Centreon vs SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer comparison

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Centreon Logo
7,609 views|4,825 comparisons
96% willing to recommend
SolarWinds Logo
1,804 views|1,155 comparisons
82% willing to recommend
Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Centreon and SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two IT Infrastructure Monitoring solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed Centreon vs. SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer Report (Updated: September 2020).
768,578 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"We use the remote server functionality on some customer sites, because you can see an independent view and are not dependent on a single connection. If you have branch offices or bigger office outside your headquarters, you can use remote servers because if the connection is broken or disrupted, then remote server will obtain a view of your environment and server availability. This is a good point against using other solutions. Because with other solutions, you don't have this feature. Then, you will be blind if you have this type of a situation.""The most valuable feature is the monitoring of servers and networks, because we have a lot of them and need to maintain control.""The most important feature is that it permits us to receive alarms if there is an incident within the infrastructure. The feature I love the most is the reporting feature, the MBI (Monitoring Business Intelligence) which permits us to send advanced reports to our customers in PDF format or in Doc format. We also deploy Centreon Map which gives our customers intuitive views of their information system.""Centreon's most valuable features are preventative maintenance and cost-efficiency. Everything is monitored, and we get a log before the system fails. We have an opportunity to fix the issue and avoid downtime.""The downtimes feature is helpful. If the ISP is doing some maintenance on its network, we have the option to put downtime on the devices or the services, so we won't get any false alarms.""The product is available in ISO image format, ready for deployment. Centreon also has a comprehensive guide and documentation that are simple and easy to follow.""E-mail alert notifications are valuable.""It is decentralized, which is better, because you can reduce the load from a single system. Also, you get a better view because it's more independent. Then, for the management, it's nice because they have one central system. With that, they can manage all the other systems, as well. This means they don't have to configure each system by system. They can configure it from one single interface."

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"The bandwidth monitoring functionality is one of the most important features for our customers. When the customer notices that their bandwidth usage is too high for some reason, they will use the traffic analysis within SolarWinds NTA to identify which protocols (e.g. HTTPS) or applications are using up the bandwidth.""What I like the most is the bandwidth assessment.""What I like about SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is that it's useful for analyzing traffic. It also has an application visibility feature that lets you control applications.""What the network team found most valuable in SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is that it helps them to troubleshoot or analyze the issue. For example, traffic that comes from our location: India, goes to the US, so for the network team to analyze where the traffic comes from and where it is directed, and whether the packets are being dropped, they use SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer. The network team also likes that through the solution, they can analyze the complete traffic utilization and how they're going to use it. SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is user-friendly. The team finds it comfortable to use.""In terms of the implementation, we've actually used SAM, the server and application monitoring tools. The network configuration tools are very useful in terms of bulk upgrading switches and infrastructure. Also, the Network Traffic Analyzer was extremely useful to track down errant users soaking up bandwidth.""NTA's most valuable feature is traffic analysis and visibility.""The initial setup was straightforward.""For stability, I would give SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer a rating of ten out of ten."

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Cons
"The reporting has room for improvement.""Currently, we have to go through all of the different templates and take a look at how the template is configured, and how specific parameters may change across different templates with different precedents, megatons, etc. It's a lot of work and involves trial and error. I wish they could simplify the process.""Centreon supports officially 10,000 services per poller. That is not much for larger customers, because this limit is reached very quickly. We use it with three times the limit without any problems, but Centreon says, "Okay, we are only supporting it with 10,000 services." We are aware that increasing the limit has different impacts because they need to support it. However, for most customers, it would be be very good if they could increase the limit of services.""Improvements are needed in the area of cloud monitoring, as that's a newer feature.""There are improvements that they need to make to their API. When we're using different systems and we want to disable monitoring for a specific server, we still can't do that through the API. That's something that's lacking.""Improvements I would like to see include a discovery solution, better reports, and end-to-end monitoring.""Opening a ticket on the website of Centreon can be difficult for my colleague, but not for me because my English is good. However, my colleague doesn't speak English well, as our company is in Quebec and our first language is French.""During the initial setup we faced some issues. Part of it was because we had to become more knowledgeable in the solution. There are some gray areas and if you don't know the product well you may have issues. Another part of it was some bugs that we came across, although that's part of every software solution in IT nowadays. But the initial setup could be easier."

