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HPE Integrated Lights Out (iLO) vs WhatsUp Gold comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 21, 2025

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

HPE Integrated Lights Out (...
Ranking in Server Monitoring
15th
Average Rating
9.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
WhatsUp Gold
Ranking in Server Monitoring
16th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
25
Ranking in other categories
Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (31st), Network Monitoring Software (32nd), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (30th), Configuration Management (17th), Log Management (28th), Cloud Monitoring Software (23rd), Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (12th)
 

Featured Reviews

AM
Positive access capabilities and user-friendly interface empower efficient server management while cost and licensing concerns persist
HPE Integrated Lights Out (iLO) is user-friendly, offering easy navigation and a nice GUI. It provides an alternative network connection, enabling access to servers without physical access. The software is highly valued for its ability to bring servers back up remotely, essential for minimizing downtime in critical situations. HPE iLO is a strong competitor to iDRAC. Being a second network interface physically installed on a server, iLO provides an extra IP to access the server, bypassing other layers such as ESXi or Proxmox, and enabling BIOS-level access. The remote software involved is fantastic for recovering servers quickly and efficiently when they go down, providing significant improvements to organizational operations. Whether dealing with international or local solutions, iLO can save considerable time, reducing downtime from minutes to weeks depending on location. It is particularly useful for integrating with Microsoft Active Directory, simplifying login issues, and mitigating risks of login leaks through Multi-Factor Authentication. The quick response times from HPE support, including shipping parts and sending techs promptly, add to the overall efficiency and reliability of solutions involving HPE iLO. The integration of iLO with vSphere provides a seamless user experience, making navigation feel consistent across platforms.
Tom Condo - PeerSpot reviewer
If CPU, memory, or disk space is over-utilized, it alerts us immediately via text or email if there is an issue
When it comes to the intuitiveness of the topology mapping feature, our network architect created a vision diagram of our entire network and then created the links tied into the WhatsUp active monitoring to different spots on our topology map. It's one of the more critical functions we do here. We have the map displayed in different places in our room and help desk. We get alerted via emails but we can also see it visually. It does what it says it's going to do. We find this feature very helpful. The interactive mapping interface for scrolling, zooming, and drilling down on an element to learn about a network issue is good. When we see a network there will sometimes be a spot that has one link. You can go into a particular part of the topology map, scroll in, and see exactly which module it is. All the information is provided. This feature really helps. You can see the correlation between that link and what failed. This feature is very helpful. The interface is fairly intuitive. Some of our users used SolarWinds and Nagios, and WhatsUp is easy in comparison. Once you get set up, the look, feel, and configuration are good. Our network architect had never used it before but he was able to create the Visio and map. It was very simple. He has no problems with it.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"HPE Integrated Lights Out (iLO) has the best features for detecting any kind of hardware failure, such as any DIMM, HDD, system board, or PSU failures, providing real-time alarms with all necessary information."
"HPE Integrated Lights Out (iLO) is user-friendly, offering easy navigation and a nice GUI."
"The best feature of WhatsUp Gold is the automatic generation of topology and its integration with virtualization and wireless."
"This is a good, stable network monitoring solution for devices."
"It handles the basics of monitoring."
"The interface in the last few years it has been a lot greater, they are much more user-friendly. I like the interface."
"We no longer have to manually search for problems because we are alerted when something in the network goes down."
"The most valuable feature is the monitoring of resources."
"The solution effectively monitors network devices and servers."
"Our local support team provides excellent service."
 

Cons

"I am currently avoiding HPE in my current build because of the pricing that is almost highway robbery. Service contracts are required to receive firmware updates."
"Sometimes when the system fails, iLO doesn't get the proper information from the system, so there's a need for improvement so it can provide real-time information for our engineers to give the correct solutions to customers."
"WhatsUp Gold should work on real-time monitoring and configuration management. If they succeed in doing this, the solution will cover all the network troubleshooting aspects and will be a benefit."
"We can never achieve or get a good picture of the network topology."
"The pricing for this solution has gone up quite recently, which has led some of our customers to buy an alternative product."
"The licensing model could be improved. Right now, the levels are too far apart. This causes the solution to be more expensive than it needs to be."
"Users want SMS available via Whatsapp Gold. They don't want to go through third party SMS servers. The solution should work to make this possible."
"The initial setup of WhatsUp Gold is a medium range of difficulty levels. However, if it is your first time it could be difficult."
"One of the biggest things that made us start to look at another product is we're not able to have an end to end monitoring from a user perspective throughout the system and back to the user. All the monitoring is from inside out, we need something that also can give us from outside in."
"The interface needs some work."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"This is a well priced solution."
"The pricing can be on the expensive side when considering competing products."
"The most valuable feature is the cost compared to other solutions."
"There is a license needed to use WhatsUp Gold."
"The price of WhatsUp Gold is good."
"There are some subscription charges that are quite heavy. I need to pay for support every year and these charges can be quite expensive. Aside from the initial cost for the tool, you need to pay additionally for support."
"I'm not sure, but it's expensive. We don't pay any additional fees."
"The tool's price is reasonable. WhatsUp Gold is cheaper than SolarWinds."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Insurance Company
24%
Manufacturing Company
16%
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Government
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business9
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise14
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HPE Integrated Lights Out (iLO)?
Regarding pricing or set-up costs and licensing, HPE's approach is quite intense compared to Dell, Cisco, Microsoft, Lenovo, etc. Avoiding HPE in the current structure due to high costs would be co...
What needs improvement with HPE Integrated Lights Out (iLO)?
There could be improvements in the licensing model of HPE Integrated Lights Out (iLO), which is perceived as expensive, requiring service contracts to access firmware updates. This pricing model is...
What is your primary use case for HPE Integrated Lights Out (iLO)?
HPE Integrated Lights Out (iLO) is a secondary access tool. It's used for server monitoring and management. HPE iLO is particularly useful in cases where physical access to the server is not possib...
What do you like most about WhatsUp Gold?
The interactive mapping interface for scrolling, zooming, and drilling down on an element to learn about a network issue is good. When we see a network there will sometimes be a spot that has one l...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for WhatsUp Gold?
Clients find the licensing calculator confusing, but we simplify this for them by collecting relevant information first. The licensing is based on devices, providing better cost-effectiveness than ...
What needs improvement with WhatsUp Gold?
It would be great if WhatsUp Gold could add features that simplify management with AI, as it is currently too complicated to manage.
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Artoni Trasporti, Austin Independent School District, Banca Marche, Burke County North Carolina, Cambridge University School of Clinical Medicine, Clayco, Community Integrated Care, Desca, Deutsche Bergbau, Flexi-Van, Gropper, Hamleys, Hammonds Furniture, Knowledge IT, Idras S.P.A., Sibeg, Swann Engineering, Trivium Lindenhof
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