Azure Network Watcher vs Splunk Observability Cloud comparison

Why PeerSpot?

Microsoft and Splunk are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Microsoft is ranked #46 with an average rating of 8.0, while Splunk is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.2. Microsoft holds a 0.5% mindshare in NMS, compared to Splunk’s 1.6% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of Splunk users who would recommend it.

Azure Network Watcher

Read 13 Azure Network Watcher reviews

2,673 Views
2,620 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Splunk Observability Cloud

Read 107 Splunk Observability Cloud reviews

30,340 Views
11,226 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Azure Network Watcher

Splunk Observability Cloud

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 29, 2026

Splunk Observability Cloud and Azure Network Watcher compete in the monitoring and observability space. Splunk Observability Cloud holds an edge for its comprehensive capabilities suitable for complex environments, while Azure Network Watcher specializes in Azure-specific network monitoring.

Features: Splunk Observability Cloud is tailored for complex environments with real-time insights and integration with tools like ServiceNow. It includes custom dashboards and APM monitoring for large data volumes. Azure Network Watcher is efficient for Azure environments, offering connection troubleshooting, network flow logs, and coverage of network use cases.

Room for Improvement: Splunk Observability Cloud could improve with more transparent pricing, enhanced log management, and a smoother learning curve. Users suggest a need for better alerting systems and increased integration capabilities. Azure Network Watcher would benefit from AI-based features, an improved GUI, and more comprehensive network tool integrations.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Splunk Observability Cloud supports on-premises, hybrid, and cloud deployments. Customer service feedback is mixed, with noted responsiveness inconsistencies. Azure Network Watcher offers simpler, cloud-native deployment, praised for its affordability and network-specific technical support, though limited feedback is available on overall service.

Pricing and ROI: Splunk Observability Cloud is viewed as expensive, with cost based on data volume, but users report significant ROI from enhanced efficiencies. There’s a call for flexible pricing models. Azure Network Watcher is affordable for enterprise clients with reasonable pricing for large-scale deployments, potentially costly for smaller businesses, yet both solutions yield valuable returns through improved operational insights.

To learn more, read our detailed Azure Network Watcher vs. Splunk Observability Cloud Report (Updated: September 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Azure Network Watcher vs. Splunk Observability Cloud

September 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

Azure Network Watcher

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

46th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

5.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Splunk Observability Cloud

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

4th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

107

Ranking in other categories

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (5th), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (3rd), Cloud Monitoring Software (2nd), Container Management (4th), Digital Experience Monitoring (DEM) (3rd)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Azure Network Watcher is 0.5%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Splunk Observability Cloud is 1.6%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Splunk Observability Cloud	1.6%
Azure Network Watcher	0.5%
Other	97.9%

Network Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

PrashantSarmalkar

Enterprise Architect at ATOS

Monitoring traffic has improved cost control and threat visibility across network flows

The main area for improvement is AI-based features. Currently, many intelligent tools are coming from third parties, and Azure Network Watcher needs to improve in this area. The focus should be on getting better analytics and foundation models for proactive monitoring through AI models. While these capabilities exist, they are still in beta version. Azure Network Watcher should improve to match the capabilities that Google is targeting from an analytical point of view. Azure Network Watcher needs to improve foundation models in terms of AI-specific features and analytics, which are still evolving. This may take some time, but within one or two years, these improvements should reach a nine rating.

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Purnambica Kolavennu

Project Manager at AGRICULTURE SKILL COUNCIL OF INDIA (ASCI)

Unified observability has improved real-time governance and now drives data-led decisions

Log Observer Connect is embedded here, but we are facing some delays in centralized log collection and analysis, which can be further fastened. We are collecting all the data metrics and decision-making insights, but all these data-driven decisions coming from different applications are not connected somewhere. A consolidated form or correlation of these insights is not happening between each other due to which we feel we are missing something significant. Some generalized feedback includes that predictive alerts or alarms which can be integrated with AI-driven alarms and alerting features should be established so that there is AI-driven intelligence and anomaly detection happening with a complete systematic process in service delivery. Application dependencies are huge, and business and operational dashboards should be improved. Right now there are very interactive custom dashboards, and every now and then, the personalization of enhancements keeps happening. KPI monitoring, executive reporting, and analytics have definitely been introduced to a great extent. There are few things in cloud-native monitoring, such as integration with AWS and Azure, where we sometimes do face lags. Those things can definitely be improved upon. I have used Datadog and Dynatrace before using Splunk Observability Cloud. Datadog was definitely recommended by most of our peers because of its very strong comprehensive observability and very strong and unique dashboard systems. Dynatrace was also very good because they have offered a lot of AI-driven analysis methods and processes, which was helping our organization a lot. Since our organization has a very strong IT ecosystem for agriculture, very different kinds of customized things are required.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Azure Network Watcher provides valuable features based on your specific requirements and use cases, helping you monitor network bandwidth, throughput, data flow consumption, and control costs by giving insight into egress and ingress traffic, total input and output operations, bandwidth, and threats through IP identification."

