Change Auditor for Active Directory vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor comparison

Quest Software and SolarWinds are both solutions in the Active Directory Management category. Quest Software is ranked #7 with an average rating of 9.0, while SolarWinds is ranked #8 with an average rating of 8.0. Quest Software holds a 5.4% mindshare in ADM, compared to SolarWinds’s 3.2% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Quest Software users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 89% of SolarWinds users who would recommend it.

Change Auditor for Active D...

Read 2 Change Auditor for Active Directory reviews

1,185 Views
1,102 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

SolarWinds Server and Appli...

Read 44 SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor reviews

7,596 Views
532 Comparison Views

89% willing to recommend

Change Auditor for Active D...

SolarWinds Server and Appli...

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor and Change Auditor for Active Directory provide distinct IT infrastructure management solutions. SolarWinds offers cost-effectiveness and support availability advantages, while Change Auditor is preferred for its robust feature set.

Features: SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor includes comprehensive monitoring capabilities, extensive alerting features, and performance metrics for optimizing server and application health. Change Auditor for Active Directory offers auditing and compliance functionalities, detailed security insights, and real-time change tracking, focusing on security and regulatory compliance.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service:Change Auditor for Active Directory facilitates seamless integration with existing systems and provides responsive support. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor also offers an easy deployment process, although with more initial setup steps. Both prioritize customer support, with SolarWinds noted for quicker response times, while Change Auditor excels in integration ease.

Pricing and ROI: SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is cost-efficient, appealing to budget-conscious organizations with adaptable pricing models. Change Auditor for Active Directory, although potentially more costly initially, delivers substantial ROI by enhancing security and compliance, preferred by those valuing comprehensive auditing.

To learn more, read our detailed Change Auditor for Active Directory vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor Report (Updated: August 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Change Auditor for Active Directory vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

August 2026

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Helped 909,725 peers since 2012

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

Change Auditor for Active D...

Ranking in Active Directory Management

7th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

SolarWinds Server and Appli...

Ranking in Active Directory Management

8th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

4.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (19th), Server Monitoring (6th)

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Active Directory Management category, the mindshare of Change Auditor for Active Directory is 5.4%, down from 7.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is 3.2%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Active Directory Management Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Change Auditor for Active Directory	5.4%
SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor	3.2%
Other	91.4%

Active Directory Management

Featured Reviews

reviewer2794194

Sr Mgr Cyber Defense at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

Auditing changes has become faster and now uncovers misconfigurations within minutes

The best features Change Auditor for Active Directory offers are that it's lightweight and easy to understand. You don't have to memorize event IDs since it's in English. What makes Change Auditor for Active Directory lightweight and easy to understand in my experience is that it doesn't require the events to record to the domain controllers. Therefore, I can focus just on the event types without having to turn up detailed logging on my DCs. Change Auditor for Active Directory has positively impacted my organization by helping us respond to audits very quickly to show that we had evidence of who was making the changes and match them up to the ticket request and who approved it. After implementing Change Auditor for Active Directory, it has allowed us to answer questions literally in minutes, whereas it would have taken us half a day to a day before.

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NikhilKalwint

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.

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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

"The most valuable features are the ability to protect Active Directory accounts and groups, and the real-time notifications that help manage Active Directory more effectively."

"Change Auditor for Active Directory has positively impacted my organization by helping us respond to audits very quickly to show that we had evidence of who was making the changes and match them up to the ticket request and who approved it."

"It is scalable."

"As I mentioned in one of the other points: "Simplicity at its best"."

"This feature from Solarwinds SAM helped us to monitor and alert whenever the SSL cert is going to expire on the server to avoid any downtime of the services running on the server specially on ADFS platform where we have Video conference, Webex, Office 365 and single sign-on services."

"SolarWinds is one of the best products on the market and if they eventually support the IBM Mainframe then it will be perfect."

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

"The most valuable feature of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is its powerful monitoring capabilities."

"SolarWinds SAM has significantly improved our workflow by allowing us to develop a comprehensive knowledge base of known errors and automate responses to specific alerts."

"I have found the visibility into server health with SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor very beneficial, which we use on a daily basis."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor pros

Cons

"Change Auditor for Active Directory could be improved if the client were more flexible when installed, so if I upgrade the server, I wouldn't have to replace the clients at the same time."

"Areas that could be improved include having more management capabilities with command-line scripts and more flexibility in general."

"The setup was complex. We had local support to assist us."

"PerfStack can be made more effective. I am sure SolarWinds already has a plan for the same in coming versions."

"There is one feature that is a report writer. And they are currently trying to take it out from being a stand-alone application and integrating to the web. This doesn't give us the flexibility and it doesn't expand what we can get when it comes to reporting. So, putting it on the web is going to make it difficult to get some information. Leaving it where it is now will help us a lot."

