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

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

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Helped 902,894 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 (18th), Server Monitoring (6th)

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the Active Directory Management category, the mindshare of Change Auditor for Active Directory is 5.5%, down from 7.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is 3.0%, up from 1.1% 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	5.5%
SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor	3.0%
Other	91.5%

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.

Read full review

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

"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."

"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."

"If a company would really like insight into its database utilization or performance and why their servers are slow or why the database is not giving a proper response, this solution will help."

"The most valuable features of the solution are its real-time node monitoring and Help Desk's feedback."

"The solution has good alerts; notifications are sent via email to technicians, and you can filter the kinds of alerts you want to receive as well, which is excellent."

"The application dependency feature identifies issues between applications and servers or within the network where the application is hosted. It highlights related problems, whether related to packet processing or other issues, enabling the creation of alerts and reports accordingly."

"SolarWinds allows network administrators to easily monitor the network by customizing the pages to see what exactly is needed, in addition to the deep statistics shown for nodes and interfaces like response time, packet loss, interface CRC, interface errors, as well as the rich graphs for all network elements."

"Extremely user friendly: Any IT professional can learn how to admin NPM in a short time."

"We use the solution as a central monitoring tool. We use it to monitor every transaction that has a relation to the organization’s infrastructure."

"From a customers point of view, they get a good return on investment because they are not paying a lot of money when you compare to what they used to pay for IBM and other large vendors."

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 technical support was better in previous years. With the launch of the premium support service, the normal support has declined."

"SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor could improve the server monitoring and the web application monitoring features are not good. Microsoft SCOM has better server monitoring."

"One area that could benefit from improvement is its performance"

"SAM's software-defined network monitoring capability is also low and could be improved."

"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 technical support is nothing special."

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

"SAM AppInsight for SQL: The ability to ignore fragmentation of specific indexes."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"When compared to other licensed models in the market, it stands out as one of the more cost-effective options."

"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."

"I would advise potential buyers to wait until the end of the quarter, end of year, or other time to place orders. There are actually great deals to be had at those times if your budget cycle can match up."

"The solution's price is reasonable. Though it's on the higher side, the tool is worth the money."

"I think SolarWinds' pricing is very decent compared to other competitors in the market."

"SAM is not per server so the pricing model can be deceiving. If you have an enterprise environment, you will quickly exceed your licensing quickly. You should know this before going in."

"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."

"The solution is overpriced in terms of application management."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Manufacturing Company

Insurance Company

Healthcare Company

Educational Organization

13%

University

Financial Services Firm

Government

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.

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...

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'...

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.

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 ...

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...

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Product Reports

Active Directory Management

Download Change Auditor for Active Directory product report

Change Auditor for Active Directory report

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Download SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor product report

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor 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

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