences between other network management software