N-able is a well-known name in the IT security industry with more than 25,000 MSPs and 8,000,000 managed endpoints. Its N-central RMM solution was voted as the #1 RMM platform for three consecutive years by CRN readers in 2021, 2022, and 2023. This goes to show the real-world effectiveness of the platform.

N-central’s workflow automation capabilities are second to none in the industry. It offers more than 650 built-in automation scripts – and you can also use its AI integration to create scripts from scratch. 

Additionally, it's one of the very few platforms that allow you to test it out for 30 days before purchasing a plan. That said, its pricing is only available on request, meaning you’ll have to spend time with its sales team to work out a deal.

But is it the best network monitoring tool out there? We take a closer look...

N-central: Plans and pricing

N-central does not reveal its pricing on its website, so you’ll have to reach out to their sales team with your requirements to get a custom quote. This can be beneficial for large businesses that need a highly customized solution for endpoint management. However, small teams may have to negotiate well to secure a good deal.

With that in mind, one of the best things about N-central is its 30-day free trial – something we don’t often see in the RMM industry. This gives you the opportunity to try the platform before committing to a purchase.

Now, it may so happen that you’re already on an RMM contract and want to switch to N-central. In that case, N-central offers you a price of $1/month for 12 months if you show proof of existing contractual commitment. This is an excellent offering!

N-central: Features

N-central stands out from other RMM platforms thanks to its excellent patch management features. In addition to OS patches, you can also run automated patches for more than 100 third-party applications, such as Skype and Zoom. The platform also ensures you do not miss any patches, including OOB (out-of-band) patches released by Microsoft, outside of their patch schedules. 

The patch policies are also highly customizable – you can implement them either across the entire organization, a specific department, a group of devices, or a single endpoint. Yes, other RMM platforms also allow you to automate a lot of workflows. However, N-central takes automation to the next level by providing more than 650 pre-made automation scripts, which can be deployed as they come out of the box or downloaded and customized as per your requirements. 

From automatic patch deployment to self-healing and auto-remediation, there are a lot of repetitive processes you can automate. You can also create an automation script from scratch using N-central’s GenAI capabilities.

Even when you’re switching from an existing RMM system, the customer support team works with you to import your existing automations on N-central. 

In addition to the core functions of discovering and monitoring all kinds of devices in a given network, N-central also offers some handy add-ons. For instance, it has joined hands with SentinelOne to offer Endpoint Detection & Response functions. 

Its AI-based ransomware protection and behavioral AI engines go beyond just traditional methods of signature-based detections. It can also help you roll back data and recover lost files within minutes – without having to pay a dime to the threat actors. 

We also liked N-central’s Cloud Commander add-on, which lets you manage Windows, Intune, and Azure devices from the same dashboard. This makes onboarding a new client and assigning licenses as easy as filling out a single form. 

You do not need to add a new client to the Azure client directory, create a mailbox in Microsoft 365, or set up the user’s details like role, location, and phone number. With Cloud Commander, you’d simply need to select the organization and add the new user.

N-Central also supports remote Apple mobile device management (MDM), which comes laced with integrations like Apple Business Manager and Apple School Manager. This makes the entire onboarding experience automatic and seamless and doesn't require much interference from the IT team.

N-central: Interface and performance

N-central boasts information-dense dashboards filled with various color-coordinated charts that help IT teams and MSPs drill down on endpoint data in real time. There are dedicated information boards for various functions, such as patching, backup, reports, analytics, integrations, and so on – you’ll find all these options on the left-hand side panel. 

What's more, you can also build a custom dashboard and choose between various data visualization charts, filters, and data inputs. We also found a lot of bar charts, pie charts, graphs, and other visual data representation tools, as well as a handful of filtering options, where you can view data by device type, OS name, customer, or site.

However, it's worth noting that the text on these boards may seem a bit cluttered or tiny and requires that users spend some time getting a hang of how things work.

N-central: Security

N-able holds an ISO/IEC 27001:2013 certification, which is also independently verified by Schellman & Company. The platform also complies with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (CCPA). These are proof that the platform complies with all legal regulations and frameworks while collecting and handling user data. 

