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AWS Auto Scaling vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

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

AWS Auto Scaling
Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability
42nd
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
22
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SolarWinds Server and Appli...
Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability
22nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
4.5
Number of Reviews
44
Ranking in other categories
Server Monitoring (5th), Active Directory Management (8th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category, the mindshare of AWS Auto Scaling is 0.5%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is 1.0%, down from 1.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor1.0%
AWS Auto Scaling0.5%
Other98.5%
Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability
 

Featured Reviews

Ishaka Michael Efe - PeerSpot reviewer
DevOps Engineer Intern at HNG Tech
Automation has simplified traffic management and improved workload efficiency
I'm not really sure what improvements I would want to see in AWS Auto Scaling because I haven't really used it extensively or explored most of it. To the extent that I've used it so far, I think it is very good. I can't really say for certain what should be improved because I haven't really explored it a lot. However, what I've been using it for has been very good. If there could be training for AWS Auto Scaling, that would be fine. If you could add more training on how to use it correctly and on the functions that I haven't used before or some people have not really used before, that would help. If there could be more documentation and training on it, that would be beneficial.
NikhilKalwint - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Specialist at ServiceIO
Monitoring over a thousand systems has improved decision making and operational visibility
From an advantage perspective, SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is comparatively cheaper from a commercial point of view. It is easy to install and configure, very user-friendly, and quick to get up and running, allowing you to see the early value adds in your organization. It is compatible with most technologies for monitoring with very few chances of incompatibility. Configuration also allows us to monitor all the technical parameters we are looking for, making it a very good experience for us. The alerting feature in SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is a main advantage, as it alerts based on threshold breaches and can raise tickets to the ticketing system, send SMS, and email notifications, allowing engineers to work on those tickets to resolve issues and avoid further impact. The visibility into server health is a beneficial feature that I am utilizing. We widely use various application performance metrics in SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor such as database monitoring and server monitoring, which are quite good enough for any monitoring solution. We utilize the customizable dashboards in SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution's monitoring effectively monitors our application and CPU utilization."
"The most valuable feature is the ability to select a minimum amount of active servers so that a new server automatically launches if one fails."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is that it scales automatically without manual intervention based on the metrics we provide."
"Our internal business applications are hosted in AWS Auto Scaling."
"Auto Scaling is a cool feature that works well and its automatic scaling capabilities are very useful."
"The tool's most valuable feature is vertical auto-scaling, which is easy to use. However, most companies now prefer horizontal scaling. I set up the health check integration to monitor CPU usage. When it reaches seventy percent, it sends me an email notification."
"It helps us to reduce the cost."
"The product provides self-healing features."
"I'd rate technical support at eight out of ten. They are helpful and fast."
"The most valuable feature of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is its powerful monitoring capabilities."
"The most beneficial aspect of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is its ability to monitor at the application level."
"SolarWinds is a very stable platform compared to others on the market."
"The recommendations are a life saver."
"The product integrates with Remedy."
"The component and cable monitoring are good. SolarWinds is more intuitive and user-friendly than AppDynamics. The AppDynamics console is more complex because it's a more feature-rich solution, so it's not easy for somebody to pick it up."
"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."
 

Cons

"The tool must include AI features."
"The solution must improve automation."
"It has latency issues. It depends on the distribution used, whether it's Amazon Linux, Windows Linux, etc. Occasionally, there are latency issues, which might lead to slower performance."
"Flexibility in configuring the workload is missing in AWS Auto Scaling."
"The billing and cost optimization of the solution could be improved."
"Setting up the configuration involves too much work for the cloud engineer, like configuring the ALB, the target group, and all the steps."
"The solution is not out-of-the-box and you have to study to use it. It should be more easier to use."
"The speed of the solution must be improved."
"SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor could improve the server monitoring and the web application monitoring features are not good. Microsoft SCOM has better server monitoring."
"It would be helpful if the solution could integrate more with the security compliances, like this IDSS, etc."
"Mapping interactions between systems."
"The current script monitoring feature has limitations, especially when dealing with custom scripts."
"Currently SolarWinds SAM offers AppInsight for modern versions of: IIS, Exchange, SQL Server. They have shown to be powerful and insightful tools. However, AppInsight needs to be offered for more applications: Citrix, SharePoint, AX, etc."
"PerfStack can be made more effective. I am sure SolarWinds already has a plan for the same in coming versions."
"I would like to see support for non-Windows or non-Microsoft domains, especially Apache and other non-Windows servers."
"Reporting is the only thing with which we currently have challenges."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"AWS Auto Scaling's price is high."
"The pricing is good. I have not had any customers that have complained about the price."
"AWS Auto Scaling is a cheap solution."
"AWS Auto Scaling is an expensive solution."
"AWS Auto Scaling is a pay-per-use and pay-as-you-use service."
"The product has moderate pricing."
"The product is expensive."
"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 is expensive."
"Its licensing is on a yearly basis. It is just the standard price, but it can vary depending on the current rate of the dollar."
"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."
"Pricing and licensing is fair for what you get. It does have a great bang-for-the-buck appeal."
"I would rate the pricing for this solution a three out of five."
"We pay around $ 2,000 to $ 5,000 yearly for the solution."
"The tool is available for my company at a good price point."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
15%
Outsourcing Company
14%
Educational Organization
11%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Educational Organization
13%
University
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Outsourcing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business13
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise12
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business17
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise21
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for AWS Auto Scaling?
I'm not sure about the pricing aspect of AWS Auto Scaling or the cost of it.
What needs improvement with AWS Auto Scaling?
AWS Auto Scaling can be improved in many ways, such as providing better visibility into scaling decisions and clarifying why exactly scaling happens. Sometimes, I am not sure why scaling occurs. Ea...
What is your primary use case for AWS Auto Scaling?
My main use case for AWS Auto Scaling is automatically scaling EC2 instances behind a load balancer based on traffic, CPU, and memory usage, as well as custom CloudWatch metrics. I also use it with...
What needs improvement with SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor?
There is definitely room for improvement besides simplifying its setup. As a non-technical person, I believe the dashboards could be improved. Everything we use appears on video walls, and we need ...
What is your primary use case for SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor?
I am doing research as we currently have both solutions, and I am looking to see if we need both or can manage with one. Currently, the outcome indicates that we need both. The focus point is diffe...
 

Also Known As

AWS Auto-Scaling
SolarWinds SAM
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Expedia, Intuit, Royal Dutch Shell, Brooks Brothers
Andr. L. Riis AS, NetSuite
Find out what your peers are saying about AWS Auto Scaling vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
915,341 professionals have used our research since 2012.