ControlUp vs SolarWinds AppOptics comparison

ControlUp and SolarWinds are both solutions in the IT Infrastructure Monitoring category. ControlUp is ranked #21 with an average rating of 8.0, while SolarWinds is ranked #61. ControlUp holds a 0.8% mindshare in IM, compared to SolarWinds’s 0.8% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of ControlUp users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 80% of SolarWinds users who would recommend it.

ControlUp

Read 13 ControlUp reviews

3,616 Views
2,025 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

SolarWinds AppOptics

Read 9 SolarWinds AppOptics reviews

2,750 Views
1,403 Comparison Views

80% willing to recommend

ControlUp

SolarWinds AppOptics

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 9, 2024

ControlUp and SolarWinds AppOptics compete in the IT performance monitoring and management category. ControlUp seems to have the upper hand due to its extensive feature set and competitive pricing, alongside robust ROI potential.

Features: ControlUp offers comprehensive endpoint monitoring, real-time performance insights, and extensive integration potential. It includes historical reporting and a ROI-based approach that add value, alongside Netscaler and Scoutbees integration and AI-driven analytics for full analysis. SolarWinds AppOptics focuses on application performance management and network topology discovery, providing performance monitoring through integrated solutions and solid application insights.

Room for Improvement: ControlUp can enhance integration capabilities and seamless automation. Users desire better network monitoring and a more user-friendly alerting system. There is also room to improve reporting and network infrastructure capabilities. SolarWinds AppOptics could improve with a centralized interface and deeper AI integration. Enhancing support for Unix applications and refining pricing and licensing models are also suggested areas for improvement.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: ControlUp is known for its hybrid cloud compatibility and easy deployment, with generally responsive customer support. Further improvements in support are suggested. SolarWinds AppOptics has mixed customer service experiences, impacted initially by scaling demands, and focuses on on-premises deployments, with service variability noted.

Pricing and ROI: ControlUp is competitive in pricing, offering features that justify the cost with flexible licensing options that grant positive ROI through optimized workload management. SolarWinds AppOptics provides reasonable pricing related to product capabilities but highlights its element-based licensing as an area for review. Both demonstrate ROI, with ControlUp noted for savings through proactive issue prevention and resource optimization.

To learn more, read our detailed ControlUp vs. SolarWinds AppOptics Report (Updated: April 2026).

Buyer's Guide

ControlUp vs. SolarWinds AppOptics

April 2026

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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

ControlUp

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

21st

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Digital Experience Monitoring (DEM) (5th)

SolarWinds AppOptics

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

61st

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (55th), Cloud Monitoring Software (44th)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the IT Infrastructure Monitoring category, the mindshare of ControlUp is 0.8%, down from 0.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds AppOptics is 0.8%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

IT Infrastructure Monitoring Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
ControlUp	0.8%
SolarWinds AppOptics	0.8%
Other	98.4%

IT Infrastructure Monitoring

Featured Reviews

reviewer2717526

Senior Systems Administrator at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

Delivers comprehensive and customizable system management with increased efficiency

The best features I have found are that it is very customizable, which would be number one, and very extensible through the use of scripts and triggers. The visual look of the interface is very easy to understand what is happening and somewhat why it's happening. It may sound facetious, but it really is everything about it. Everything works exactly the way it's meant to, a dream come true for anyone who's administering systems because it gives you all the information that you want and all the actions you want to take, all in one place. The benefits I have seen from using it so far include the ability to know in advance and take actions based on the information the tool gives you.

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John Yuko

Assistant Manager ICT - Projects at I&M Bank Ltd

Unique features allow consolidating and combing metrics into a single dashboard, but don't monitor mobile solutions

I would like to see more granular information provided on Unix applications. Also, the integration with Unix services should be a bit more straightforward in terms having an agent to retrieve your credentials rather than having to enter or save them for SSH on SolarWinds. From the outset, we had to set some commands to log into the search console, and they are saved on the solution, which presents a challenge in terms of exposure. The solution is unable to monitor APK solutions completely because we'd then be forced to break down the APK and provide the APIs or go through the source code. They don't have a module that can analyze an application that is maybe under-used.

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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 feature is the granularity of visibility into the resources that are in use by our applications."

"ControlUp has a lot of automation in it; it detects problems and failures very well, and it's not only monitoring, but it's also detecting, and it could even fix problems with a lot of automation that you can put in place to fix problems automatically before you even detect them."

