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Darktrace vs SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 15, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
7.0
Darktrace enhances security with threat detection and vulnerability exposure, providing financial benefits despite deployment challenges.
Sentiment score
5.5
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer improves efficiency and cost management but may not offer significant ROI compared to cheaper options.
Other NDR solutions provide virtual appliances that can be deployed on virtualization servers to get up and running quickly.
Using this solution provides financial benefits by securing from server attacks, which offers indirect savings.
There is a return on investment when purchasing SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer, as in the long run, there is a return on investments.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.6
Darktrace customer service is responsive and helpful, praised for efficient issue resolutions and proactive engagement with users.
Sentiment score
7.3
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer customer service varies, with praise for higher support and mixed experiences regarding response times.
The technical support from Darktrace is of high quality.
Darktrace provides excellent technical support with a monthly meeting to review platform incidents, ensuring the system functions as expected.
The challenge lies in waiting for a response after logging a ticket.
They often say that only premium subscribers receive support within one or two hours.
I would rate support eight out of ten.
I received efficient responses to many questions.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Darktrace is praised for its scalability, seamless expansion, robust architecture, and capacity to manage increasing demands effectively.
Sentiment score
7.3
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer scales well for enterprises, but costs rise with licenses, and stability issues may occur.
Darktrace has high scalability, and I would rate it a nine out of ten.
Since it's cloud-based, it expands easily.
There is still a gap in terms of storage, and we are trying to figure out how to increase that capacity for regulated environments, which require data retention for 5 to 6 years.
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is a scalable solution, and by adding licenses, I can use the same deployment and instance to onboard more elements and nodes.
The license is based on the count of the ports.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.5
Darktrace is praised for its reliability and stability, offering seamless performance and quick resolutions to occasional issues.
Sentiment score
7.1
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is stable, rated 7-10, with occasional issues from large databases and SQL environment demands.
The stability of Darktrace is excellent, rated ten out of ten.
The appliance itself has never let me down.
For stability, I would rate Darktrace an eight out of ten.
 

Room For Improvement

Users seek better SIEM integration, improved automation, user-friendly interfaces, and enhanced protection with more intuitive reports and dashboards.
SolarWinds NetFlow Analyzer faces installation woes, limited support, integration issues, and demands for better interfaces, pricing, and AI features.
There is no dedicated salesperson in Egypt, and having one would help to improve focus on this market.
They say they can integrate with most firewalls, but when we did an integration with Meraki MX firewalls, that integration didn't work and still doesn't work to this day.
We need Darktrace on each branch to get the data out, and I suggest having some kind of a centralized product that gets data from multiple sources to aggregate and provide the data.
Ideally, NetFlow should have a robust alerting mechanism.
It should be like a Meraki cloud, where if you are familiar with Meraki devices, you can locate any device directly on the world map.
Deployment needs improvement; the process is complicated, requiring attention to infrastructure settings and installation of components like the origin application server, platform, close storage, and policy agents.
 

Setup Cost

Darktrace offers flexible payment options but is costly, especially for small businesses, justified by its advanced features.
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer's pricing is fair yet potentially costly, especially when scaling or compared to flexible competitors.
The product is considered expensive compared to others.
The pricing is costly in USD, and they charge based on device counts.
The licensing cost is approximately eight dollars a year.
provide a rating of nine out of ten
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer's model is quite costly compared to other brands.
 

Valuable Features

Darktrace provides AI-driven security with fast responses, real-time monitoring, and autonomous threat management, minimizing false positives efficiently.
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer provides traffic analysis, real-time metrics, customizable reports, and integration for enhanced network performance management.
It is capable of responding to lateral movement and ransomware deployment within environments where there is data exfiltration.
I do not need to manually process incidents as Darktrace provides an incident summary, potential detection paths, and other details, all exportable with just a click.
If I am in a data center where I don't have layer two, it becomes an issue because the autonomous response is reliant on sending spoofed TCP resets to my core switch to block traffic, which is a major issue.
This tool provides insights into top utilization applications or it identifies which circuit or application is consuming the most on the complete one-gig circuit traffic path.
The bandwidth indicates the utilization of the devices; if any issue occurs, it triggers an alert for me.
The best feature is customizable reporting, which includes network diagrams and monitoring of various types of bandwidth usage and peak times.
 

