SolarWinds AppOptics vs Splunk AppDynamics comparison

SolarWinds and Splunk are both solutions in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category. SolarWinds is ranked #56, while Splunk is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.1. SolarWinds holds a 0.7% mindshare in APM, compared to Splunk’s 3.7% mindshare. Additionally, 80% of SolarWinds users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of Splunk users who would recommend it.

SolarWinds AppOptics

Read 9 SolarWinds AppOptics reviews

1,675 Views
1,039 Comparison Views

80% willing to recommend

Splunk AppDynamics

Read 261 Splunk AppDynamics reviews

15,142 Views
11,357 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

SolarWinds AppOptics

Splunk AppDynamics

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 23, 2025

Splunk AppDynamics and SolarWinds AppOptics compete in the application and network performance monitoring category. Splunk AppDynamics appears to have the upper hand with its advanced application performance monitoring features and comprehensive transaction tracking.

Features: Splunk AppDynamics is notable for its stack trace visibility, JVM and transaction monitoring, auto-baselines, and detailed end-to-end views. It offers comprehensive insights into business transactions, detailed metrics, and application flow service models. SolarWinds AppOptics focuses on overall system observability and network monitoring, although it lacks deep transaction tracing and advanced analytics offered by Splunk AppDynamics. Its strengths lie in its ability to consolidate network metrics and provide robust network performance analysis.

Room for Improvement: Splunk AppDynamics can improve its user interface and simplify its complex licensing model. The UI can be overwhelming for users, and the licensing intricacy could lead to cost challenges. SolarWinds AppOptics could offer better integration with other tools and a more centralized view to reduce reliance on multiple applications. Its user interface lacks intuitiveness, impacting ease of navigation.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Splunk AppDynamics allows for diverse deployment options, including public, private, and hybrid clouds, and offers exceptional customer service through dedicated account managers and technical support. SolarWinds AppOptics is beneficial for on-premises and public cloud environments and provides responsive customer support, though it comes with a traditional perpetual licensing model and some complexities in large-scale deployments.

Pricing and ROI: Splunk AppDynamics is seen as a premium product, reflecting its comprehensive features. Its pricing is often considered substantial, but customers find the expense justified by reduced issue resolution time and enhanced application performance causing significant ROI. In contrast, SolarWinds AppOptics typically uses a perpetual license model, perceived as more consistent and reasonable, although its ROI may vary based on specific use cases and the scale of deployment.

To learn more, read our detailed SolarWinds AppOptics vs. Splunk AppDynamics Report (Updated: February 2026).

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds AppOptics vs. Splunk AppDynamics

February 2026

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

SolarWinds AppOptics

Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

56th

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

60th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Monitoring Software (46th)

Splunk AppDynamics

Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

3rd

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

6th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

261

Ranking in other categories

IT Operations Analytics (2nd), Mobile APM (1st), Container Monitoring (3rd)

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category, the mindshare of SolarWinds AppOptics is 0.7%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Splunk AppDynamics is 3.7%, down from 5.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Splunk AppDynamics	3.7%
SolarWinds AppOptics	0.7%
Other	95.6%

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

Featured Reviews

John Yuko

Assistant Manager ICT - Projects at I&M Bank Ltd

Unique features allow consolidating and combing metrics into a single dashboard, but don't monitor mobile solutions

I would like to see more granular information provided on Unix applications. Also, the integration with Unix services should be a bit more straightforward in terms having an agent to retrieve your credentials rather than having to enter or save them for SSH on SolarWinds. From the outset, we had to set some commands to log into the search console, and they are saved on the solution, which presents a challenge in terms of exposure. The solution is unable to monitor APK solutions completely because we'd then be forced to break down the APK and provide the APIs or go through the source code. They don't have a module that can analyze an application that is maybe under-used.

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DevendraKumar1

Technology lead at Infosys

Has enabled us to detect issues instantly through alerts and monitor every service from a single dashboard

Splunk requires significantly more improvements compared to Splunk AppDynamics, specifically regarding the licensing aspect. Splunk renews licenses every six months, which is inconvenient. It would be better to have a one-year license to avoid needing to update keys constantly, which can only occur on weekends, making it a burdensome task. Although Splunk is better for certain use cases, Splunk AppDynamics is broader in functionality. Specifically, I want enhancements related to creating dashboards not only for logs or minor services but also for configuration levels, allowing us to check configurations immediately without manually opening the entire code when exceptions arise—a feature I wish to see improved in Splunk, although it may not be necessary for Splunk AppDynamics.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The sum solution, NTA, and DPA."