N-able also pays special attention to its privacy-by-design policy, which ensures that all data collected by the platform is used for limited processing and only for the purpose it’s designed to be used. 

Seeing as it uses AI in various parts of its platform design, the company has also drafted a detailed AI policy to ensure transparency with its users and inform them how their data is being processed using AI tools. This is highly appreciated, especially in the modern cybersecurity landscape, which is rife with web scraping to collect vast amounts of data for AI development. 

N-central: Support

You can get in touch with an N-able representative through call, support ticket, or live chat. However, keep in mind that you’ll need to be logged in to your N-ableMe dashboard to do so. 

Moreover, N-able has an active resource center with hundreds of articles on various products, including N-central. There are also filters that can help you whittle down the products and topics you’re actually looking for. 

Lastly, ongoing live demos, which are completely free to join, will help you learn the ropes around the platform.

N-central: Final verdict

N-central is a popular RMM and security platform that stands out for its superior automation features. If you’re a large MSP or IT team looking to streamline workflows and endpoint monitoring, N-central’s 650+ automation scripts will be more than enough. Plus, its AI-powered monitoring and alert system prevents any vulnerability from seeping through your systems.

There are also several add-ons, like Endpoint Detection & Response, in collaboration with SentinelOne, which helps you detect and remove any malware attacks in real time with superior behavioral analysis. Additionally, a cloud management tool called Cloud Commander will help you manage Windows, Intune, and Azure environments from a single dashboard.

Overall, N-central’s basic RMM features are good enough for any small or mid-sized business. However, enterprise-level IT teams and MSPs may have to opt for some add-ons to derive the best value for their purpose. 

However, as is the industry’s norm, you’ll have to reach out to N-central’s sales team to get a custom quote, which will also depend on how well you’re able to negotiate. One of the best things about N-central is that you get a free trial of 30 days, which not too many RMM platforms offer.

N-central: FAQs

We rate the best identity management software.

SMBs and home offices seeking an affordable all-in-one security router will find Zyxel’s USG Lite 60AX a worthy contender. This diminutive desktop unit teams up a Wi-Fi 6 access point (AP) with an integral multi-gigabit switch, and the price includes a lifetime subscription to Zyxel’s Security Cloud.

This service includes a firewall, ransomware and malware prevention, VPN proxy, intrusion, dark web and ad blockers, application identification, GeoIP country restrictions, and mail fraud and phishing protection. The optional Elite Pack licence enables the Trellix-powered real-time threat intelligence and web category filtering services as well as a Nebula Pro Pack and costs £33 per year.

The router is designed to be desk-mounted, with the small and flimsy base stand rotated round to keep it upright. The switch has two 2.5GbE multi-gigabit ports for WAN and LAN connections and partners them with another four gigabit LAN ports, while the AX6000-rated AP claims speeds of 1,148Mbits/sec on the 2.4GHz radio and 4,804Mbits/sec for the 5GHz one.

The router’s local web interface provides only a basic status view and, to manage it, you assign it to your Nebula cloud account. This is easy enough to do: we used the Nebula iOS app on an iPad to scan the QR code on its base and add it to our site.

The device appears in the Nebula dashboard as a new security router, and the main view can be easily customized. Dedicated widgets are provided for the router’s uptime and firmware status, threat detection by category and client, the top ten apps discovered by the application identification service and an OS chart of connected clients.

For wireless services, you can create up to eight site SSIDs each with their own WPA2 or WPA3 authentication scheme and decide which radios are active on each one. Setting the guest option on an SSID enables L2 isolation so wireless clients can’t see each other. You can assign custom captive portals with your own logos and greeting messages, a walled garden and clickthrough, voucher, Facebook or Nebula authentication.

Wireless performance will depend on whether the application identification service is enabled – when testing Zyxel’s SCR 50AXE desktop router, we found it hit wireless speeds by up to 50%. Fortunately, the USG Lite 60AX has a more powerful quad-core 2GHz CPU so its impact was far less concerning.

We tested with a Lenovo Windows 11 Pro 24H2 client equipped with a TP-Link Archer TBE550E Wi-Fi 7 PCI-E adapter. With application identification disabled, we recorded close-range file copy speeds between the client and a server on the 2.5GbE LAN of 164MB/sec, which dropped by 16.5% to 137MB/sec with it turned on.

