IBM Tivoli NetCool vs SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager comparison

The compared IBM and SolarWinds solutions aren't in the same category. IBM is ranked #13 in NMA , with an average rating of 8.0, and holds a 3.1% mindshare in the category. SolarWinds is ranked #14 in CM , with an average rating of 8.0, and holds a 2.8% mindshare. Additionally, 83% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of SolarWinds users who would recommend it.

IBM Tivoli NetCool

Read 13 IBM Tivoli NetCool reviews

1,418 Views
1,149 Comparison Views

83% willing to recommend

SolarWinds Network Configur...

Read 27 SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager reviews

3,158 Views
1,105 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

IBM Tivoli NetCool

SolarWinds Network Configur...

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between IBM Tivoli NetCool and SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Network Management Applications solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM Tivoli NetCool vs. SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager Report (Updated: April 2023).

Buyer's Guide

IBM Tivoli NetCool vs. SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager

April 2023

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Helped 887,041 peers since 2012

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

IBM Tivoli NetCool

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Management Applications (13th)

SolarWinds Network Configur...

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Configuration Management (14th), Network Automation (4th)

Mindshare comparison

While both are Network Management solutions, they serve different purposes. IBM Tivoli NetCool is designed for Network Management Applications and holds a mindshare of 3.1%, up 1.9% compared to last year.
SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager, on the other hand, focuses on Configuration Management, holds 2.8% mindshare, up 1.3% since last year.

Network Management Applications Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
IBM Tivoli NetCool	3.1%
Cisco DNA Center	10.6%
Cisco Catalyst Center	5.8%
Other	80.5%

Network Management Applications

Configuration Management Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager	2.8%
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform	10.9%
Microsoft Configuration Manager	8.0%
Other	78.3%

Configuration Management

Featured Reviews

Petar Ganev

Senior Enterprise Monitoring Engineer at Commerzbank

Reliable for enterprise monitoring but no longer actively developed

There are problems with the latest security requirements because many things have changed in recent years, and now the security audits are very strict. And we need to switch to something else. We need to patch it constantly. Moreover, it is a very old tool and a little bit difficult to support. Otherwise, they work okay.

Read full review

Alastair Brand

MD at Thembanet

Flexibility and reliability enable effective network monitoring with integrations and compliance reporting

The flexibility and reliability of SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager are particularly valuable. It allows for a significant amount of integrations, including with collaboration platforms like Microsoft Teams and Telegram, as well as ServiceNow and Microsoft BI. The solution facilitates compliance reporting through an NCM module, effectively generating out-of-the-box reports on software vulnerabilities and outdated software versions. Additionally, the real-time change detection feature significantly reduces the time to resolve issues by allowing alerts to be tracked through to resolution. The use of templates helps in deploying configuration standards, preventing configuration errors.

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

"It's very easy to use."

"Support is one of the best aspects of this solution. NetCool is a good product that has good flexibility. There are a lot of documents available online which is one of the best features of IBM Tivoli Suite. Whenever an issue happens, rather than going to technical support, if you find the exact issue in Google, you can get tech notes for that particular issue."

"The Netcool solution is great, and it's very easy to use."

"Tivoli NetCool allows us to grasp a lot of data that can be applied toward predictive analytics and auto-remediation."

"Anything is possible with Tivoli. It's quite a robust system."

"The solution has very good integration capabilities."

"It's very easy to use."

"It improves customer satisfaction, deploy-ability, adaptability, flexibility, scalability, and reduces cost of operation."

More IBM Tivoli NetCool pros

"The feature that I really enjoy is the ability to script changes across all of your devices."

"The network performance monitoring of SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager is a vital feature"

"It is a stable solution."

"NCM pays for itself within the first 3 years of use as you do need less dedicated Cisco certified engineers fully on site once it is implemented"

"It's perfect for network configuration management. It's easy to use."

"It is pretty straightforward to set up."

"The features we find most valuable is the configuration backup automation, the configuration compliance, the security vulnerability detection and upgrading devices."

"The most valuable features the solution offers are compliance, reliability, and information about reliability."

More SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager pros

Cons

"UI is outdated, very old legacy."

"I think the UI should be updated and made more presentable and eye-catching. Compared to NCE in Huawei, NSN in Nokia, the UiPath and Ubiquiti, it feels very old legacy."

"IBM's technical support takes a long time to do root cause analysis, and we have to go through several levels of help before getting a solution."

"From a customer perspective, it is quite an expensive solution to initially implement and then support."

"It was a bit expensive to purchase but the benefits outweigh all the cons by far."

