AlertSite vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor comparison

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339 views|249 comparisons
100% willing to recommend
SolarWinds Logo
5,107 views|3,370 comparisons
87% willing to recommend
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between AlertSite and SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed AlertSite vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor Report (Updated: March 2024).
769,236 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"The best feature of AlertSite is that it shows you a visual graph and also sends you notifications about errors, so you get immediate notifications about errors which means that your support team can start taking steps and more quickly make sure the site is up and that customer experience isn't interrupted in terms of using your system and your products. AlertSite is a very good tool. It's user-friendly, and you can see everything on the dashboard. Configuring it is also easy.""If there are any issues, it triggers an alert within 30 seconds. When it triggers the alert, we go ahead and check it immediately. The alert is triggered on a real-time basis.""There are custom reports available along with the inbuilt reports.""This solution has numerous advantages. It's extremely simple to configure. Either digital monitors or single-URL monitors are simple to configure and build.""I found multiple features in AlertSite that I like. One is data monitoring history, for example, a history of the blackouts and the data. Sometimes, there's a glitch in the application that AlertSite can capture, and the tool notifies you about that glitch. It also identifies issues that could happen in the future. AlertSite is also a fast tool that you can use to monitor on-premise servers, internal applications, and even global applications. The data is available on a single UI in AlertSite, so there's no need to monitor and click on different applications or URLs. I also love that the tool is quite user-friendly, apart from being fast."

More AlertSite Pros →

"Extremely user friendly: Any IT professional can learn how to admin NPM in a short time.""The application dependency feature identifies issues between applications and servers or within the network where the application is hosted. It highlights related problems, whether related to packet processing or other issues, enabling the creation of alerts and reports accordingly.""I am impressed with the tool's AppStack feature which mainly helps us in the identification process. This feature can give an overview of the fault and help us identify the issues for performance degradation. Instead of looking at multiple places, we can look at a single place to identify the issues.""I find it to be a strong product suite, particularly when you need a comprehensive monitoring tool.""AppInsight for SQL: Enables us to see the relevant error log entries on the same page as performance parameters.""The solution is end-to-end from the network and the application to the processes. Everything about the enterprise infrastructure is being covered by the solution. It's easy to use and easy to navigate and one of the leaders among monitoring solutions.""Manage Groups: The capability to group appropriate devices gives better visibility of sites, categories, or critical regions. The same can be used to represent a dashboard for higher management.""There are many valuable features, including the network configuration manager, and the network performance manager."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor Pros →

Cons
"What needs improvement in AlertSite is the documentation, particularly the lack of documentation. If there's a specific activity you want to do, you can't even find information on how to do it, so you have to contact the AlertSite support team to assist you, and only then would the issue be resolved. At the moment, it's not easy to find or get full documentation on how to deal with different issues. You always have to go back to AlertSite support and get help. The documentation for AlertSite could be improved and it's what I'd like to see in the next release of the tool because at the moment, the documentation isn't complete, so you'll have to contact support, but contacting support isn't an issue because the team responds to you quickly.""AlertSite sometimes triggers false alerts or fake alerts, which needs to be rectified. When we see an alert and go ahead and run certain tests on it, the test always passes. However, on the main screen, it shows up as critical. Therefore, the false alert needs to be fixed.""I would like the ability to get more data points with regard to some of the unique requirements that we have.""It is not compatible with all of the product platforms that we use.""One area that needs improvement in AlertSite is the slow UI. I'm using the classic UI because it's quite user-friendly, or in human-readable format, but it's a little slow. It takes time to load all the monitors, so if that could be sped up, that would be helpful. The AlertSite support team also needs improvement in terms of availability. Most of the agents in the team aren't available 24 x 7, so if there's something you need to discuss, you need to tell the support team ahead of time to schedule it. Multiple times, when a case comes up during weekends or whenever my team is doing an update, support needs improvement, availability-wise. I use AlertSite for synthetic monitoring, so whatever is available right now is okay, but if I want to request a new feature on a website, currently, the UI refreshes automatically. I would like to have the option on AlertSite to configure that manually. The UI auto-updates every few minutes, so if I can control that manually, that would be helpful."

