ManageEngine ADAudit Plus vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor comparison

Why PeerSpot?

ManageEngine and SolarWinds are both solutions in the Active Directory Management category. ManageEngine is ranked #5 with an average rating of 9.0, while SolarWinds is ranked #8 with an average rating of 8.0. ManageEngine holds a 6.9% mindshare in ADM, compared to SolarWinds’s 3.6% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of ManageEngine users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 89% of SolarWinds users who would recommend it.

ManageEngine ADAudit Plus

Read 15 ManageEngine ADAudit Plus reviews

2,399 Views
2,063 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

SolarWinds Server and Appli...

Read 44 SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor reviews

9,577 Views
670 Comparison Views

89% willing to recommend

ManageEngine ADAudit Plus

SolarWinds Server and Appli...

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor and ManageEngine ADAudit Plus compete in the IT infrastructure management category. ManageEngine ADAudit Plus holds an advantage in detailed audit capabilities, whereas SolarWinds is superior in comprehensive system monitoring.

Features: SolarWinds monitors server health, application performance, and network traffic with alerting and dashboards for various environments. ManageEngine ADAudit Plus provides detailed audit trails, real-time alerts, and compliance reporting, focusing on security and user activity tracking.

Room for Improvement: SolarWinds could enhance their user interface, expand API capabilities, and improve resource usage efficiency. ManageEngine ADAudit Plus may need to improve scalability for larger environments, reduce hardware requirements, and streamline data processing speeds.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SolarWinds offers a straightforward setup with extensive documentation and efficient customer service. ManageEngine ADAudit Plus features an easy installation process tailored for audit needs and is praised for its supportive service team.

Pricing and ROI: SolarWinds has a higher initial cost, but it provides substantial ROI in comprehensive monitoring. ManageEngine ADAudit Plus presents a more budget-friendly option with a significant ROI for businesses focused on security and compliance.

To learn more, read our detailed ManageEngine ADAudit Plus vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor Report (Updated: September 2026).

Buyer's Guide

ManageEngine ADAudit Plus vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

September 2026

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Helped 921,749 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

ManageEngine ADAudit Plus

Ranking in Active Directory Management

5th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

SolarWinds Server and Appli...

Ranking in Active Directory Management

8th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

4.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (22nd), Server Monitoring (7th)

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Active Directory Management category, the mindshare of ManageEngine ADAudit Plus is 6.9%, down from 10.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is 3.6%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Active Directory Management Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
ManageEngine ADAudit Plus	6.9%
SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor	3.6%
Other	89.5%

Active Directory Management

Featured Reviews

Md Abdul Hakim

System Engineer at Corporate Projukti Limited

Advanced monitoring enhances user tracking that's cost-effective

I have been involved with this product for the last three years, participating in service and support within our company. We are currently supporting over 30 companies. This month, we deployed the solution for three companies, including two RMGs and one private bank in Bangladesh. The popularity of this product is due to its active directory monitoring abilities. Engineers can receive reports and log details within one to five seconds, which is essential for monitoring user activity swiftly and effectively. This product is very well-liked in Bangladesh due to user tracking, failed logins, and Jar reports for any Barna activity or execution. This solution's popularity extends through comprehensive auditing capabilities.

Read full review

NikhilKalwint

Technical Specialist at ServiceIO

Monitoring over a thousand systems has improved decision making and operational visibility

From an advantage perspective, SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is comparatively cheaper from a commercial point of view. It is easy to install and configure, very user-friendly, and quick to get up and running, allowing you to see the early value adds in your organization. It is compatible with most technologies for monitoring with very few chances of incompatibility. Configuration also allows us to monitor all the technical parameters we are looking for, making it a very good experience for us. The alerting feature in SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is a main advantage, as it alerts based on threshold breaches and can raise tickets to the ticketing system, send SMS, and email notifications, allowing engineers to work on those tickets to resolve issues and avoid further impact. The visibility into server health is a beneficial feature that I am utilizing. We widely use various application performance metrics in SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor such as database monitoring and server monitoring, which are quite good enough for any monitoring solution. We utilize the customizable dashboards in SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor.

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 most valuable feature is the control of the file server."

"The documentation for this solution is good."

"ManageEngine ADAudit Plus provides real-time tracking capabilities through agent installation, which works in real-time to collect information and immediately alerts if anything matches the defined conditions in the application."

"It assists in managing the active directory and modifying the reintegrated GPOs."

"We use the product to track events and monitor logs of servers and workstations. I am impressed with the tool's tracking ability. It is intuitive and easy to use."

"ADAudit Plus's best features are that it's very easy to use with a user-friendly interface, and it gives reports on group policy and object changes that we couldn't find in any other product."