"The solution is not user-friendly."

"Tivoli NetCool's has medium scalability - there are some problems with its replications not being mature."

"The product is pretty costly. It's definitely not the least expensive option."

More IBM Tivoli NetCool cons

"The network flow is a problem for this solution."

"The network logs could be improved. When the error logs come across with those false positive alarms in the error logs."

"Our experience has shown that most of the problems we've had with SolarWinds NCM are related to software issues."

"It would be great if they include a network service manager, network performance manager, or privileged assessment in the next release."

"I would like to see more features in terms of wireless reporting and more historical information for client connectivity in SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager."

"The AI features do not work well."

"There are certain limitations of node-related monitoring"

"The Network Configuration Manager needs to improve the access control list compliance."

More SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Customers are required to pay a licensing fee."

"The price of the product is too expensive."

"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."

"It costs around 100k for every ten servers, which is lower than similar products from other vendors."

"There is a license needed to use SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager."

"The price of the solution is high compared to other solutions."

"There is a license for the use of this solution and it is priced well, there is a lot of value for the money."

"Available at a moderate price"

"The pricing is good."

"You have a base license for 50 devices, and then you can add more licenses as you go."

"With a minimal bundle, we pay about $3000 a year in licensing costs. If you have multiple devices in your network, you must buy the bundle, which is 100% identical for your infrastructure. If you have 15 devices, you need 15 licenses, for example. That's one bundle. You don't pay for anything over and above that."

"We have to pay additionally for its support and maintenance."

More SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Construction Company

Government

12%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Computer Software Company

University

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	5

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	15
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	8

Questions from the Community

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...

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What needs improvement with IBM Tivoli NetCool?

The main challenge is its licensing model, which is very complicated.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for IBM Tivoli NetCool?

NetCool is the manager of managers in the stack. It basically combines the devices of the whole network. We are the mobile network operator, so we use it to assist us in cross-domain correlations a...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager?

The licensing costs of SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager are expensive, but considering its reliability, feature enhancements, and support, it is worthwhile.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager?

NCM could benefit from enhanced automation capabilities — for instance, enabling workflow-based configuration automation tasks. While regex and command-line scripting are available, they require sp...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager?

I work with SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager ( /products/solarwinds-network-configuration-manager-reviews ) as a significant part of our operations. Our primary use case involves handling c...

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Comparisons

OpenText Network Node Manager vs IBM Tivoli NetCool

Compared 13% of the time

DataMiner vs IBM Tivoli NetCool

Compared 11% of the time

DX Spectrum vs IBM Tivoli NetCool

Compared 10% of the time

NetMaster Network Intelligence vs IBM Tivoli NetCool

Compared 8% of the time

Precisely Network Management vs IBM Tivoli NetCool

Compared 6% of the time

More IBM Tivoli NetCool Competitors

Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform vs SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager

Compared 9% of the time

Cisco DNA Center vs SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager

Compared 8% of the time

HashiCorp Terraform vs SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager

Compared 6% of the time

ManageEngine Network Configuration Management vs SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager

Compared 4% of the time

SolarWinds Kiwi CatTools vs SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager

Compared 3% of the time

More SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM Tivoli NetCool

April 2026

Download IBM Tivoli NetCool product report

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager

March 2026

SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager report

Download SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager product report

Also Known As

Tivoli NetCool

SolarWinds NCM

Overview

IBM Tivoli Netcool delivers near real-time, consolidated event management across business infrastructure, data centers, complex networks and IT domains. The software provides full management and automation to help you deliver continuous uptime of business services and applications.

IBM

Before you monitor your network, configure it! A reliable and secure network starts with carefully planned, executed, and monitored network configuration and change management. SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) saves time and improves network reliability and security by managing configurations, changes, and compliance for routers, switches, and other network devices from Cisco, Juniper, HP, Dell, Brocade, Aruba, Rukus, and more.

SolarWinds

Sample Customers

Claranet, Consolidated Communications, Telus, €sterreichische Bundesbahnen (€BB), Telekom Srbija, Bendigo Community Telco, Capgemini, Schweizerische Bundesbahnen (SBB)

United Lincolnshire Hospitals, Air Rarotonga, NetSuite, Thai AirAsia, REA Group, 335th Signal Command, Agilisys, Marine Expeditionary Force

Buyer's Guide

IBM Tivoli NetCool vs. SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager

April 2023

Free Report: IBM Tivoli NetCool vs. SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager

Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Tivoli NetCool vs. SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager and other solutions. Updated: April 2023.

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