More AlertSite Cons →

"There is one feature that is a report writer. And they are currently trying to take it out from being a stand-alone application and integrating to the web. This doesn't give us the flexibility and it doesn't expand what we can get when it comes to reporting. So, putting it on the web is going to make it difficult to get some information. Leaving it where it is now will help us a lot.""This product has no real downside unless they fail to continue development of its capabilities.""Some custom applications cannot be monitored, and a lot more applications need to be included.""The templates could use improvement. Currently, they are quite complex. They should have drag-and-drop functionality instead. It would make it easier to use.""The product does not explain why a problem occurred.""A lot of times, we have to do a lot of manual cleanups.""They should incorporate more artificial intelligence. There should also be more predictive features.""SAM AppInsight for SQL: The ability to ignore fragmentation of specific indexes."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "We purchased the license once and had the option of selecting the number of user licenses."
  • "My company pays to use AlertSite, but I'm unsure of the exact costs because it depends on how many monitors you have."
  • "The cost is high."
  • More AlertSite Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "I have always said SolarWinds is very “proud” of their products, meaning they are expensive. I cannot afford to purchase all the licenses I need for all the SolarWinds products."
  • "When planning for the number of licenses to purchase, make sure you understand all of the elements within an application required to really understand performance well. In our case, we quickly came to the conclusion that an unlimited license for SAM was the way to go."
  • "Nagios XI, WhatsUpGold, Uptime Software, PRTG, Manage Engine, and SpiceWorks are the other tools that have lower pricing and licensing costs. However, they can't compete with SolarWinds when it comes to the features and functionality that SolarWinds can provide."
  • "I would advise potential buyers to wait until the end of the quarter, end of year, or other time to place orders. There are actually great deals to be had at those times if your budget cycle can match up."
  • "Pricing and licensing is fair for what you get. It does have a great bang-for-the-buck appeal."
  • "SAM is not per server so the pricing model can be deceiving. If you have an enterprise environment, you will quickly exceed your licensing quickly. You should know this before going in."
  • "Understanding the counts of objects to monitor will determine the licensing need. In terms of pricing, it’s not cheap but it’s not expensive as larger vendors whose products don’t have all the features or integrations."
  • "The product might cost you $30,000 USD to buy, but scaling this solution requires the purchase of additional polling engines at $20,000 USD each."
  • More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:I found multiple features in AlertSite that I like. One is data monitoring history, for example, a history of the blackouts and the data. Sometimes, there's a glitch in the application that AlertSite… more »
    Top Answer:The management team handles the licensing policy for AlertSite. I have some billing details, but I'm unable to share them.
    Top Answer:One area that needs improvement in AlertSite is the slow UI. I'm using the classic UI because it's quite user-friendly, or in human-readable format, but it's a little slow. It takes time to load all… more »
    Top Answer:The price is too high. The tool is overpriced. We don't need all the features. The product must minimize the features and reduce the price. It all comes down to pricing. The customers find it pretty… more »
    Top Answer:The biggest pain point is root cause analysis. It is difficult to analyze, assess, and warn my IT department about what will happen in the next five hours. It is also difficult to use AIOps to reduce… more »
    Ranking
    Views
    339
    Comparisons
    249
    Reviews
    5
    Average Words per Review
    965
    Rating
    8.0
    Views
    5,107
    Comparisons
    3,370
    Reviews
    11
    Average Words per Review
    443
    Rating
    7.3
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    SolarWinds SAM
    Learn More
    Overview

    SmartBear's AlertSite is an application performance management and system monitoring software. AlertSite is an early warning system that users can rely on to monitor their websites, web apps, and APIs from any physical location as well as from within their private networks. It offers real-time alerting with root-cause analytics and robust reporting. AlertSite allows you to proactively monitor from an independent network of over 350 monitoring nodes worldwide.

    Here are AlertSite’s 6 use cases: 

    1. Monitor web: AlertSite monitors beyond availability to detect performance anomalies and notify the appropriate people when deviations occur, whether it's online apps or websites.