Categories and Ranking

Darktrace
Ranking in Network Traffic Analysis (NTA)
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
82
Ranking in other categories
Email Security (10th), Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (1st), Network Detection and Response (NDR) (1st), Extended Detection and Response (XDR) (6th), AI-Powered Chatbots (3rd), Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) (15th), Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) (11th), Attack Surface Management (ASM) (4th), AI-Powered Cybersecurity Platforms (2nd)
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic ...
Ranking in Network Traffic Analysis (NTA)
3rd
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
42
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) category, the mindshare of Darktrace is 26.2%, up from 25.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is 5.6%, down from 6.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Traffic Analysis (NTA)
 

Featured Reviews

Malebo Lethoba Group - PeerSpot reviewer
Have found the AI analyst and detection functions highly valuable for network operations while managing complexity in initial setup
The functions I find most valuable in Darktrace ( /products/darktrace-reviews ) are the AI analyst as well as the detection.The autonomous response capabilities of Darktrace are not crucial for me because it doesn't work in a network where there are no core switches. In a modern network, the autonomous response doesn't work, especially when sitting in a shared data center.If I'm running a traditional network where I am not in a shared data center with a layer two dedicated for my resources, then it can work for me. However, if I am in a data center where I don't have layer two, it becomes an issue because the autonomous response is reliant on sending spoofed TCP resets to my core switch to block traffic, which is a major issue.
Raja Xabi - PeerSpot reviewer
Improved bandwidth management and network visibility have resulted in financial benefits and streamlined operations
There is always room for improvement in SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer, such as implementing instant reporting based on business intelligence reports and more granular filters in their dashboard to improve the GUI view and reporting. The licensing model of SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is always an issue for users because competitors offer unlimited and perpetual licenses, and SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer's model is quite costly compared to other brands. If users are comfortable with SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer, they have to make the hard decision to invest, and it's suggested from a user's perspective that SolarWinds should improve their financial model and licensing to become competitive, especially for small to medium businesses.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) solutions are best for your needs.
856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
7%
Educational Organization
52%
Computer Software Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
5%
Manufacturing Company
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

How does Crowdstrike Falcon compare with Darktrace?
Both of these products perform similarly and have many outstanding attributes. CrowdStrike Falcon offers an amazing user interface that makes setup easy and seamless. CrowdStrike Falcon offers a cl...
Which is better - SentinelOne or Darktrace?
Which solution is better depends on which is more suitable specifically for your company. Darktrace, for example, is meant for smaller to medium-sized businesses. It is also a good option for organ...
What do you like most about Darktrace?
A very useful feature in Darktrace for real-time threat analysis is the packet inspection that analyzes the packet traffic in real time.
What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?
I have worked from 1973 with all kind of systems in large enterprises across the world. And have experience with all kind of software in monitoring from infra to end to end, it depends on the funct...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer?
The licensing model of SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is always an issue for users because competitors offer unlimited and perpetual licenses, and SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer's model i...
What needs improvement with SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer?
There is always room for improvement in SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer, such as implementing instant reporting based on business intelligence reports and more granular filters in their dashboa...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Netflow Traffic Analyzer
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Irwin Mitchell, Open Energi, Wellcome Trust, FirstGroup plc, Virgin Trains, Drax, QUI! Group, DNK, CreaCard, Macrosynergy, Sisley, William Hill plc, Toyota Canada, Royal British Legion, Vitol, Allianz, KKR, AIRBUS, dpd, Billabong, Mclaren Group.
Oceaneering International, Asia Pacific Network Information Centre, 335th Signal Command, Immofori
Find out what your peers are saying about Darktrace vs. SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.