"Some of the most valuable features of SolarWinds are the topology discovery and network performance analysis."

"Technical support is always live and they're supportive."

"I have found the most valuable feature is application performance management."

"The product has a great dashboard."

"The reporting of the solution is very good."

"The solution offers great visibility that allows you to track where errors originated."

"In the case of a mobile banking application, AppDynamics Mobile Real-User Monitoring successfully reduced the response time from eight seconds to just one second. In another example, the tool identified an issue within the mobile app, causing lost transactions in the billing system."

"The SAP monitoring element is very helpful."

"Has helped us to increase customer acquisitions and reduce revenue leakage."

"The auto-discovery of the logs is the most valuable feature. It requires minimal configuration, we just need to set up on once and it automatically detects through the code."

"Visibility to the end-users is a valuable feature."

"AppDynamics' most valuable features are the response time of the business transaction modules, the ability to monitor multiple services, and testing and developing environments."

"This solution gives us quite good insights that we might otherwise overlook, or it might take a really long time to debug those issues."

More Splunk AppDynamics pros

Cons

"The implementation needs improvement. It needs to get modernized with the newer cloud scenario in both public and private deployment models."

"I would like to see more integration with other tools that are available on the market."

"In terms of the technology, I think they need to put some more advanced troubleshooting into SolarWinds, in terms of AI capabilities. That's the next generation, especially in the cases of APIs which have already adopted AI capabilities into their products."

"The integration with Unix services should be a bit more straightforward."

"AppOptics would benefit from having a much more centralized view."

"The solution should be more user-friendly."

"We constantly need to improve our alert mechanism because we get a lot of false-positive alerts. These are not real errors. In addition, for end-user monitoring, sometimes, we are not able to catch all user activities. Because of not being able to follow the user activity from the start to the end, we are missing out on the performance issues."

"The only improvement I see is intercepting calls in a mobile application without injecting additional code. Currently, when instrumenting or monitoring a mobile application, it's necessary to release updates, prompt users to upgrade, and inject code into the backend. It would be beneficial if there were a method to intercept these calls without requiring users to download and upgrade the application. However, I'm unsure about the feasibility of such an approach."

"The price of the solution could improve."

"I’d like to see better out-of-the-box visual reporting so that we can roll this up to management."

"At this time, we don't have much visibility on the virtual environment, monitoring, and all other things. We have visibility only for database monitoring, and we have noticed performance impact when deploying database agents on the database server. We got to know this from AppDynamics support also that we should not deploy database agents from the database server. When agents are deployed on the same server and the database is monitored from there, we are not getting database server metrics. Therefore, we don't have those insights, and sometimes, we struggle because of that. They can improve this functionality so that we do not have a performance impact, and we can deploy anywhere. This would help us a lot. In terms of end-user monitoring, currently, it is not working for us because there are some complexities. It is a little complicated, and it takes a little bit of time to understand where you need to make changes. It would be very helpful if they can provide some template designs for end-user monitoring. When our servers are running on VMs, we don't get many insights from the VM side. I don't know whether it is possible to have visibility beyond the database, server, and application and whether there are some features where we can deploy AppDynamics on VMs as well. Such functionality would give us more control over storage, VM, OS, and database. It will also provide complete visibility of our hardware and software."

"The interface and user experience could be better."

"The limitations are often due to the vendors not supplying all the profiling features to AppDynamics."

"While it is scalable, it could be better."

More Splunk AppDynamics cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Since it's a negotiable rate, I would rate the pricing as a five out of five."

"Mostly, it's a perpetual license. We don't have any customers using the subscription right now—it's mostly a perpetual license that the customers purchase. The licensing is based on the number of elements, whereas other solutions are node-based."

"I believe the current licensing cost is reasonable."

"As compared to other applications, its price is moderate. Its price is neither very high nor very low."

"The solution is highly expensive"

"I was not involved with the procurement of AppDynamic, but I believe it's expensive."

"I believe there was probably an extra charge whenever I wanted to contact the support team."

"Yearly payments have to be made toward the licensing costs of the solution. The solution has no additional costs apart from the licensing costs."

"Purchasing the product through the AWS Marketplace was good."

"For those who appreciate the value and had issues with the visibility of the performance of their applications, then the pricing is good. For somebody who does not need it, it can be pricey, but overall, it is worth the money which it costs."

"AppDynamics is really pricey as it requires licenses for every feature."