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"I would like to see better customization capabilities.""The price of the solution is a bit high for our clients. They should consider adjusting their price model.""I would like to see more training videos and additional material for learning how to use this solution.""The pricing is expensive.""One area that we struggle with is the price. Because the price of this solution is so high, we are largely unable to introduce it into the local market, and only the banking sector has the means to afford it.""There are some areas for improvement in SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer. There are some challenges with the solution when compared to other monitoring tools such as difficulty in operations and difficulty with backup installation. My team is currently trying out different solutions but would need to see how it goes.""Technical support could be improved with quicker response times.""Technical support needs improvement."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "It's quite expensive when you use the Enterprise version, but if you compare it to other providers, it's more like a middle-of-the-line product. It's always good to have a price that is lower, but I would say the price is okay because we get very good support and if we have any other issues we can always contact them. There has never been a time when I didn't get help from them."
  • "In terms of licensing, you have to think through if the components that need licensing are really needed. For example, the Map module: If you don't need a map to be shown, I don't see a point in paying for those licenses, if you just use it a couple of times a month or a couple of times a week... You can use the Centreon free version and get the main features. The licensing part is, I would say, only for bigger customers who have the option to pay more and who really need those kinds of modules, fancy reports, etc."
  • "For more complex tasks, we use prepaid support days and ask Centreon to come onsite."
  • "Centreon is an open source product. Thus, there is no need for licensing."
  • "The pricing is acceptable."
  • "They only sell four hour slots for support, so if you have just one question, then you need to pay for four hours. Or, you need to wait until you have enough questions to fill those four hours. They are not flexible in this."
  • "I think Centreon's pricing is fair, especially given the criticality of our system. They were cheaper than the other solutions. The licensing terms were pretty straightforward. I believe it was based on the number of hosts."
  • "The solution is very effective, despite the low price."
  • More Centreon Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "For our environment, we pay approximately $25,000 USD yearly."
  • "The licensing for this solution is based on the number of nodes."
  • "The price of this solution is exceptional."
  • "While the pricing is fair, it could be better."
  • "The pricing is reasonable."
  • "We pay yearly, and we are happy with its price."
  • "We have licenses for SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer. In terms of pricing, its license is not that expensive versus other tools such as HP."
  • "Pricing for SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is very high. I have a customer that needs the solution but doesn't have the budget for SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer because the problem is that you can't use the solution only. You have to buy requirements such as the SolarWinds NPM first, and some companies don't have the budget for all the required components and modules. SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer can cost up to $10,000, and some customers don't have that budget. Another product has all the modules that SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer has, with a very low price, that can be a replacement, which is ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer. PRTG is another solution that can replace SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer."
  • More SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:Centreon's most valuable features are preventative maintenance and cost-efficiency. Everything is monitored, and we get a log before the system fails. We have an opportunity to fix the issue and avoid… more »
    Top Answer:Prometheus provides the ability to automate the backup of my infrastructure. This automatic backup capability allows me to integrate it into GitLab for versioning, among other functionalities. Thus… more »
    Top Answer:I have worked from 1973 with all kind of systems in large enterprises across the world. And have experience with all kind of software in monitoring from infra to end to end, it depends on the… more »
    Top Answer:The product is not too expensive. The license is renewed yearly. When it comes to support for NetFlow Traffic Analyzer, it might cost extra. Usually, we pay for support each year, and it lasts for one… more »
    Top Answer:In terms of improvement, it can be complex to set up and configure, and the user guides provided can also be complex, especially when dealing with certain configuration aspects. Improved SQL… more »
    Ranking
    Views
    7,609
    Comparisons
    4,825
    Reviews
    6
    Average Words per Review
    907
    Rating
    8.0
    Views
    1,804
    Comparisons
    1,155
    Reviews
    12
    Average Words per Review
    456
    Rating
    8.1
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    Netflow Traffic Analyzer
    Learn More
    Overview

    Centreon is an all-in-one IT monitoring solution that is a network, system, applicative supervision, and monitoring tool. It is free and open source, and one of the most flexible and powerful monitoring softwares on the market.

    Centreon Features

    Centreon has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

    • Supervision of hybrid infrastructures, from one end to the other
    • Open and flexible architecture 
    • Open-source solution, downloadable for free
    • Filtering capability in GUI interface
    • Proactive end to end monitoring
    • Easily configurable and simple to handle
    • Dedicated dashboard widgets
    • Scalability
    • Independent application for monitoring
    • End to end reporting with actual logs

    Centreon Benefits

    There are several benefits to implementing Centreon. Some of the biggest advantages the solution offers include:

    • Single platform, multi-user rights & access: Centreon is designed with built-in ACL, allowing enterprise users access to the monitored data on a need-to-know basis.
    • Smart data-mapping for customized macro & micro views: Centreon provides real-time custom views in multiple screens with graphic-rich data mapping, which also enables monitoring operators to act and troubleshoot from a distance.
    • Ready monitoring intelligence & reporting: With Centreon, you can easily generate reports of essential operational KPIs by using pre-configured templates, and add reports as needed by exploiting the dedicated monitoring data warehouse.

