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IBM Tivoli NetCool vs SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager comparison

The compared IBM and SolarWinds solutions aren't in the same category. IBM is ranked #14 in NMA , with an average rating of 8.0, and holds a 3.0% mindshare in the category. SolarWinds is ranked #15 in CM , with an average rating of 7.7, and holds a 2.4% 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
  • 1,231 Views
  • 997 Comparison Views
83% willing to recommend
SolarWinds Network Configur...
Read 27 SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager reviews
  • 2,504 Views
  • 776 Comparison Views
95% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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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.

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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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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
13
Ranking in other categories
Network Management Applications (14th)
SolarWinds Network Configur...
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
27
Ranking in other categories
Configuration Management (15th), 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 3.0%, up 1.9% compared to last year.
SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager, on the other hand, focuses on Configuration Management, holds 2.4% mindshare, up 1.3% since last year.
Network Management Applications Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
IBM Tivoli NetCool3.0%
Cisco DNA Center12.3%
Cisco Catalyst Center6.8%
Other77.9%
Network Management Applications
Configuration Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager2.4%
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform11.9%
Microsoft Configuration Manager8.8%
Other76.9%
Configuration Management
 

Featured Reviews

Petar Ganev - PeerSpot reviewer
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
AB
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

"The scalability of monitoring, the breadth of supported network components, the scale of the number of monitoring events, and the flexibility in customization make this a well-rounded product."
"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 feature I have found most valuable with NetCool is how it collaborates all the alarms, and then it does a predictive analysis, providing a consolidated alarm view and management."
"It's very easy to use."
"Anything is possible with Tivoli. It's quite a robust system."
"It's very easy to use."
"The tool is much easier to manage than running scripts and figuring out how many endpoints have been exceeded."
"NetCool has a huge database that can collect and process about one million alarms a day."
More IBM Tivoli NetCool pros
"This solution has helped our organization by allowing us to store all the device configurations for the various network devices in NCM and making it easy for us to retrieve and look them over."
"I use it for monitoring the entire network for the company. We oversee nodes down, we oversee devices heading up to crossing the threshold for CPU usage. We oversee power so power backups on the switches, we oversee if they're down or if they're failing. We oversee any node down or any router from any vendor."
"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."
"It is a stable solution."
"Compared to other vendors, like NetBrain, managing the solution is easy. They made it very user-friendly."
"Its main functionality is highly beneficial as it centralizes the management of configuration items across the network."
"SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager improves the mean time to repair significantly, bringing measurable benefits to customers."
More SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager pros
 

Cons

"UI is outdated, very old legacy."
"Tivoli NetCool is based on a Linux platform, it would be beneficial if they moved it to Windows because not everyone is acquainted with Linux."
"The installation could be simplified, and technical support could be faster."
"The solution does not have any AI capabilities."
"The solution is not user-friendly."
"The solution is too expensive."
"In terms of improvement, I would like to see more AIOps, Artificial Intelligent Operations in the next release. IBM develops new features for Power BI or Cognos Analytics, which is good. As of now, we use Cognos Analytics, we are not using Power BI. They have the Insight concept but we don't like that."
"Tivoli NetCool's has medium scalability - there are some problems with its replications not being mature."
More IBM Tivoli NetCool cons
"The only thing that requires some experience, and training doesn't fix, is how to set up your custom policy-based reports to check compliance."
"I'd like to see additional features like support for devices that don't use CLI for configuration backups, expanded inventory support for other vendors beyond Cisco, and compatibility with newer SD WAN devices. These enhancements would further improve the product's versatility and utility for users. we hope for future enhancements, especially in supporting security devices that lack CLI backup options."
"When we run the SolarWinds NCM jobs at the cellular line, it runs in the morning. They're just not finishing. We're getting false processing."
"We want to be able to store it in a data warehouse format and integrate it with Google single sign-on."
"The solution could improve by being more secure."
"It would be great if they include a network service manager, network performance manager, or a privileged assessment in the next release."
"The network logs could be improved. When the error logs come across with those false positive alarms in the error logs."
"Further improvements in automation are needed. Currently, there are limitations in performing tasks without logging into routers directly, and we expect more comprehensive device control."
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."
"The pricing is good."
"In Africa, the cost is a major factor in decision-making for many companies. As a result, some companies may choose cheaper solutions, even if they are open-source, over more expensive ones, such as SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager. However, as an engineer, I believe that the functionalities and services offered by SolarWinds justify the cost. Nonetheless, many companies in Africa may still view the prices as unaffordable."
"Pricing is reasonable and competitive."
"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."
"Additional costs beyond the standard licensing fee are inevitable."
"There is a license needed to use SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager."
"I have a yearly subscription."
"Available at a moderate price"
More SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager pricing and cost advice
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
26%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Educational Organization
8%
Government
13%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Computer Software Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise5
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business15
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise8
 

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...
See all answers
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 do you like most about SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager?
The configuration compliance aspect of SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager allows for easy comparison of configuration settings across branches, ensuring adherence to security guidelines and b...
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
 

Comparisons

DataMiner vs IBM Tivoli NetCool Logo
DataMiner vs IBM Tivoli NetCool
Compared 17% of the time
OpenText Network Node Manager vs IBM Tivoli NetCool Logo
OpenText Network Node Manager vs IBM Tivoli NetCool
Compared 16% of the time
HPE Intelligent Management Center vs IBM Tivoli NetCool Logo
HPE Intelligent Management Center vs IBM Tivoli NetCool
Compared 12% of the time
Fortinet FortiManager vs IBM Tivoli NetCool Logo
Fortinet FortiManager vs IBM Tivoli NetCool
Compared 10% of the time
DX Spectrum vs IBM Tivoli NetCool Logo
DX Spectrum vs IBM Tivoli NetCool
Compared 8% of the time
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Cisco DNA Center vs SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager Logo
Cisco DNA Center vs SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager
Compared 10% of the time
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform vs SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager Logo
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform vs SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager
Compared 9% of the time
HashiCorp Terraform vs SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager Logo
HashiCorp Terraform vs SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager
Compared 5% of the time
Huawei eSight vs SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager Logo
Huawei eSight vs SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager
Compared 4% of the time
ManageEngine Network Configuration Management vs SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager Logo
ManageEngine Network Configuration Management vs SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager
Compared 4% of the time
More SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
IBM Tivoli NetCool
February 2026
IBM Tivoli NetCool reportDownload IBM Tivoli NetCool product report
Buyer's Guide
SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager
February 2026
SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager reportDownload 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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