The six threat management components are accessed from the Nebula security router settings page and can be enabled or disabled using slider bars. Nebula’s threat report provides an activity graph, a map showing the countries they’re coming from and tables of threats by category and client, with the latter allowing you to instantly block systems if their hit rate is excessive.

Application identification provides options to apply custom app blocking lists and traffic shaping rules for selected clients. The Elite Pack licence is well worth considering as its web content filtering presents 103 URL categories and access can also be fine-tuned for clients or IP addresses.

The USG Lite 60AX is a great entry-level security router, and lifetime support for Zyxel’s Security Cloud service means there are no ongoing costs to worry about. Application identification does have a modest impact on performance but it delivers a fine range of security features, and businesses with remote workers will appreciate Zyxel’s Nebula cloud management.

We also compared the best routers for gaming.

Having reviewed several portable power stations from varying brands across the years, the noted mainstays of the industry was mainly copy and paste with few tweaks and features. Nearly all of them were of a large boxlike design often with a status screen, varying power in and outputs and maybe an app. Portable was only the word used in that you could pick it up and cart it off elsewhere, but some of them were bulky and pushing north of 20kgs in weight.

The Bluetti Handsfree 2 brings a whole new designed approach with portable the forefront of the product aimed at a niche of customers who may find this the very thing they are after. With a power bank shaped differently (narrower, flatter body shape) compared to the standard box. How does it compare to the best portable power stations? I put it to the test.

Bluetti Handsfree 2: Packaging

We received the Bluetti Handsfree 2 which is a Bluetti branded dark blue rucksack like bag, in it containing the power bank with 512Wh of power storage and a maximum combined output of 700W.

The box was a plain cardboard box which we have come to expect from Bluetti with only text on the outside detailing what’s within.

Pulling the bag out we found everything to be contained within the bag including the following:

• The aforementioned bag
• The Bluetti Handsfree 2 700W 512Wh power bank
• AC charging cable
• An XT60 to MC4 cable
• Manual and Warranty Card

Bluetti Handsfree 2: Fit and feel

Firstly, we will have a look at the power bank, measuring 382mm high by 300mm deep by 99mm wide you can tell is not box shape, think more like the “under monitor PC case” often seen in business office shape.

When talking of the power bank we will be discussing it in its upright position as the lettering clearly indicates that this is the right way up for the unit. At the base of the unit are two large rubber feet on the bottom to prevent sliding or tipping. The sides of body have the now recognisable Bluetti ridge effect on the sides we have seen I the previously reviewed AC240 and AC200L. One of the sides is clearly considered the down side if the unit was to be laid flat as there are 10 rubber feet.

At the front is the status screen, more on this later, below the screen are the only buttons, they are the on/off buttons for the unit itself, DC and AC. Below that are two USB-C, both capable of 100W outputs, below that are two USB-A with 15W output. Lastly at the front is the XT60 DC input for the unit supporting between 12 to 45Volts with a max 8.2amp or 350W input to charge the power bank.

At the rear is the AC output outputting 230V with a maximum 700W, the inverter capable of Pure Sine Wave output at 50 or 60Hz, in the centre is the AC input, thankfully a standard C13 connector and lastly the earthing screw point for the unit.

It was noted that our review unit was originally built for the EU market as it came with the Schuko Type F AC cable and AC outlet built into the unit meaning that for us to use and review it, we had to use an EU to UK plug travel adapter. Of note, this power bank does have UPS capability.

The status screen is the typical layout expected in Bluetti products, if you have used their other power banks before, you’ll be familiar with this one. In the centre is the total % remaining with a rough running time below depending on in/outputs. On the left is the input wattage for both AC and DC, on the right is the output wattage for AC or DC with indication as to which one is being used.

Now on to the ruck sack itself. The bag is made from a very high-quality Polyester fabric/material with padding in several places with some useful built in features.