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

"An additional feature that would improve this solution is the ability to complete root cause analysis."

"PerfStack can be made more effective."

"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."

"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."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"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."

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

"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."

"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."

"Price can always be lower. It is neither on the expensive side nor on the cheap side. We have worked with them for a lot of years, so we get a discount due to the size of the installation."

"We pay around $ 2,000 to $ 5,000 yearly for the solution."

"I like the pricing for this SolarWinds product."

"The product might cost you $30,000 USD to buy, but scaling this solution requires the purchase of additional polling engines at $20,000 USD each."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

Insurance Company

Healthcare Company

Educational Organization

13%

University

Financial Services Firm

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	17
Midsize Enterprise	8
Large Enterprise	21

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Quest Change Auditor for Active Directory?

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing was pretty straightforward. Actually, we bundled it with some other services offered from Quest to get a volume discount.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Quest Change Auditor for Active Directory?

Change Auditor for Active Directory could be improved if the client were more flexible when installed, so if I upgrade the server, I wouldn't have to replace the clients at the same time. I think g...

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What is your primary use case for Quest Change Auditor for Active Directory?

My main use case for Change Auditor for Active Directory is auditing changes, finding changes to undo, and break-fix solving issues. For example, I could give you a quick specific example of how I'...

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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 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 ...

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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...

See all answers

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Active Directory Management

July 2026

Change Auditor for Active Directory report

Download Change Auditor for Active Directory product report

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

July 2026

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor report

Download SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor product report

Also Known As

No data available

SolarWinds SAM

Overview

Change Auditor for Active Directory provides advanced monitoring for modifications in Active Directory, offering real-time insights to enhance security and compliance without impacting system performance.

Integrating seamlessly with existing IT infrastructure, Change Auditor allows organizations to monitor, analyze, and report on changes within Active Directory. It provides detailed visibility into user activities and configuration modifications, enabling IT professionals to quickly identify potential security threats and unusual activity patterns. This tool aids in ensuring compliance with regulatory standards, minimizing downtime, and improving operational efficiency through precise tracking and alerting capabilities.

What are its most important features?

Real-Time Alerts: Provides instant notifications for critical changes, allowing timely response to potential threats.
Comprehensive Auditing: Tracks all modifications in Active Directory, offering detailed reports for analysis and compliance.
User Activity Monitoring: Observes user behaviors and correlates activities for better security management.
Automated Reports: Generates scheduled reports to assist in compliance and audits easily.

What benefits or ROI should users consider?

Enhanced Security: Quickly identify and respond to unauthorized changes, reducing security risks.
Regulatory Compliance: Simplifies adherence to compliance standards with detailed auditing and reporting tools.
Operational Efficiency: Saves time through automation of auditing processes and reduces manual tracking efforts.
Reduced Downtime: Swift identification of issues enables faster resolution, minimizing disruptions in service.

In industries like finance and healthcare, Change Auditor significantly impacts risk management by safeguarding sensitive information and aligning with audit requirements. Its robust monitoring capabilities are essential for maintaining the integrity and security of critical data within heavily regulated sectors.

Quest Software

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor provides comprehensive server, application, and infrastructure monitoring, focusing on integration, application dependency, and network insights through user-friendly interfaces and detailed dashboards.

With AppStack and AppInsight support, SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor offers service management, detailed resource dashboards, and integration capabilities. It monitors hardware metrics and performance parameters, facilitating database and network insights for cloud and virtual environments. Robust alerting, predictive analytics, and capacity planning ensure efficient management of server health and application performance.

What are the key features?

Integration: Seamlessly connects with existing tools.
AppStack: Provides a holistic view of applications.
AppInsight: Supports widely-used applications.
SNMP Polling: Efficient network data collection.
Diagnostics: Real-time troubleshooting.
Customizable Dashboards: Tailored monitoring views.

What benefits should users expect?

Comprehensive Monitoring: Extends from servers to databases.
Transparent Control: Enhances visibility into performance metrics.
User-Friendly: Simplifies proactive monitoring with alerts.
Predictive Features: Supports capacity and trend planning.

Industries implement SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor to enhance server utilization reporting, network configuration, and AV equipment performance tracking. They benefit from monitoring critical services across diverse deployment models, improving management efficiency and decision-making.

SolarWinds

Sample Customers

American Airlines, Bank of America, BARCLAYS, ebay, Ford, intel, MARS, MERCK, Microsoft, UBER, VISA

Andr. L. Riis AS, NetSuite

Buyer's Guide

Change Auditor for Active Directory vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

August 2026

Free Report: Change Auditor for Active Directory vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Find out what your peers are saying about Change Auditor for Active Directory vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.

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