"I like the visibility."

"The most valuable feature of Azure Network Watcher is using the gateways with the connections. The monitoring is useful for the logs and application insights into the data. The traffic filtering issues when it comes to deploying those applications are helpful."

"This will help the company or the administrator, by helping them see how the traffic moves, to make sure that no entities are having any communication issues or different endpoints with task issues."

"The solution is good for monitoring device behavior."

"This is a stable system providing stable performance."

"We use the solution to monitor network services. It helps to capture any network issues."

"My advice to others looking into using Azure Network Watcher is to go for it, as you'll have the tool by default when you're subscribed to Azure VNet."

More Azure Network Watcher pros

"The solution is stable and reliable."

"Splunk Observability Cloud has enhanced our operational performance and our company's resilience, ultimately contributing to improved customer satisfaction."

"In terms of the application performance security, application performance tooling has been a key factor for me using Splunk."

"The data collection from our VMs, containers, databases, and backend components is valuable."

"I have primarily used it to go back into the past and understand why something happened. It provides enough information to do research and figure things out."

"After moving to Splunk Observability Cloud, it is almost zero downtime."

"Splunk Observability Cloud positively impacts our organization by enabling us to build dashboards around customer experiences and API backend layers, and now, with metrics and traces consolidated, we gain a single view for correlation, significantly reducing MTTD and enabling detection of issues in under five minutes."

"Splunk's GUI and dashboard capacity are the most valuable features of Splunk Infrastructure Monitoring."

More Splunk Observability Cloud pros

Cons

"The initial setup and deployment could be improved to be simplified."

"The solution could improve by limiting the need to clarify the logs. When the clarification is minimized, it is better for everyone involved."

"Lacks sufficient security features."

"Azure is good, however, the Fortinet GUI is more intuitive and I like it more than anything else."

"There are some occasional downtimes, but these were based on Azure-specific issues."

"Technical support from Microsoft needs significant improvement compared to other product vendors."

"User experience could be improved."

"The solution could use some additional components of the network culture, not only VMs. I'd like to see some additional security features because what they currently have concentrates only on the network."

More Azure Network Watcher cons

"I have experienced stability issues."

"The clustering part of indexes can be more refined."

"If it is a new deployment and you have a medium client with about 2,000 users or computers or servers, it will take about six months just to install and configure."

"The learning curve for understanding all features should be improved, and the cost can increase."

"To improve Splunk Observability Cloud, we need more applications to be included in the observability so that more applications can have agents to monitor them and bring that information to the cloud."

"Integrating some third-party add-ons can be challenging, involving many implementation and configuration steps."

"Splunk Observability Cloud could be improved in terms of integrations with more technical add-ons, such as Zoom."

"The licensing model is expensive. We need to monitor the amount of data ingested because the cost is based on the data collected."

More Splunk Observability Cloud cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Azure Network Watcher is a little bit expensive."

"The pricing is good. It's not too expensive."

"Price-wise, I have no information on how much Azure Network Watcher costs."

"The price of the solution is reasonable."

"Splunk APM is a very cost-efficient solution."

"Licensing cost is the biggest argument I get from those divesting from Splunk. There are those within our organization who say we are going to go to other tools since Splunk is too expensive."

"I am not in that circle, but we are currently licensing based on our queries. That is working out for us. Previously, it was by volume of data, and now, we can store as much data as we want."

"Splunk offers a 14-day free trial and after that, we have to pay but the cost is reasonable."

"Splunk's infrastructure monitoring costs can be high because our billing is based on data volume measured in terabytes, rather than the number of devices being monitored."

"The pricing is reasonable."

"The price of Splunk APM is less than some of its competitors."

"The pricing is based on several factors, including the scale of deployment."

More Splunk Observability Cloud pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

21%

Construction Company

13%

Outsourcing Company

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Outsourcing Company

Construction Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Large Enterprise	7

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	36
Midsize Enterprise	10
Large Enterprise	72

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Network Watcher?

I do not have the exact setup cost information on hand, but it is available in the public Azure portal. You can access the calculator there to get detailed pricing information.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Azure Network Watcher?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Azure Network Watcher?

Azure Network Watcher is used for monitoring network traffic. It provides insight into egress and ingress traffic, which helps determine whether consumption can be controlled. Most Azure services c...

See all answers

What needs improvement with SignalFx?

