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ConnectWise Automate vs Datto Remote Monitoring and Management vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

Mindshare comparison

Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
ConnectWise Automate6.5%
Kaseya VSA15.0%
NinjaOne12.0%
Other66.5%
Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM)
Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Datto Remote Monitoring and Management10.4%
Kaseya VSA15.0%
NinjaOne12.0%
Other62.6%
Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM)
Server Monitoring Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor3.3%
Zabbix13.4%
Checkmk6.6%
Other76.7%
Server Monitoring
 

Featured Reviews

Sean Saeb - PeerSpot reviewer
Partner and CIO at Caspian IT Group
Responsive, integrates well with other applications, and the technical support is helpful
There is always room for improvement. I haven't had any problems, and they're doing a great job, in my opinion. They're doing quite well. In most cases, when we discover an issue, we report it to their engineers, who then schedule a fix. Normally, when we request something, I can see it happening within three to four months. This is a raw system. Of course, it has some flaws that could be improved. But, it's something that we will have to work with to get to the point where we need this, we request it and they do their best to make it happen. There is a lot of integration with other applications through Automate, and I believe they are working with all of the industry leaders to get the integration going. I am very pleased to be working with them.
Alex Clerici - PeerSpot reviewer
System Integrator IT Manager at Tecnimex S.r.l.
Granular monitoring and automated patching have improved service delivery and customer autonomy
I am always busy and have a lot to handle as the customer asks. I absolutely see the importance because if we lose this opportunity, it is probably detrimental. From my experience, automated patch management is considered efficient and useful, but it needs proper training. During the initial deployment, I faced some challenges as operating systems often have vulnerabilities that arise month by month. Datto Remote Monitoring and Management alone is not sufficient for effective patching; I need to pay attention to the manufacturer platform as well. Therefore, I must manage the RMM software effectively while being mindful of the lifecycle of operating systems to identify the best patch policy to adopt. Datto Remote Monitoring and Management's real-time monitoring capabilities are very granular depending on what I want to manage. For Windows, PCs, servers, and other devices such as tablets, I can customize my policy quite effectively. However, for network devices, there are other tools that might be more efficient than Datto Remote Monitoring and Management, such as Ovic, which is a specific solution for network scenarios. If I prefer not to use two separate solutions, I can meet minimal needs with Datto Remote Monitoring and Management's network module. I find the reporting and analytics features of Datto Remote Monitoring and Management to be very efficient as they are granular and rely on many customizable predefined templates. As an example of utilizing the reporting and analytics features for my customers, I act as an MSP provider and can define a site for an end customer, allowing them to monitor their environment by creating a specific account with defined roles. Consequently, a customer can often operate autonomously without my intervention while having an overview of their IT environment. I can control the reporting capabilities at different levels, giving customers autonomy if configured correctly. Regarding the remote control capabilities of Datto Remote Monitoring and Management, it offers various ways to control devices remotely. While it may not be the best module in the suite, when used alongside other tools, it can solve many problems. Regarding pricing and licensing, after recent updates, I believe Kaseya has found a correct way to offer this solution by modifying their