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Cross-Enterprise Application Performance Management vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor comparison

Broadcom and SolarWinds are both solutions in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category. Broadcom is ranked #49 with an average rating of 7.0, while SolarWinds is ranked #20 with an average rating of 7.4. Broadcom holds a 0.0% mindshare in APM, compared to SolarWinds’s 1.5% mindshare. Additionally, 50% of Broadcom users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 89% of SolarWinds users who would recommend it.
Cross-Enterprise Applicatio...
Read 2 Cross-Enterprise Application Performance Management reviews
  • 117 Views
  • 117 Comparison Views
50% willing to recommend
SolarWinds Server and Appli...
Read 42 SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor reviews
  • 3,787 Views
  • 2,727 Comparison Views
89% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 24, 2024

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor and Cross-Enterprise Application Performance Management are prominent in the advanced server and application monitoring category. Cross-Enterprise Application Performance Management holds a superior position due to its advanced features, despite higher pricing.

Features: SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor users appreciate its customizable dashboards, comprehensive monitoring tools, and integration with various third-party applications. Cross-Enterprise Application Performance Management users value its deep monitoring capabilities, real-time data analytics, and extensive end-to-end transaction tracking.

Room for Improvement: SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor reviews suggest the need for improved scalability and more straightforward setup processes. Cross-Enterprise Application Performance Management reviews highlight the complexity of its configuration and call for better cost-effectiveness.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Users find SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor easier to deploy with more intuitive setup guides and responsive customer support. Cross-Enterprise Application Performance Management users report longer deployment times but benefit from comprehensive documentation and knowledgeable support.

Pricing and ROI: SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor offers more affordable setup costs and positive return on investment according to user reviews. Cross-Enterprise Application Performance Management, while more expensive, is perceived to provide significant long-term value due to its robust feature set.

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To learn more, read our detailed Cross-Enterprise Application Performance Management vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor Report (Updated: July 2025).
Buyer's Guide
Cross-Enterprise Application Performance Management vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor
July 2025
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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

Cross-Enterprise Applicatio...
Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability
49th
Average Rating
6.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SolarWinds Server and Appli...
Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability
20th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.0
Number of Reviews
42
Ranking in other categories
Server Monitoring (11th), Active Directory Management (10th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category, the mindshare of Cross-Enterprise Application Performance Management is 0.0%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is 1.5%, down from 1.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability
 

Featured Reviews

Mohammed Shahpoup - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers a great reporting experience, with much customization and flexibility in extracting reports but it can be more user-friendly
My experience indicates that it needs enhancements in the UI. We are in 2024, and the GUI doesn't meet current expectations for user interfaces or Excel integration. Mainly, CA Service Desk has such a bad user interface. All features and systems, like servers, should have a modern graphical user interface, but CA Service Desk remains classic and still uses a desktop-based interface. It doesn't add features easily; if you need additional functionality, you have to go through many steps. Competitors like ServiceNow, Micro Focus SMAX, and ManageEngine all have better user interfaces. This is the main solution that needs improvement. I am very satisfied with the modeling systems, the grid, and the existing features, except for the graphical user interface.
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VIVEK PATHAK - PeerSpot reviewer
Offering reasonably good dashboarding features but needs to improve the application performance monitoring
My company uses Riverbed for application performance monitoring. I was doing research so that I could understand if SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor provide APM capabilities similar to Riverbed, which allows our company to get a packet capture of an entire session, and on the basis of it, we look at the application performance monitoring part. With SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor, my company does SNMP polling, so it can drag an entire session, but it focuses more on availability, CPU memory, and server connection status. In Riverbed, my company catches an entire system, so when we deal with two applications, we have end-to-end app visibility. All the application monitoring happens through Riverbed. Our company's main problem is that, as of now, we have two different products in our organization, and we don't want to continue with the multiple products currently. I wanted to understand if SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor already have capabilities like Riverbed, and if they do, then I wanted to figure out why our company should not go with SolarWinds and why we are using products from multiple vendors. My company needs to continue with either Riverbed or SolarWinds. I wanted to see which products are good for the organization and how much I want to continue with Riverbed.
Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The technical support and documentation are quite good."
"All solutions from Broadcom are very easy to install."
"Hardware health: It allows for proactive monitoring of the hardware health and is a game changer."
"The solution is great for monitoring. If something is going wrong, we can immediately find the root cause."
"Extremely user friendly: Any IT professional can learn how to admin NPM in a short time."
"The initial setup was relatively easy, and we didn't have to install anything. All we had to do was put on the devices we wanted to monitor."
"Features like monitoring and infrastructure dependency mapping are valuable to us."
"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."
"The solution has good alerts. Notifications are sent via email to technicians. You can filter the kinds of alerts you want to receive as well. It's excellent."
"I find it to be a strong product suite, particularly when you need a comprehensive monitoring tool."
More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor pros
 