More Splunk AppDynamics pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

12%

Government

Manufacturing Company

University

Financial Services Firm

26%

Computer Software Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	2
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	7

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	55
Midsize Enterprise	36
Large Enterprise	196

Questions from the Community

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Any advice about APM solutions?

There are many factors and we know little about your requirements (size of org, technology stack, management systems, the scope of implementation). Our goal was to consolidate APM and infra monitor...

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What do you like most about AppDynamics?

The solution saves time and cost.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for AppDynamics?

I would rate the pricing an eight out of ten. The solution is highly expensive. Our company pays for the solution on a yearly basis, if we don't add new modules or features to the license, we need ...

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Comparisons

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Compared 14% of the time

Dynatrace vs SolarWinds AppOptics

Compared 12% of the time

Zabbix vs SolarWinds AppOptics

Compared 7% of the time

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor vs SolarWinds AppOptics

Compared 4% of the time

Infraon IMS vs SolarWinds AppOptics

Compared 4% of the time

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Dynatrace vs Splunk AppDynamics

Compared 10% of the time

New Relic vs Splunk AppDynamics

Compared 7% of the time

Datadog vs Splunk AppDynamics

Compared 6% of the time

Splunk Enterprise Security vs Splunk AppDynamics

Compared 5% of the time

PRTG Network Monitor vs Splunk AppDynamics

Compared 3% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

February 2026

Download SolarWinds AppOptics product report

Buyer's Guide

Splunk AppDynamics

January 2026

Download Splunk AppDynamics product report

Also Known As

AppOptics, SolarWinds TraceView, Librato

No data available

Overview

AppOptics is a SaaS-based simple, powerful and affordable Infrastructure & Application monitoring for custom on-premises, cloud, and hybrid systems.

Your business runs on applications, and when they go down or run slowly, it can impact the business in lost productivity, customers, or revenue. To add to the complexity, your IT environment is changing, and workloads can be spread across data centers, and cloud resources. You need to monitor the availability and performance of applications and infrastructure, regardless of where they are, so you can identify potential issues early and address them before they impact users

SolarWinds

Splunk AppDynamics is a comprehensive performance monitoring tool providing end-to-end transaction tracking, real-time monitoring, and a user-friendly interface. With AI-powered features, it enhances operational efficiency and resilience by offering insights into user interactions and infrastructure issues.

Splunk AppDynamics excels in monitoring applications and infrastructure performance, offering extensive support across environments like AWS and cloud. It aids in application performance monitoring, end-user experience, database analysis, and proactive incident detection. Supporting Java, .NET, and other technologies, it provides real-time insights into application health, resource utilization, and transaction tracking, ensuring reliable user experiences. Challenges remain in UI complexity, agent-based architecture, integration with diverse environments, and documentation clarity. Its licensing model is costly, and customer support may be slow. Performance concerns exist in historical data granularity and network visibility.

What features make Splunk AppDynamics stand out?

End-to-End Transaction Tracking: Monitors entire user transactions for comprehensive visibility.
Real-Time Monitoring: Provides instant insights into system performance.
AI-Powered Anomaly Detection: Identifies anomalies with advanced machine learning techniques.
Code-Level Troubleshooting: Diagnoses issues at the code level for precise fixes.
Business Transaction Visibility: Offers detailed views into transaction flow across all system layers.

What benefits and ROI can users expect from Splunk AppDynamics?

Improved Application Performance: Enhances system efficiency and reliability.
Operational Efficiency: Streamlines monitoring and issue resolution processes.
Enhanced Business Resilience: Strengthens the ability to adapt to performance challenges.
Seamless User Experiences: Ensures uninterrupted service and user satisfaction.

Organizations in industries like finance and healthcare implement Splunk AppDynamics to monitor critical applications and infrastructure. Its capabilities in transaction tracking and AI-driven insights are crucial for maintaining system reliability, supporting technologies such as Java and .NET, and ensuring optimal resource utilization.

Splunk

Sample Customers

TraxoCovea Insurance BTE TechnologyDatarista

Cisco, Sony, Nasdaq, Reserve Bank of New Zealand, Edmunds.com, Puma, Fox News, DirecTV, Pizza Hut, T-Systems, Cornell University, OpenTable, BITMARCK, Green Mountain Power, Care.com, Overstock, Paddy Power, eHarmony, Kraft, The Motley Fool, The Container Store, and more See more customers

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds AppOptics vs. Splunk AppDynamics

February 2026

Free Report: SolarWinds AppOptics vs. Splunk AppDynamics

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