    2. Monitor APIs: Check to see that your internal, external, and third-party APIs are working properly, returning the correct content, and performing as expected.

    3. Monitor apps: With nearly any action, monitor your online sites and applications using actual browsers, just like a consumer. There is no need for scripting.

    4. Monitor mobile: Monitor your mobile-friendly websites, native mobile apps, carrier-based nodes, and network speeds with real devices (3G, 4G LTE).

    5. Monitor SLAs: Make sure you're meeting service-level agreements' requirements. SLA requirements are monitored and reported on by AlertSite.

    6. Monitor cloud: Monitor your cloud-based applications to improve mobility. AlertSite monitors your apps across public and private clouds, giving you complete visibility into their status.

    AlertSite Features

    AlertSite has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

    • Enables a comprehensive view of UI and API performance.

    • Monitoring coverage from 350+ worldwide nodes and private networks.
    • Integrates with DevOps and Ops tool stacks.

    • Displays availability and performance data that assist in determining the root cause of performance problems.

    • With AlertSite's Single Sign-On (SSO) support, you can assist your authentication procedures.

    • Free training and assistance. AlertSite’s responsive team is always there to assist you, from the initial rollout through day-to-day support.

    • Eliminates the stress of false alerts using these key features:

      • Tracks the performance of your apps, APIs, and websites.

      • Sets up monitor and alarm schedules, as well as blackout periods and retry choices.

      • Sets alert thresholds that are both static and dynamic.

      • Calculates the number of failures needed to set off an alarm.

      • After the first failure, retries logic.

      • Based on error code, sends an alert to recipients and group routing.

      • Tests from over 85 different locations across the world, with internal and external monitoring.

      • Defines assertions and validations.

      • Integrates with PagerDuty, Slack, Splunk, VictorOps, and more.
    • Easy configuration with help from these key features:

      • DejaClick is an intuitive, seamless plug-in for documenting web transactions and user journeys.

      • Use the point-and-click script creation for website, web, and mobile monitor scripts.

      • Benefit from using native API monitor creation.

      • Scripts for functional tests can be reused.

      • Automate monitor creation by using Swagger Specs or OpenAPI Specification files.

    SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor (SAM) delivers powerful application and server monitoring capabilities for IT pros, enabling them to diagnose and troubleshoot performance issues faster. Do not let slow applications and downtime impact your end-users and business services. Pinpoint the root cause of application issues across various layers of the IT stack. SolarWinds SAM is affordable and easy to deploy, use, and customize. You can automatically discover your system's environment and start monitoring in about an hour. No professional services or consultation needed.

    Sample Customers
    JetBlue, Payless ShoeSource, Hilton Inc., StubHub, Symantec, Newegg, Sapient, AstraZeneca, Dell, Quest Diagnostics
    Andr. L. Riis AS, NetSuite
    Top Industries
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm20%
    Computer Software Company16%
    Manufacturing Company11%
    Retailer9%
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm20%
    Construction Company13%
    Recruiting/Hr Firm7%
    Energy/Utilities Company7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization40%
    Computer Software Company10%
    Government8%
    Financial Services Firm6%
    Company Size
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business16%
    Midsize Enterprise8%
    Large Enterprise76%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business36%
    Midsize Enterprise15%
    Large Enterprise49%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business11%
    Midsize Enterprise48%
    Large Enterprise41%
    Buyer's Guide
    AlertSite vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about AlertSite vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    769,236 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    AlertSite is ranked 24th in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability with 5 reviews while SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is ranked 18th in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability with 38 reviews. AlertSite is rated 8.0, while SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is rated 8.0. The top reviewer of AlertSite writes "Quickly triggers alerts, fast and user-friendly, and makes data available in a single UI". On the other hand, the top reviewer of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor writes "We use this product for base and application monitoring. ". AlertSite is most compared with Dynatrace, Datadog, ITRS Geneos and New Relic, whereas SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is most compared with Azure Monitor, Dynatrace, AppDynamics, Prometheus and Nagios XI. See our AlertSite vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor report.

    See our list of best Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability vendors.

    We monitor all Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.