How to monitor the data usage of all devices on your network
NetWorx product page & download
If your Internet provider caps your data or charges for going over a limit, it helps to know how much each device uses. Even a home network has very different devices: computers, phones, tablets, TVs, games consoles, streaming boxes and smart home appliances. This article explains the ways to watch them all, and what each can and cannot show.
With your router
Every device reaches the Internet through your router, so the router is the one place where all traffic can be counted. Most home routers, however, show little or nothing about data usage, keep no history, and rarely break usage down by device. Some advanced routers do, and third-party router firmware can add it, but that takes some technical knowledge.
On each device
If your router offers no usable figures, you can count the traffic on each device with a program such as NetWorx or NetGenius, which keep detailed usage history, reports and statistics. The limit is that a program can only count traffic on the device it runs on, and phones, TVs and appliances cannot run such programs.
With NetWorx
NetWorx runs on Windows, macOS and Linux and counts the traffic of the computer it is installed on. To cover more than one device, you have two options:
- Install NetWorx on every computer and tick Synchronise usage data with other NetWorx instances on the network on the Advanced page of Settings on each. The copies of NetWorx then share their records, so each shows the overall usage, with an extra tab in the usage reports listing each computer. Phones, tablets and TVs are still not counted.
- Monitor your router, if it supports SNMP or UPnP: choose Monitor a network adapter on this computer or a remote router on the Main page of Settings and select the router. NetWorx then counts all the traffic through the router, from every device, but as one total without a breakdown by device, and the computer running NetWorx must stay on to keep counting.
With NetGenius
NetGenius also counts traffic only on the computers where it is installed, and runs on Windows only. It has two parts: a system service, which does the monitoring and must be installed on every computer you want to monitor, and a management console, installed on at least one computer, from which you can see and control all of them.