Cons

"They lack support and presence in Egypt."
"The UI could be better. When I look at the dashboard, for example, the information looks cluttered and unorganized."
"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."
"Downside of the tools is the web console are hung or crash. It need to improve the performance."
"I believe that some of the trends, environmental maps, and items like those found in Orion would be very beneficial."
"The tool’s report feature created issues for us. We needed to gain skills to use that feature. The tool’s customization is not easy since you have to reconfigure the whole system."
"Nodes in Azure are able to be monitored with the use of agents, but this does not apply to cloud service offerings that are not node based."
"SAM AppInsight for SQL: The ability to ignore fragmentation of specific indexes."
"In terms of the dashboards on offer, they should work to improve them. The types of dashboards that you get in terms of the graphs on offer aren't ideal right now."
"The current script monitoring feature has limitations, especially when dealing with custom scripts."
More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I would rate the pricing a three out of ten, with ten being expensive. So, it is rather cheap."
"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."
"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."
"I would rate the pricing for this solution a three out of five."
"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."
"We pay around $ 2,000 to $ 5,000 yearly for the solution."
"The solution's price is reasonable. Though it's on the higher side, the tool is worth the money."
"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."
"The product is expensive."
More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor pricing and cost advice
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Computer Software Company
12%
Government
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cross-Enterprise Application Performance Management?
I would rate the pricing a three out of ten, with ten being expensive. So, it is rather cheap. On a yearly basis, we pay $400,000. It is fixed, but it differs from year to year because we can add m...
See all answers
What needs improvement with Cross-Enterprise Application Performance Management?
My experience indicates that it needs enhancements in the UI. We are in 2024, and the GUI doesn't meet current expectations for user interfaces or Excel integration. Mainly, CA Service Desk has suc...
See all answers
What is your primary use case for Cross-Enterprise Application Performance Management?
At our bank, we have two teams: * one for Network Operations Center (NOC) and * another for administration and innovation. I am the technical lead in administration. For daily basis, the NOC team u...
See all answers
What do you like most about SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor?
Identifying the problem statement is easy.
See all answers
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 are no specific features or functionality I would like to see improved or enhanced in SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor at this time. I have not encountered any missing features or fu...
See all answers
 

Comparisons

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Compared 7% of the time
Zabbix vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor Logo
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Compared 5% of the time
More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability
August 2025
Cross-Enterprise Application Performance Management reportDownload Cross-Enterprise Application Performance Management product report
Buyer's Guide
SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor
July 2025
SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor reportDownload SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor product report
 

Also Known As

CA Cross-Enterprise Application Performance Management
SolarWinds SAM
 

Overview

CA Cross-Enterprise APM provides 24/7 monitoring of business transactions for complex application environments by monitoring the real-time performance of mainframe subsystems and providing CA Application Performance Management with this data on a single pane of glass.

Broadcom

SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor (SAM) delivers powerful application and server monitoring capabilities for IT pros, enabling them to diagnose and troubleshoot performance issues faster. Do not let slow applications and downtime impact your end-users and business services. Pinpoint the root cause of application issues across various layers of the IT stack. SolarWinds SAM is affordable and easy to deploy, use, and customize. You can automatically discover your system's environment and start monitoring in about an hour. No professional services or consultation needed.

SolarWinds
 

Sample Customers

NIIT Technologies, Cetip Safeguards
Andr. L. Riis AS, NetSuite
Buyer's Guide
Cross-Enterprise Application Performance Management vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor
July 2025
Free Report: Cross-Enterprise Application Performance Management vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor
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We monitor all Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability 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.