# Can we monitor OT with open-source tools on a small budget?

Yes, if someone has the time to run them. Mature open-source network monitors exist that can read several industrial protocols from a SPAN port. The cost is not the licence but the work: installing and updating the sensors, writing or tuning rules for your plant, storing the logs, building dashboards and, above all, having someone look at the alerts. For a plant with an OT engineer who enjoys this work, it can be a good start. If nobody has that time, the logs pile up unread, which gives you the feeling of monitoring without the result. NetSenX is the managed alternative: an agent on a SPAN or TAP port, alerts with a plain-language explanation, and the OT protocols from the Pro plan, with no rules for you to maintain. Whichever you choose, start with the boundary between office and production.

FAQ: [OT and IoT](https://netsenx.com/en/faq/ot) · https://netsenx.com/en/faq/can-i-monitor-ot-with-open-source-tools-on-a-budget

## Read next

- https://netsenx.com/en/ot-network-monitoring
- https://netsenx.com/en/pricing

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