At the front is the Bluetti logo, at the top is a small zip pouch, below that is a pouch with a hook and loop fastened flap with 6 loops of fabric tape that resembles MOLLE loops but isn’t and at the bottom is a large zip up pouch which contains some internal pockets for ID badges, pens etc. Between the flaps are buckles so that items and things can be looped through them.

Opening the first part of the bag reveals what I like to call “the personal compartment” of the bag, this has a more typical carryon luggage type of compartment, it has mesh compartments both zipped and not as well as the straps often found in such type of luggage. There is a zip the runs all the way around that allows you to expand the entirety of the compartment so that you may fill it with clothes, toiletries and personal effects.

The next compartment I like to call the “equipment compartment”. This has a pouch for a laptop, I was able to easily fit a 13” and 15” laptop, both at the same time. This compartment has various padding dividers allowing you to customise the inside based on what devices you wish to carry such as cameras, drones etc.

The last compartment and the one closest to your back is the power bank one, the space is a snug compartment for the power bank with hook and loop straps to hold it in and a top divider allowing you use the last 20% of the rear compartment for personal effects. The sides of this compartment have vented rubber like flaps which can be opened to allow access to the front and back of the power bank without having to remove it from the bag itself, inside this is also a nice little leather detail of Bluetti’s logo and a slogan. An odd note was that the covering flap said “only use with Handsfree 1” though this is the Handsfree 2?

Finally, some other points of the outside of the bag are, at the top is a security 3-digit combination lock for the equipment section, at the bottom are two carrying straps which can be used to cinch items to the bag, I pictured a camping mat. Some smaller loops on the front of the bag for hooking carabiners or as they show in their publication, portable solar panels to charge the power bank. On either side are two straps which can be used to hold the side flaps up and open for access to the power bank. There are two mesh pockets to stash water bottles or small items and towards the top bungee cords for securing longer items and objects.

The two shoulder straps are well padded with various adjustment straps above the shoulders and at around the waistline. On the left strap is a non removable GoPro mount just above the chest strap. Then there are the waist straps which have little pouches built into them, I also located the storm cover in the right waist strap pouch. On that note all external zips have a rubber like lining to them to improve water repellency as does the fabric of the bag itself.

Bluetti Handsfree 2: In use

Using it is as simple as charging up the power bank in your method of choice, slip it into the bag and fill it up with what you need. The first thing that was noticed was the heft of the bag even when empty weighing in at a little over 10Kgs.

Once filled with equipment and clothes at the maximum expansion, it was noted how chunky the bag was protruding from my back, in the image the manual is A5 in size. It is so big and heavy I don’t think it can be classed as carry on luggage at all, battery capacity notwithstanding as most airlines have a maximum lithium battery capacity size of 160Wh.

The bag has no internal rigid frame meaning that the body of the bag is made by the battery, not a bad thing as it lightens the weight. One person pointed out that a frame with wheels at the base and a pull handle like those seen on carry-on and larger suitcases would have been a nice touch as carrying it by back or hand would rapidly be tiring.

I handed this to a person who works in emergency services, where remote power was often needed or necessary for on site incidents to have a go at using. Using it for a week, he noted that the external zips on the battery compartment flaps snagged the mesh pockets on the side, which in turn tore the mesh netting leading to a hole (see photo).

He noted that this was the only design flaw of the bag, he commented on how well built the bag was but that it wasn’t made for emergency services in mind as the compartments shape and size did not suit him. The weight was another factor as he was now carrying around a far bigger battery pack than before, also comments from colleagues about the sheer size of the bag.

So, who is this product made for? My guess, and that of Bluetti’s, is for the drone operator or photographer who needs to carry their equipment, needs an amount of portable power and maybe a change of clothes for an overnight shoot or job at a remote location which requires only walking to for that last mile or two from a larger base camp or vehicle. I cannot see this being used as an every day carry for daily use unless you want a work out.

There is the standard Bluetti App which faultlessly syncs to the battery giving you more control, status and options than the three buttons on the front. The app is well made showing you more detail on charge and discharge stats.

Bluetti Handsfree 2: Price

Currently this product isn’t available in the UK or EU markets, the US shows it retailing with a launch price of $399 but an RRP of $599 (£305 GBP and £460 GBP respectively). No tell of when there will be a UK or EU launch date for this product.

