BMC TrueSight vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor comparison

BMC Helix and SolarWinds are both solutions in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category. BMC Helix is ranked #30 with an average rating of 8.3, while SolarWinds is ranked #20 with an average rating of 7.4. BMC Helix holds a 0.8% mindshare in APM, compared to SolarWinds’s 1.3% mindshare. Additionally, 86% of BMC Helix users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 89% of SolarWinds users who would recommend it.

BMC TrueSight

Read 50 BMC TrueSight reviews

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1,560 Comparison Views

86% willing to recommend

SolarWinds Server and Appli...

Read 43 SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor reviews

3,599 Views
2,339 Comparison Views

89% willing to recommend

BMC TrueSight

SolarWinds Server and Appli...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 3, 2025

BMC TrueSight and SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor compete in the IT infrastructure and application monitoring category. BMC TrueSight has the upper hand due to its extensive event management capabilities and integration of diverse assets, while SolarWinds is noted for its ease of use and rapid deployment.

Features: BMC TrueSight offers seamless integration across various tools, rich knowledge modules, and wide monitoring capabilities. Event management capabilities and unified infrastructure health views are key strengths. SolarWinds provides AppInsight and PerfStack for in-depth monitoring, a robust set of monitoring features, and straightforward remote management capabilities.

Room for Improvement: BMC TrueSight could improve ease of deployment, reduce hardware requirements, and enhance reporting and cloud monitoring stability. SolarWinds can improve web console performance, expand AppInsight support for more applications, and address slowness issues in complex architectures.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: BMC TrueSight's deployment is complex and resource-intensive while offering a solid integration platform. SolarWinds, though easy to set up, struggles with performance in larger environments. Both receive mixed reviews on customer service, with BMC's noted for commitment but long resolution times, and SolarWinds for improving responsiveness.

Pricing and ROI: BMC TrueSight is recognized for a high cost and complex licensing model, less attractive to SMEs, though it provides significant operational savings. SolarWinds is competitively priced for mid-sized organizations, offering a quicker return on investment and easier licensing process, though costs may rise as monitoring needs expand.

To learn more, read our detailed BMC TrueSight vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

BMC TrueSight vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

September 2025

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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

BMC TrueSight

Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

30th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Event Monitoring (7th), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (34th), Cloud Monitoring Software (26th), AIOps (5th)

SolarWinds Server and Appli...

Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

20th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

4.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Server Monitoring (10th), Active Directory Management (10th)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category, the mindshare of BMC TrueSight is 0.8%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is 1.3%, down from 1.7% 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 (%)
SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor	1.3%
BMC TrueSight	0.8%
Other	97.9%

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

Featured Reviews

Srri G

Senior Project Manager - Head of Application Performance Management at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

The product is reasonably priced, but the solution is a little obsolete because it is deployed on-premise

If I want custom monitoring across a very large estate of more than 50,000 units, the on-premise deployment gets quite slow. The on-premise product’s performance must be improved. The solution is a little obsolete. That is why the solution moved to Helix, a SaaS operating system. The SaaS platform has the features I like. There is no point in BMC expanding TrueSight Operations’ console. It's high time that BMC starts a demise path for the product and is associated only with Helix. If we need any additional function, we must switch to Helix. Since TrueSight is deployed on-premise, the scalability and usage of the product are mainly focused on providing basic features and not enhanced features like analytics or cost analysis. People should move to a SaaS platform because on-premise products have limited storage and capacity.

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VIVEK PATHAK

Solutions Architect at Airtel

Offering reasonably good dashboarding features but needs to improve the application performance monitoring

My company uses Riverbed for application performance monitoring. I was doing research so that I could understand if SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor provide APM capabilities similar to Riverbed, which allows our company to get a packet capture of an entire session, and on the basis of it, we look at the application performance monitoring part. With SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor, my company does SNMP polling, so it can drag an entire session, but it focuses more on availability, CPU memory, and server connection status. In Riverbed, my company catches an entire system, so when we deal with two applications, we have end-to-end app visibility. All the application monitoring happens through Riverbed. Our company's main problem is that, as of now, we have two different products in our organization, and we don't want to continue with the multiple products currently. I wanted to understand if SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor already have capabilities like Riverbed, and if they do, then I wanted to figure out why our company should not go with SolarWinds and why we are using products from multiple vendors. My company needs to continue with either Riverbed or SolarWinds. I wanted to see which products are good for the organization and how much I want to continue with Riverbed.

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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

"Signature baselines, which have allowed us to fine tune many of our events and significantly reduce the number of events generated."