    Reviews from Real Users

    Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by Centreon users.

    PeerSpot user Thor M., CEO at a tech services company, says, "The single-pane view provides us a view of all of our network infrastructure, and it is one of the most important tools that we use to see the status of our customers' networks. It provides a nice benefit when it comes to helping align IT operations with business objectives. The top-down views, dashboards, and business context reporting are things that are nice to have because you want to be able to show the customer that everything is working, that problems have been addressed, and that you're providing value.” 

    Thomas C., Managing Director, Canada at Eva, comments, “The most valuable feature of the solution is the flexibility, the ability to integrate all kinds of equipment. As long as something has an IP you can monitor it. What we try to achieve all the time is not only saying a company's system is available, but to give additional data on the performance of the equipment. So the flexibility is what matters the most to us, where we can script everything. Centreon has a lot of Plugin Packs, meaning they support, by design, a lot of devices. And on top of that, we have the ability to add our own scripts and do whatever we want and display the data as we want in the central dashboards.”

    Marcilio L., President at ITS Solucoes, expresses, "The dashboards are valuable because they ease troubleshooting and viewing. It becomes easier to locate the source of a problem... The dashboards make it easier to communicate with our clients. They don't want to see the alert console, they want to see a beautiful dashboard representing their network and their business and to watch it in case something is wrong in their environment."

    Florent Q., Network Engineer at a computer software company, mentions, "The most valuable feature is that we can manually configure everything we need. After it comes inside the interface of Centreon, you can display it. Because the interface is quite user-friendly, you can manually configure the configuration very deeply, which is very pleasant and useful because you can monitor and see everything on your service list, dashboard, or MAP. The most useful feature for me is that you can create your own plugin and monitoring query."

    SolarWinds Netflow Traffic Analyzer enables you to capture data from continuous streams of network traffic and convert those raw numbers into easy-to-interpret charts and tables that quantify exactly how the corporate network is being used, by whom, and for what purpose.
    Sample Customers
    Airbus, Bollore, BT, Canal Plus, Kuehne Nagel, Limagrain, LVMH, Oberthur Technologies, Orange, Darty, Addax Petroleum, Plastic Omnium, Auchan, Valeo, Saint Gobin, Clarins, Hugo Boss, JC Decaux, French Government (Defense, Justice, Environment, Agriculture), OptiComm, Thales, Zeiss.
    Oceaneering International, Asia Pacific Network Information Centre, 335th Signal Command, Immofori
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company33%
    Logistics Company22%
    Comms Service Provider11%
    Financial Services Firm11%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company17%
    Government11%
    Comms Service Provider9%
    Financial Services Firm8%
    REVIEWERS
    Manufacturing Company29%
    Financial Services Firm18%
    Real Estate/Law Firm6%
    Retailer6%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization63%
    Computer Software Company6%
    Financial Services Firm5%
    Government3%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business42%
    Midsize Enterprise21%
    Large Enterprise38%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business28%
    Midsize Enterprise15%
    Large Enterprise57%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business32%
    Midsize Enterprise12%
    Large Enterprise56%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business8%
    Midsize Enterprise67%
    Large Enterprise25%
    Buyer's Guide
    Centreon vs. SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer
    September 2020
    Find out what your peers are saying about Centreon vs. SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer and other solutions. Updated: September 2020.
    768,578 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Centreon is ranked 11th in IT Infrastructure Monitoring with 27 reviews while SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is ranked 6th in Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) with 34 reviews. Centreon is rated 8.6, while SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is rated 7.6. The top reviewer of Centreon writes "Proactive reporting guides our NOC on what needs to be fixed, saving them time". On the other hand, the top reviewer of SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer writes "Displays traffic visibility and efficient traffic flows". Centreon is most compared with Zabbix, PRTG Network Monitor, Nagios Core, Icinga and Datadog, whereas SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is most compared with ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer, Cisco Secure Network Analytics, Zabbix, SolarWinds NPM and Vectra AI. See our Centreon vs. SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer report.

    We monitor all IT Infrastructure Monitoring reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.