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BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management vs SolarWinds NPM comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 18, 2024

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

BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management
Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software
46th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.3
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Management (42nd)
SolarWinds NPM
Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software
9th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
160
Ranking in other categories
Network Monitoring Software (4th), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (5th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Cloud Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management is 0.5%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds NPM is 4.1%, down from 4.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
SolarWinds NPM4.1%
BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management0.5%
Other95.4%
Cloud Monitoring Software
 

Featured Reviews

VB
Enterprise Solution Architect at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Helps design blueprints in a cloud environment but the support is a major problem
One of the major problems is that support is not so good. I used to have a support expert in Spain but they left two years ago. BMC doesn't invest a lot in network automation but network automation is a major point in CLM. There aren't any experts here in Europe, maybe they have in America, I don't know. The main problem is the support in Europe. We had a lot of problems with the people who got put on our cases. The agents that we were assigned to were not so capable. They wanted to replicate the problem. If you have an incident, it takes a lot of time to troubleshoot the problem. The incident support is not so good. The technicians don't know the platform well. BMC doesn't want to invest in CLM. Two years ago we had a lot of problems. Maybe BMC realized that CLM is an end of life product.
Vivek Jaiswal - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager IT at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Central monitoring has improved outage alerts and now needs smarter detection and modern dashboards
Regarding the automated network topology and mapping feature in SolarWinds NPM, I am not satisfied with it. For static monitoring, it is acceptable. However, if it is possible, I would need a feature in SolarWinds in the future for some kind of malfunctioning detection, such as malware attacks or that type of environment. We did not have any facility to detect that in SolarWinds. I think it would be better to incorporate those types of features. Regarding customization options in SolarWinds, the ability to customize the dashboard has room for improvement. The dashboard is quite old, and we need some improvement in it. Nowadays, we have multiple tools with AI-based monitoring and web-based dashboards. SolarWinds also has a web-based dashboard, but I think there is scope for improvement in the UI. There may be other areas I would like to improve in SolarWinds NPM.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"CLM has a multi-cloud portal because they have the resources to implement in various environments in various ports."
"Automates Java EE Application Deployment from an SCM system."
"We have many regions where more than 10000 servers are deployed, so it helps in patching and hardening of servers."
"By allowing end users to request their own services, the request process for systems is much quicker and more accurate."
"Total build time has been reduced from four weeks to one week, then later to 24 hours."
"You can tie together your public and private cloud infrastructure into a "single pane of glass"."
"It's helped us with our automation."
"Allowing systems to be provisioned in a wide range of environments, such as Azure, AWS, or on-premise, reduces the level of training required as well as creates consistency across the board."
"Network performance is the main issue clients are facing. SolarWinds checks if a node is down, and we can set thresholds for performance metrics. For example, we set it up to get an alert automatically if a value is over 80 percent. It has a full dashboard that covers CP, hard disk, and node monitoring."
"The most valuable feature is the user-friendly interface and the ease of deployment."
"The solution is extremely stable. We haven't had any issues in that regard. We haven't had issues with bugs, glitches, or crashes."
"SolarWinds is one of those tools that work across the spectrum with different products, such as Cisco HP, and it is very customizable."
"With SolarWinds, it’s easy to monitor everything and, with a little setup, everyone can help out."
"SolarWinds provides a good enterprise level of tools and covers the essential components."
"The solution is very user-friendly."
"The solution is user-friendly and has many options for customized monitoring that other tools don't have."
 

Cons

"One of the major problems is that support is not so good."
"The installation and configuration can be tricky due to it being built on Remedy."
"Needs integrations with other providers to provide a custom public cloud environment."
"Needs integrations with other providers to provide a custom public cloud environment."
"It was complex as it does not include a good, extensive feasibility and compatibility guide."
"One of the major problems is that support is not so good."
"The installation and configuration can be tricky due to it being built on Remedy."
"Going to BMC for PS is not at all recommended from my experience."
"Having more technical and support resources available in Saudi Arabia would be helpful."
"The integration with video apps could be better."
"The solution does not offer much customization so is somewhat inflexible."
"Failover functionality does not exist without the purchase of the "Fail Over Engine (FoE)" license."
"Real-time analytics is the major weakness of the SolarWinds NPM platform today."
"The response time of the support team needs to improve"
"The constant flow of new features and re-designing of the product sometimes presents bugs that were not identified."
"Perhaps they could hire more tech support for this awesome product."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The cost is based on the number of nodes, so it is expensive when you have a lot of them."
"It was inexpensive when we installed it and gradually became more expensive, but it was a very inexpensive product at first."
"It is not an expensive product."
"Most of the licenses are perpetual, and the annual maintenance charges are not high."
"We have a multi-year license for the use of this solution. There are additional costs for recourses in the environment."
"We pay approximately $4,000 annually for SolarWinds NPM. There are no additional fees required other than the standard fees."
"We pay approximately $700 per year for renewal of the license."
"We pay for SolarWinds NPM yearly. We buy it and then we renew it, but it's not subscription-based. I don't remember the value exactly, because it's my manager who manages pricing, but we pay $60,000 per year for all the solutions. Pricing will also depend on the number of devices. We have a lot of devices."
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Comparison Review

it_user174738 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Developer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
May 31, 2015
Nagios vs. Zabbix vs. PRTG vs. Spiceworks vs. Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor
I have researched a quite a few network monitoring tools which can be used for various monitoring purposes of not only the servers, but the intermediate routers as well. There are majorly three types of these softwares. Ones which are completely open-source, you can do almost anything you want…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business59
Midsize Enterprise33
Large Enterprise85
 

Questions from the Community

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What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?
It actually depends on the exact purpose or kind of devices (network devices, servers, something else). Some tools are better for only network devices while others are better for a cloud monitoring...
What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?
We are partners with SolarWinds and we sell a lot of Network management to large enterprises also because of scalability, products like Network Performance Monitor & Netflow Traffic Analyzer ar...
 

Also Known As

BMC CLM
Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor, SolarWinds Network Bandwidth Analyzer
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

JDA Software, Morningstar, Orange Business Services, Wipro
Microsoft, Federal Express, Hewlett-Packard, and MasterCard
Find out what your peers are saying about BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management vs. SolarWinds NPM and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
884,976 professionals have used our research since 2012.