"The Event Management is outstanding; still is the most interesting part of the product."

"The ability of this platform to monitor the very diverse assets that we maintain around the world is its most valuable feature... We support a vast array of manufacturers' equipment, like HP, IBM, Cisco, Dell, EMC, Hitachi... We can do it all with [this] one [solution]."

"The tailoring of the knowledge modules has been particularly useful as I can streamline the agents to only report on critical events."

"We're using native monitoring capabilities for all our server hardware, for visibility for applications, for URLs, for webpage response and accuracy, and for monitoring network throughput in a lot of particular instances. We're using lightweight protocols for pinging, for DNS, for LDAP."

"I use the solution to monitor servers, databases, Windows, Linux, and web services."

"The solution's event management capabilities are fantastic. We do a best of breed. If, on the network side, they use a different tool, we pull all that data in so that we have a single console. It's kind of like the monitor of monitors. We're able to aggregate all the different types of data sets, whether it's log data, app data, OS data, infrastructure data, or network data. We're able to aggregate all those events and then correlate and be able to say we're having an event."

"It has provided us with a single location to host all events to be viewed/monitored by our NOC. This has greatly helped them to streamline their processes."

More BMC TrueSight pros

"AppInsight. Provides a simple way to get very in-depth monitoring configured for our most popular applications. Exchange, SQL, and SharePoint."

"SolarWinds is a very stable platform compared to others on the market."

"The initial setup was relatively easy, and we didn't have to install anything. All we had to do was put on the devices we wanted to monitor."

"We manage SolarWinds ourselves without outsourcing its services."

"Hardware health: It allows for proactive monitoring of the hardware health and is a game changer."

"The solution is great for monitoring. If something is going wrong, we can immediately find the root cause."

"The most beneficial aspect of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is its ability to monitor at the application level."

"The solution can be deployed quickly."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor pros

Cons

"The knowledge modules could be more lightweight in size. At present, the installation packages can be quite large."

"One of the things that the TrueSight environment is missing is some of the HA abilities. The data collection server called the ISM doesn't really have the HA functionality or workload balancing. It was missing from the previous product as well. It's missing redundancy."

"It's too complex, too many servers are required, there are too many different components in the solution, and a lot of agents are required."

"Cost is an issue with BMC TrueSight Operations Management."

"We have a unique use case because BMC typically sells this solution into enterprises that are deploying it within their IT, versus to a managed services provider like us where we're supporting thousands of customers. Multi-tenancy and the scalability have been challenges along the way, as we've grown... If anything could have gone better as we were ramping this up and adding a lot of volume to it, I would say it's the scalability. That would be one thing that could be improved."

"The product must provide more AI capabilities."

"The solution could improve its price."

"The one piece that I would love to see is a general-purpose, configurable agent which would be a framework that you can deploy on anything, whether it be Java or anything else. It would allow you to easily deploy it on a platform that they support."

More BMC TrueSight cons

"It needs time-based functions for monitoring. Some things need to be polled on a specific schedule or only during a specific window."

"The product does not explain why a problem occurred."

"It should also be easier to upgrade SolarWinds. AppDynamics is harder to deploy but easier to upgrade. So AppDynamics takes a lot of time and effort to install, but you can upgrade it in minutes. SolarWinds is the opposite. It's easy to deploy, but upgrades take forever. To date, nobody can complete it on time, so the production environment is sitting idle."

"It lacks a user experience for measuring things like the end-to-end time for which a user waits for a specific response in the system. In the application layer, it has some very basic stuff. You have to build your own with manuscripts and things like that."

"When you implement SolarWinds on a larger scale my customers complain about the speed."

"Downside of the tools is the web console are hung or crash. It need to improve the performance."

"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."

"A lot of times, we have to do a lot of manual cleanups."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost depends on the usage."

"It is a relatively inexpensive solution."

"The solutions are not the cheapest but are robust and stable. License model is rather complex and BMC do often change the model."

"The tool is moderately expensive."

"Annual licensing amount depends on the customers requirements. Support is an additional fee and there are options for three and five year support."

"Pricing is all volume-driven. I think we were paying between $80 and $85 per license. That's per unit, for a perpetual license. You pay it one time and then, every year, you pay 20 percent of that for annual maintenance and support. But now that we've grown, we've purchased tens of thousands of licenses and the cost per license has gone down to something like less than $30..."

"We're end-of-lifeing it now. Overall, the licensing costs of BMC are a challenge for us in that they're hard costs, whereas open-source monitoring has soft costs, where it's harder to line-item."

"They have changed the licensing fees."