"Security, uptime, and reduced capital expenditures are the main reasons we use ControlUp. So basically, the money that we consume is based on the amount of time we are using a service."

"ControlUp has improved our organization by giving us full visibility into our systems, so we know what's running, where it's running, what it's doing, and the load on the system."

"The visual look of the interface is very easy to understand what is happening and somewhat why it's happening."

"ControlUp is a very good solution, but when we monitor an environment, it is very difficult."

"This product's most valuable feature is that it allows you to consume many resources from a centralized tool."

"It shows you so many details of what's going on in that log-on that, if there's a problem, you can identify it in five minutes."

More ControlUp pros

"The sum solution, NTA, and DPA."

"Technical support is always live and they're supportive."

"Some of the most valuable features of SolarWinds are the topology discovery and network performance analysis."

"The product has a great dashboard."

"The reporting of the solution is very good."

"AppNeta provides a range of products, all based around intelligent network testing algorithms."

"It's a solid application."

More SolarWinds AppOptics pros

Cons

"Solve is a quick and intuitive tool for quickly mapping data together, however, once you have the view of the data that you like, it is difficult to share this with colleagues."

"ControlUp doesn't allow us to monitor the network infrastructure, so we are obliged to acquire another solution that allows us to monitor the network."

"Integration is always a problem, and we feel that we are doing our best and the service provider thinks they are doing their best. I guess if ControlUp's system could be more capable or if people could understand the integration part, that would be better."

"Solve is a quick and intuitive tool for quickly mapping data together, however, once you have the view of the data that you like, it is difficult to share this with colleagues."

"This solution be improved by including load throttling tools. For example, I can identify a service where we spend a lot of CPU but I cannot restrict the service from ControlUp. I have to use another tool like AppSense."

"Integration is always a problem, and we feel that we are doing our best and the service provider thinks they are doing their best."

"The on-premises version has limited scalability as challenges occur because the console takes a lot of computer power."

"There was some lag earlier, and reports pulled from the dashboard would sometimes be half an hour old. But now, the information provides real-time status, which is greatly appreciated. Overall, I've seen improvement in the product."

More ControlUp cons

"I would like to see more integration with other tools that are available on the market."

"Because of its inability to monitor mobile solutions, I would rate this solution as a seven out of ten."

"I would like to see more integration with other tools that are available on the market."

"We had a stability issue with a portion of the installation (Sequencer) when it was first introduced and have chosen not to install that specific function."

"The implementation needs improvement. It needs to get modernized with the newer cloud scenario in both public and private deployment models."

"Does not perform traditional SNMP/CLI/NetFlow/WMI etc monitoring."

"I'd like to see the ability to use other internal instrumented applications as filters in the overview/aggregation screen."

"The support is not too bad, but also not very good—it's quite standard."

More SolarWinds AppOptics cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Based on my experience, ControlUp is not that expensive."

"Personally, I would say that the only thing I could compare it to is another monitoring tool that we use, Nagios."

"We are satisfied with the price compared to other solutions."

"Since it's a negotiable rate, I would rate the pricing as a five out of five."

"Mostly, it's a perpetual license. We don't have any customers using the subscription right now—it's mostly a perpetual license that the customers purchase. The licensing is based on the number of elements, whereas other solutions are node-based."

"I believe the current licensing cost is reasonable."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Healthcare Company

10%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

13%

Construction Company

13%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	8

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	2
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	7

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ControlUp Real-time?

It is expensive. It is very expensive. I was working in a bank, and even in the bank, which was quite healthy, the ControlUp budget was something we had to defend very harshly.

See all answers

What needs improvement with ControlUp Real-time?

I don't see any.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for ControlUp Real-time?

I was taking care of a Citrix infrastructure, and as ControlUp is the best monitoring tool for those environments, I was also using ControlUp to monitor those environments.