Regarding dashboard customization, while Splunk has many dashboard building options, customers sometimes need to create specific dashboards, particularly for applicative metrics such as Java and pr...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for SignalFx?

The solution involves observability in general, such as Application Performance Monitoring, and generally addresses digital applications, web applications, sites, and mobile applications. I worked ...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering SignalFx?

We're a customer and end-user. Currently, in France, we cannot use the artificial intelligence option. While this option is enabled for the United States and many countries, it's not yet available ...

See all answers

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Compared 3% of the time

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Compared 3% of the time

PRTG Network Monitor vs Splunk Observability Cloud

Compared 2% of the time

Dynatrace vs Splunk Observability Cloud

Compared 2% of the time

Avantra vs Splunk Observability Cloud

Compared 2% of the time

More Splunk Observability Cloud Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Azure Network Watcher

October 2026

Download Azure Network Watcher product report

Buyer's Guide

Splunk Observability Cloud

September 2026

Download Splunk Observability Cloud product report

Also Known As

No data available

Splunk Infrastructure Monitoring, Splunk Real User Monitoring (RUM), Splunk Synthetic Monitoring

Overview

Azure Network Watcher provides advanced network monitoring capabilities including packet capture, cloud-native firewall, and traffic diagnosis, aiding in VPN troubleshooting and security enforcement with enhanced visibility and alerting features.

Azure Network Watcher is essential for monitoring, diagnosing, and analyzing network traffic. It efficiently handles VPN connection issues and enhances network security by capturing and analyzing traffic to assess performance or latency problems. The tool facilitates traffic flow control, security rule verification, and bandwidth monitoring. Users benefit from its capabilities in diagnosing service connections, offering insights into network activity, and identifying potential threats, crucial for maintaining compliance and efficient network management.

What are the key features of Azure Network Watcher?

Packet Capture: Enables detailed network traffic inspection to troubleshoot issues.
Cloud-Native Application Firewall: Provides enhanced protection for applications running in the cloud.
Traffic Monitoring: Allows for real-time analysis and troubleshooting of network traffic.
NSG Flow Logs & AI-Based Monitoring: Enhances flow control and threat detection.
Alerting & Threshold Configuration: Offers customizable alerts via Azure Monitor for proactive management.

What benefits can users look for in reviews?

Improved Network Security: Helps in identifying and mitigating threats efficiently.
Enhanced Visibility: Provides clear insights into network operations and potential issues.
Compliance Support: Assists in maintaining regulatory compliance with thorough monitoring capabilities.
Effective Bandwidth Management: Facilitates control and optimization of network bandwidth.

In industries like finance and healthcare, Azure Network Watcher is implemented to ensure robust security and compliance, crucial for safeguarding sensitive data. It aids retail and manufacturing sectors in optimizing network performance and maintaining seamless connectivity, supporting their digital infrastructure needs.

Microsoft

Splunk Observability Cloud offers sophisticated log searching, data integration, and customizable dashboards. With rapid deployment and ease of use, this cloud service enhances monitoring capabilities across IT infrastructures for comprehensive end-to-end visibility.

Focused on enhancing performance management and security, Splunk Observability Cloud supports environments through its data visualization and analysis tools. Users appreciate its robust application performance monitoring and troubleshooting insights. However, improvements in integrations, interface customization, scalability, and automation are needed. Users find value in its capabilities for infrastructure and network monitoring, as well as log analytics, albeit cost considerations and better documentation are desired. Enhancements in real-time monitoring and network protection are also noted as areas for development.

What are the key features?

Log Searching: Efficiently search and analyze logs from various sources.
Data Integration: Seamlessly integrate with multiple environments.
Dashboard Customization: Tailor dashboards to specific monitoring needs.
Monitoring Capabilities: Provides comprehensive insights into application performance.
Security Features: Analyze and address security threats across systems.
Visualization Tools: Enhance data analysis and system performance optimization.

Why consider this for ROI?

Comprehensive Visibility: Gain complete insights into IT infrastructure.
Performance Optimization: Improve overall system performance and efficiency.
Rapid Deployment: Quick setup to meet organization demands swiftly.
Enhanced Security: Strengthen security measures through detailed analytics.

In industries, Splunk Observability Cloud is implemented for security management by analyzing logs from detection systems, offering real-time alerts and troubleshooting for cloud-native applications. It is leveraged for machine data analysis, improving infrastructure visibility and supporting network and application performance management efforts.

Splunk

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Sunrun, Yelp, Onshape, Tapjoy, Symphony Commerce, Chairish, Clever, Grovo, Bazaar Voice, Zenefits, Avalara

Buyer's Guide

Azure Network Watcher vs. Splunk Observability Cloud

September 2026

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