More BMC TrueSight pricing and cost advice

"I like the pricing for this SolarWinds product."

"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."

"The licenses start from USD 3000.00 and go up to USD 20,000.00 for the year. It's a perpetual license. Nothing is free in SolarWinds, anything that you need is an additional cost."

"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."

"We are on an annual license to use the solution. The price of the solution is expensive. The price is based on a bunch of factors, such as the number of engines and elements."

"The tool is available for my company at a good price point."

"The price is too high."

"Pricing and licensing is fair for what you get. It does have a great bang-for-the-buck appeal."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

25%

Computer Software Company

12%

Retailer

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

12%

Government

10%

Financial Services Firm

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	23
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	24

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	16
Midsize Enterprise	8
Large Enterprise	21

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about BMC TrueSight Operations Management?

The solution provides visibility to our infrastructure, how it is, the resources we are monitoring, and quick updates when it has any problems. We have integrated it with ServiceNow to open instances.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for BMC TrueSight Operations Management?

Though I have no clue about the tool's actual price, I know that it is astronomical.

See all answers

What needs improvement with BMC TrueSight Operations Management?

Cost is an issue with BMC TrueSight Operations Management. Though I am not responsible for the budget, I know that it is an expensive tool set when used only for event management. The tool's issue ...

See all answers

What do you like most about SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor?

Identifying the problem statement is easy.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor?

The initial cost is quite high, but the renewal cost is reasonable.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor?

There are no specific features or functionality I would like to see improved or enhanced in SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor at this time. I have not encountered any missing features or fu...

See all answers

Comparisons

Dynatrace vs BMC TrueSight

Compared 15% of the time

BMC Helix Operations Management with AIOps vs BMC TrueSight

Compared 9% of the time

Centreon vs BMC TrueSight

Compared 6% of the time

Zabbix vs BMC TrueSight

Compared 5% of the time

ServiceNow IT Operations Management vs BMC TrueSight

Compared 5% of the time

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Dynatrace vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Compared 16% of the time

Azure Monitor vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Compared 14% of the time

Splunk AppDynamics vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Compared 8% of the time

Prometheus-AI Platform vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Compared 6% of the time

Zabbix vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Compared 5% of the time

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

BMC TrueSight

October 2025

Download BMC TrueSight product report

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

September 2025

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor report

Download SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor product report

Also Known As

ProactiveNet, TrueSight Operations Management

SolarWinds SAM

Overview

BMC TrueSight offers extensive event management and seamless integration, providing comprehensive monitoring across varied infrastructures through its centralized console and Knowledge Modules.

BMC TrueSight delivers robust event management capabilities with seamless integration and comprehensive monitoring of diverse infrastructures. Its single console simplifies management, offering automated triage for standardized alerts, enhancing efficiency. Knowledge Modules support services from hardware to cloud, while proactive monitoring and capacity optimization enhance customization. It efficiently supports mixed environments by providing detailed insights and intelligently routing alerts to reduce noise. While improvements are needed in deployment, integration, AI, automation, reporting, and complexity reduction, it still meets diverse operational needs effectively.

What are BMC TrueSight's key features?

Robust Event Management: Offers efficient handling of events.
Seamless Integration: Integrates easily with existing systems.
Comprehensive Monitoring: Supports hardware to cloud infrastructure.
Centralized Console: Simplifies management processes.
Automated Triage: Standardizes alerts for better efficiency.
Proactive Monitoring: Improves forecasting and issue prevention.
Capacity Optimization: Efficiently manages resources.
Customizability: Tailors to specific service needs.

What benefits and ROI should users seek in BMC TrueSight?

Enhanced Proactive Management: Reduces downtime through efficient monitoring.
Improved Troubleshooting: Provides visibility into systems for quick issue resolution.
Effective Integration: Blends well with other tools and platforms.
Resource Efficiency: Optimizes use of infrastructure and servers.
Global Support: Facilitates operations across sectors worldwide.

BMC TrueSight is widely used in performance and availability monitoring for infrastructure and applications, supporting the monitoring of servers, databases, networks, and IT environments. It is implemented to improve management and reduce downtime, serving needs in data centers and cloud services. Organizations leverage it for event management, comprehensive data center monitoring, and cloud services, using its capabilities for alerting, ticket creation, troubleshooting, and compliance, enhancing operational efficiency globally.

BMC Helix

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.

SolarWinds

Sample Customers

Ensono, Transamerica, Boston Scientific, Park Place Technologies, inContact, TD Ameritrade, PNC Bank

Andr. L. Riis AS, NetSuite

Buyer's Guide

BMC TrueSight vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

September 2025

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