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Lenovo XClarity Controller vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 6, 2024

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

Lenovo XClarity Controller
Ranking in Server Monitoring
9th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SolarWinds Server and Appli...
Ranking in Server Monitoring
10th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.0
Number of Reviews
42
Ranking in other categories
Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (19th), Active Directory Management (10th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Server Monitoring category, the mindshare of Lenovo XClarity Controller is 3.5%, down from 3.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is 2.8%, down from 3.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Server Monitoring Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Lenovo XClarity Controller3.5%
SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor2.8%
Other93.7%
Server Monitoring
 

Featured Reviews

Muhammad_Salman - PeerSpot reviewer
Simplifies RAID computation and technical support resolves issues effectively
The Lenovo configuration tool helps us with the computation of the RAID Controller and the installation of the operating system. If we encounter any sort of issue, we can troubleshoot the problem with the assistance of the Lenovo technical team. Sometimes, we do not receive complaints from the controller. We also receive software issue resolutions by managing the process with the assistance of the Lenovo technical team.
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The remote management capability was also good."
"The product's most valuable feature is its ability to provide insights into server status and alerts."
"The most valuable feature of Lenovo XClarity is the ease of use because of the interface browser that is highly compatible and it has mobile web management."
"I would rate Lenovo XClarity Controller ten out of ten."
"The Lenovo configuration tool helps us with the computation of the RAID Controller and the installation of the operating system."
"Extremely user friendly: Any IT professional can learn how to admin NPM in a short time."
"The most valuable feature is application monitoring."
"The product integrates with Remedy."
"Solarwinds has an open database that allows you to do serious integrations. It doesn't matter which service desk you have, you can implement and integrate it with SolarWinds."
"We use the solution as a central monitoring tool. We use it to monitor every transaction that has a relation to the organization’s infrastructure."
"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."
"Manage Groups: The capability to group appropriate devices gives better visibility of sites, categories, or critical regions. The same can be used to represent a dashboard for higher management."
"It is simple to implement and can provide fairly decent Windows-based monitoring, beyond simple SNMP. It is great for monitoring newbies and smaller shops."
 

Cons

"Lenovo XClarity can improve the dashboard integration. For example, graphs could be better. Additionally, more integration with other vendors is needed. For example, VMware has integration with a lot of vendors."
"Sometimes we do not receive the complaint from the Controller."
"Sometimes we do not receive the complaint from the Controller. However, software issues are managed and processed with the help of the Lenovo technical team, and they sort them out."
"They could enable notifications on emails and phones regarding control panel information."
"It worked very slowly. It was not well on performance."
"The product needs to reduce its price."
"The templates could use improvement. Currently, they are quite complex. They should have drag-and-drop functionality instead. It would make it easier to use."
"SAM AppInsight for SQL: The ability to ignore fragmentation of specific indexes."
"One area that could benefit from improvement is its performance"
"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."
"PerfStack can be made more effective. I am sure SolarWinds already has a plan for the same in coming versions."
"The setup was complex. We had local support to assist us."
"Currently SolarWinds SAM offers AppInsight for modern versions of: IIS, Exchange, SQL Server. They have shown to be powerful and insightful tools. However, AppInsight needs to be offered for more applications: Citrix, SharePoint, AX, etc."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"I would rate the pricing for this solution a three out of five."
"The solution is overpriced in terms of application management."
"I have always said SolarWinds is very “proud” of their products, meaning they are expensive. I cannot afford to purchase all the licenses I need for all the SolarWinds products."
"The product is expensive."
"The tool is available for my company at a good price point."
"When planning for the number of licenses to purchase, make sure you understand all of the elements within an application required to really understand performance well. In our case, we quickly came to the conclusion that an unlimited license for SAM was the way to go."
"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."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
23%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Educational Organization
9%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Computer Software Company
12%
Government
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Healthcare Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise20
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Lenovo XClarity Controller?
The product's most valuable feature is its ability to provide insights into server status and alerts.
What needs improvement with Lenovo XClarity Controller?
Sometimes we do not receive the complaint from the Controller. However, software issues are managed and processed with the help of the Lenovo technical team, and they sort them out.
What is your primary use case for Lenovo XClarity Controller?
The customer has given me this configuration and is asking for the price of the server along with this configuration. They did not mention what kind of requirement they have. They just shared this ...
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...
 

Also Known As

XClarity Controller, Lenovo XCC
SolarWinds SAM
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Andr. L. Riis AS, NetSuite
Find out what your peers are saying about Lenovo XClarity Controller vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
868,787 professionals have used our research since 2012.