licensing policy. I can start with a minimum committed license, and if I exceed my limits, the additional costs can be managed efficiently by paying the difference. Also, if I wish to reduce my licensing, I can do so through my account manager. The latest news about Datto's licensing seems very interesting, and I plan to evaluate it further in the coming months. I chose Datto because of my positive impressions regarding their local support during the initial phase. I received good assistance from the distributor, who provided interesting tools and integrations for Datto. I can answer what other best features Datto has compared to others after I have explored other solutions deeply. Recently, I connected with N-able but do not remember the name of another solution that seemed interesting. Testing solutions comprehensively requires a time investment, which is something I currently lack. I do not currently have any questions. If I have questions in the future, I will likely reach out through my PeerSpot account or another method. I rate this product nine out of ten overall.
NikhilKalwint - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The database is great. It's a nicely ordered database."
"ConnectWise Automate's interface is pretty easy to use; it's pretty intuitive to get around and navigate it, and it does what I need, which is usually connecting to the client and customers systems so I can just help them from home or from work."
"This product saves us a lot of time and increases our efficiency."
"Because of the system's capabilities, my team is able to significantly reduce the work that they were previously doing, more than 40%, in my opinion."
"Scripting and patch management are really important for us, and Patch Manager is something that we use a lot and is one of the most useful features for us for controlling patches and other things for different clients."
"A good automated scripts feature."
"The most value we get from this solution is that everything is on a patch cycle, so all my team has to do is go through patches, whereas previously, they were doing all the patches manually."
"It allows us to manage all client requests, jobs and invoicing."
"The remote tool is nice. If a user needs assistance, I don't have to tell the user to do anything. I just ask the user if I can remote in, and 30 seconds later, I have remoted in. It has been really handy."
"The project management and task management features work well. It's a decent product in that regard."
"Its scalability is fantastic; you can scale it up and down, and in terms of usage, it is the only product that we use for remote management."
"Automation, in terms of the standard patches and standard updates, and remote support are valuable."
"I chose Datto because of my positive impressions regarding their local support during the initial phase."
"The alerting system helps us determine what are high level alerts, and what are alerts which can wait for a day or two. We catch RAID failures, hot servers, bad drives (or predicted failures on drives), etc."
"I also like how Datto integrates seamlessly with the Autotask ticketing system."
"Datto Remote Monitoring is a little more robust compared to Automate, with components that let you audit inventory, see which customer has which device or what devices haven't been rebooted within the last 30 days, and access and run scripts on any device across the whole site."
"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."
"It's good at monitoring system-specific things like ports, services."
"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."
"The most valuable feature is the Access Rights Manager."
"SSL Certificate Monitoring and Expiry Alerting"
"The ROI for SolarWinds products is unmatched in the industry."
"The component and cable monitoring are good. SolarWinds is more intuitive and user-friendly than AppDynamics. The AppDynamics console is more complex because it's a more feature-rich solution, so it's not easy for somebody to pick it up."
"If you are looking for a single pane of glass to monitor Windows products then SolarWinds is your product."
 