Oddly, you can buy the battery which comes with the bag or the bag itself for $199 USD (£152 GBP) but you can’t buy the battery alone, I would say that there is probably a market for those that want this battery size.

Bluetti Handsfree 2: Final verdict

Overall as a product, it is very well made, the battery power bank is large enough to handle most day to day charging of small electronic devices with ease without seeming to be underpowered when compared to smaller battery banks. If you need more output wattage then the bigger brethren of the Handsfree 2 would be needed such as the AC200L.

The ruck to carry it is very well made for a company who are not specialised in ruck sacks or equipment bags, its quite clear that Bluetti did their research and know that this product is aimed for the tech gear person who travels (but not by air) and needs portable power but not the heavy lifting of larger battery banks.

A great bag for drone operators as it has space for one or two drones, batteries and kit for them. Dare I say a certain country would love this product where they have plenty of field drone operators, the need for portable power in a small, agile product.

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WatchGuard’s Firebox M390 shows that high-end security appliances don’t always command a high price. Targeting busy SMBs with up to 250 users, this affordable 1U rack model boasts a top raw firewall throughput of 18Gbits/sec, dropping to a respectable 2.4Gbits/sec with all UTM security services enabled.

A simplified licensing scheme makes it easy to manage costs. We’ve shown the price of a Total Security Suite (TSS) subscription, which enables everything WatchGuard has to offer. This includes gateway antivirus, anti-spam, web content filtering, application controls, intrusion prevention services (IPS) and an advanced persistent threat (APT) blocker with cloud sandboxing.

You also get WatchGuard’s reputation enabled defense (RED) cloud-based URL filtering, ThreatSync XDR for collection, correlation and automated responses to threat events, and DNSWatch to monitor client DNS requests and block access to known malicious domains. It has enough power to run the Cylance AI-based IntelligentAV malware scanning engine; the elderly dual-core Celeron in the M370 has been upgraded to an 8-core NXP LS2084A CPU.

There’s room to grow, as the front expansion bay accepts modules with gigabit, 10GbE or 2.5GbE multi-gigabit ports. Note that the PoE+ services on the multi-gig module will be disabled as the M390 doesn’t support the required 54V power supply, which is only available on the M590 and M690 models.

The appliance is easy to deploy. Its web console wizard sorts out the LAN and WAN network interfaces and applies a base set of firewall policies that include blocking common undesirable web categories. We had already registered the appliance’s serial number with our cloud support account so the wizard grabbed our TSS feature key and applied it.

The M390 can be managed in standalone mode, but businesses with multiple appliances will prefer WatchGuard’s Cloud portal, which is included in both the Basic Security Suite (BSS) and TSS subscriptions. Two choices are available: you can keep local management and set the appliance to send its logs to the cloud for remote monitoring and reporting or move it all into the cloud.

Full cloud management is activated by allocating the appliance from your account inventory and enabling it from the local console. The portal steps through WAN port setup and applying new admin passwords, after which the appliance disables local management.

Cloud configuration is simple as the portal groups all security settings for the appliance in one page. From the content scanning section you activate antivirus scanning, APT blocking, IntelligentAV and anti-spam policies for incoming SMTP, IMAP or POP3 traffic.

The network blocking section covers botnet detection, IPS, port and site blocks and detection of Tor exit points. WatchGuard’s WebBlocker service is accessed in the content filtering section and offers 166 URL categories that can be allowed, blocked or set to display a warning page to users.

Each content filter action policy manages both web access and application controls. The latter presents nearly 1,300 predefined app and protocol signatures, with Facebook and X activities getting the lion’s share of the social networking category. They’re easy to apply; when creating firewalls rules, you simply choose the action policy you want to assign.

The portal’s monitoring page provides a wealth of information on all activities. Graphs and charts are provided for live activity, traffic, detected malware and botnets, application usage, blocked websites, top clients and much more.

The Firebox M390 will appeal to SMBs with a large user base. It combines strong performance with an incredible range of security measures all at a competitive price. It’s easy to deploy and WatchGuard’s cloud portal delivers excellent remote management and monitoring features.

We also rated the best anti-virus software for PC.