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Comparisons

Nexthink vs ControlUp

Compared 18% of the time

Citrix uberAgent Monitoring vs ControlUp

Compared 7% of the time

eG Enterprise vs ControlUp

Compared 7% of the time

SysTrack vs ControlUp

Compared 6% of the time

Zscaler Digital Experience (ZDX) vs ControlUp

Compared 5% of the time

More ControlUp Competitors

New Relic vs SolarWinds AppOptics

Compared 11% of the time

Dynatrace vs SolarWinds AppOptics

Compared 8% of the time

Zabbix vs SolarWinds AppOptics

Compared 6% of the time

Splunk AppDynamics vs SolarWinds AppOptics

Compared 6% of the time

OpenText Real User Monitoring vs SolarWinds AppOptics

Compared 4% of the time

More SolarWinds AppOptics Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

ControlUp

May 2026

Download ControlUp product report

Buyer's Guide

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

May 2026

Download SolarWinds AppOptics product report

Also Known As

No data available

AppOptics, SolarWinds TraceView, Librato

Overview

ControlUp is known for its powerful administration tools, real-time insights, and automation capabilities, enabling efficient VDI and infrastructure management. It integrates seamlessly with solutions like Netscaler, offering historical analytics and endpoint monitoring for proactive issue detection.

ControlUp provides an advanced platform for monitoring Citrix VDIs and user sessions, allowing administrators to perform in-depth infrastructure analysis and troubleshooting. It supports virtualization platforms like VMware and Hyper-V, delivering real-time data capabilities and capacity management. ControlUp also facilitates script-based actions and easy deployment, offering AI-enhanced VDI administration. Users can centralize resources for efficient management, benefiting from granular resource visibility and capacity planning. The tool integrates with Scoutbees for end-to-end analysis and supports historical reporting to detect potential issues before they arise.

What are the key features of ControlUp?

Real-Time Insights: Provides up-to-the-minute data for informed decision-making.
Automation Capabilities: Extensive automation through script-based actions to streamline tasks.
Customizable Interface: Adaptable settings to suit organizational workflows effectively.
End-to-End Analysis: Integration with Netscaler and Scoutbees for comprehensive infrastructure analysis.
AI-Enhanced Administration: Leverages AI for improved VDI management and operation.

What benefits and ROI should users look for in the reviews?

Proactive Issue Detection: Early detection of potential issues to minimize downtime and enhance reliability.
In-Depth Analyses: Detailed insights into infrastructure for better planning and optimization.
Efficient Resource Management: Centralization of resources contributes to operational efficiency and visibility.
Cost-Effective Management: Automating repetitive tasks results in reduced operational costs and improved productivity.
Improved User Experience: Comprehensive monitoring and analytics ensure a smoother digital experience for end-users.

Organizations rely on ControlUp for effective infrastructure monitoring and management across industries. Within the tech sector, it supports Citrix VDI environments and enhances digital experience evaluations. Healthcare providers utilize its real-time monitoring for seamless administration of virtual platforms, ensuring efficient patient data management. In finance, ControlUp aids in secure and responsive virtualization, key for transactional systems and customer interactions.

ControlUp

SolarWinds AppOptics offers powerful network performance monitoring and application insights, aiding enterprises in optimizing operations.

SolarWinds AppOptics provides comprehensive tools for network and application performance management. This platform enhances real-time monitoring capabilities, offering topology discovery and hop-by-hop performance analysis. With a focus on minimal configuration, users gain extraordinary visibility into service-oriented architecture applications and are equipped to identify performance issues efficiently. The dashboard's integration capabilities streamline application performance data, empowering organizations with robust reporting features. The deployment is popularly on-premises, yet improvements are desired in pricing strategy and integrations with existing tools.

What are the important features of SolarWinds AppOptics?

Topology Discovery: Facilitates understanding of network structure and connections.
Real-Time Monitoring: Delivers current data to monitor system performance live.
Heat Maps: Provides visual insights into network traffic patterns and performance metrics.
Pathview Monitoring: Enables tracking and evaluation of network performance per segment.
Integration Capabilities: Supports metrics integration for comprehensive system monitoring.

What benefits and ROI should users expect?

Efficiency in Issue Resolution: Swift identification of network bottlenecks and performance issues.
Enhanced Reporting: In-depth reports facilitating data-driven decisions.
Increased Visibility: Comprehensive insights into application and network activities.
Minimal Configuration: Quick setup enabling immediate utility and productivity.

SolarWinds AppOptics is widely used in network operations within enterprises, also extending to server and application monitoring. Deployed to track servers and network devices, it aids in analyzation of logs and data across environments, and is essential for service management. Specific industries benefit from detailed deployment inventory and management portfolios enabled by AppOptics.

SolarWinds

Sample Customers

B/E Aerospace, North Carolina SECU, Vancouver Island Health Authority, University of Florida

TraxoCovea Insurance BTE TechnologyDatarista

Buyer's Guide

ControlUp vs. SolarWinds AppOptics

April 2026

Free Report: ControlUp vs. SolarWinds AppOptics

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