Cons

"There could be better linkages between ConnectWise Automate and Manage from a ticketing perspective. Automate and Manage each has its own ticketing system. We use the one in Manage, but it'd be nice if they were linked directly to the one in Automate."
"The project management needs improvement and there's a section of the product called configuration that also needs to be improved."
"They could use some automated alerts particularly when we're talking about an MSP that might shoot over."
"They always change the GUI to some dumb-down version of tiles which are more "user-friendly", but slows my team down in the end."
"I have found the solution to be not very scalable."
"I know we get some false positives at times, where things report offline and then when we connect to them with control they're connectable."
"We would love to get feature updates and cumulative updates fixed. I know they aren't really supposed to be pushed with Patch Manager. We've got recommendations from ConnectWise to use the scripted feature update installs, scripted KB updates, etc. Having these in Patch Manager itself would be great."
"Patching and reporting need improvements, especially reporting. The reporting engine is quite outdated, so you end up having to use your own dashboard."
"They have a tab to provide information about the type of hardware the computers have. One thing they don't specify is what model of hard drive the computers have. Identification of storage models would be nice."
"Right now, it's not making monetary sense."
"The CRM capabilities are not very good. It's clunky and could work a lot better than it does. There are no marketing add-ins, for example."
"My most significant criticism is Datto is a complex product that takes a while to understand, but that could be said of almost any solution at the same level. It depends on where you're starting from. You have to rework all your workflows, and it's some heavy lifting if you want to get it right."
"We would like to see a little more functionality when monitoring network devices, such as switches and routers."
"This is not a product that I recommend."
"We would like to see a little more functionality when monitoring network devices, such as switches and routers."
"The actual setup and the automation of their product are horrific. When you buy it, there is nothing out of the box."
"An additional feature that would improve this solution is the ability to complete root cause analysis."
"The technical support was better in previous years. With the launch of the premium support service, the normal support has declined."
"The major concern in the product revolves around application performance monitoring since end-to-end application monitoring is not possible with the tool."
"I believe that SolarWinds should spend more effort in reporting."
"Downside of the tools is the web console are hung or crash. It need to improve the performance."
"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."
"When you implement SolarWinds on a larger scale my customers complain about the speed."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"From what I've overheard, it is pretty comparable to other solutions in terms of price."
"I pay $85 a month per user for a ConnectWise package that contains multiple solutions."
"Pricing and licensing are reasonable."
"I believe Automate is available for around $2."
"It fluctuates on the number of computers you have. Depending on the number of computers you have, it can fluctuate anywhere between $5 to $10 per computer per month, which is not too bad. I am not aware of any additional costs beyond the standard licensing fee. It was one flat rate per device."
"The license typically depends on the number of endpoints. On the RMM side, I think we're paying around $2,250 per endpoint. Then there is also a license per user and tech, so that comes out to about a hundred bucks per tech, give or take."
"AEM is a lot more scalable as you just pay per agent instead of having to purchase expensive licenses."
"Regarding pricing, Kaseya sells it as part of a bundle called Kaseya 360. This package includes several tools, such as EDR, ransomware protection, and more. Considering the bundle, the price is reasonable. However, where I am in Brazil, the high dollar rate and taxes make it not cheap for mid-sized companies. Still, it's competitively priced compared to similar tools."
"We had to pay out some overtime for a few problematic sites. Sites on domain networks are incredibly easy to install. We learned a few tricks that streamlined the process, but in the beginning, it was a bit tedious."
"It goes by how many endpoints you have. It is about $3,000 a month for us. If we can't figure it out ourselves and need additional help to set it up, we would have to pay for that."
"The price is too high."
"Pricing and licensing is fair for what you get. It does have a great bang-for-the-buck appeal."
"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."
"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."
"The tool is available for my company at a good price point."
"The product is expensive."
"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."
"I would rate the pricing for this solution a three out of five."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Performing Arts
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Healthcare Company
7%
Outsourcing Company
7%
Performing Arts
15%
Wholesaler/Distributor
9%
Healthcare Company
8%
Outsourcing Company
7%
Educational Organization
12%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
8%
Healthcare Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise1
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise2
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business17
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise21
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
What needs improvement with Datto Remote Monitoring and Management?
Improvements for Datto Remote Monitoring and Management could be made in the areas of vulnerability assessment and op...
What advice do you have for others considering Datto Remote Monitoring and Management?
I am always busy and have a lot to handle as the customer asks. I absolutely see the importance because if we lose th...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Datto Remote Monitoring and Management?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Datto Remote Monitoring and Management is that it is smooth...
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 dash...
 

Also Known As

LabTech for IT Service Providers, ConnectWise Automate for Corporate IT Departments, ConnectWise Automate for IT Service Providers
Autotask EM, Autotask Endpoint Management, Datto RMM
SolarWinds SAM
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

I-M Technology, Mainstay Technologies, PC Works Plus, Integrity IT, Kerkhoff Technologies Inc., Marathon Consulting, Christenberry Sales Company, EDTS, Secom Technology, Ready to View, ARRC Technology, DaVinci Digital, JNR Networks, Quinn Technology Solutions, PCIT, Liberty Technology, Capital Computers & Networks, Atlanta Technology Force, Doberman Technologies, First Column Enterprises, CisCom Solutions
Wessex Networks, Base2, Valiant Technology, Technology Services Group, TechGuru
Andr. L. Riis AS, NetSuite
Find out what your peers are saying about NinjaOne, Kaseya, TeamViewer and others in Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM). Updated: March 2026.
885,789 professionals have used our research since 2012.