"This solution's popularity extends through comprehensive auditing capabilities."

"I rate this ten out of ten."

More ManageEngine ADAudit Plus pros

"The most beneficial aspect of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is its ability to monitor at the application level."

"The solution is great for monitoring. If something is going wrong, we can immediately find the root cause."

"The most valuable feature of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is the network devices' performance monitor is the best."

"SolarWinds SAM has significantly improved our workflow by allowing us to develop a comprehensive knowledge base of known errors and automate responses to specific alerts."

"If a company would really like insight into its database utilization or performance and why their servers are slow or why the database is not giving a proper response, this solution will help."

"I adore the NTA module that provides deep details on ingress/egress traffic for any interface. With a few clicks, you can correlate who is accessing what and when, beside the bandwidth consuming applications/users."

"SAM has altered the way monitoring is being looked at - from just being able to monitor CPU, Mem, Disk and network utilization levels we have moved to the next levels of finding out process related issues, service related issues and specific application related issues to identify root cause of performance issues."

"It is scalable."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor pros

Cons

"There is room for improvement, especially in the standard professional edition. Some features require more external integration."

"ADAudit could have a more sophisticated interface design. They are using a plain UI, which is decent. However, customers have said that it looks a little flat compared to other vendors. It's not fancy."

"The interface could be improved, and the log collecting feature should have additional functionalities."

"There are so many reports that it sometimes makes it difficult to navigate to what you need."

"ADAudit Plus can be very tricky, especially if we need to do some high-availability configuration or distributed environment installation."

"Sometimes the developers in technical support take time."

"There are so many reports that it can be a headache."

"From the complexity part, I have some challenges with editing the Group Policy."

More ManageEngine ADAudit Plus cons

"One area that could benefit from improvement is its performance"

"It would be helpful if the solution could integrate more with the security compliances, like this IDSS, etc."

"The tool’s report feature created issues for us. We needed to gain skills to use that feature. The tool’s customization is not easy since you have to reconfigure the whole system."

"Downside of the tools is the web console are hung or crash. It need to improve the performance."

"Mapping interactions between systems."

"PerfStack can be made more effective. I am sure SolarWinds already has a plan for the same in coming versions."

"From an integration point of view, if you want to have a manager of manager kind of layer, that is currently lacking in SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor."

"In terms of the dashboards on offer, they should work to improve them. The types of dashboards that you get in terms of the graphs on offer aren't ideal right now."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution's pricing is acceptable."

"My guess is that it was around $4,000 or $5,000 a year, and we bought a license, and then we have maintenance fees. I'm not 100% sure how that worked out."

"It's a medium-priced solution."

"ADAudit Plus's pricing is affordable and flexible, with very low prices in the market."

"Adding features and other functionality it costs you more. Also, the first installation costs an additional amount."

"The tool is affordable, and our company is very happy with it. If ten is the most expensive and one is the least expensive, I rate the tool a three or four."

"I think SolarWinds' pricing is very decent compared to other competitors in the market."

"I would rate the pricing for this solution a three out of five."

"When compared to other licensed models in the market, it stands out as one of the more cost-effective options."

"Pricing is inexpensive, starting at 2440 euros. For that, you get the ability to monitor a couple of nodes and one year of maintenance and support."

"Its licensing is on a yearly basis. It is just the standard price, but it can vary depending on the current rate of the dollar."

"The solution's price is reasonable. Though it's on the higher side, the tool is worth the money."

"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."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

10%

Outsourcing Company

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Educational Organization

13%

University

Outsourcing Company

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	8
Midsize Enterprise	7

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	17
Midsize Enterprise	8
Large Enterprise	21

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ManageEngine ADAudit Plus?

The price is normal for this type of solution.

See all answers

What needs improvement with ManageEngine ADAudit Plus?

An area of improvement for ManageEngine ADAudit Plus could be in graphical reporting, as currently, it's limited with old school bar charts, and having more interactive reports with a better gr...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for ManageEngine ADAudit Plus?

The main use case for ManageEngine ADAudit Plus is primarily focused on auditing, so any changes related to Active Directory or Azure Intra ID or even file servers, such as file monitoring, are imm...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor?

The initial cost is quite high, but the renewal cost is reasonable.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor?

There is definitely room for improvement besides simplifying its setup. As a non-technical person, I believe the dashboards could be improved. Everything we use appears on video walls, and we need ...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor?

I am doing research as we currently have both solutions, and I am looking to see if we need both or can manage with one. Currently, the outcome indicates that we need both. The focus point is diffe...

See all answers

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Compared 5% of the time

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Compared 5% of the time

Icinga vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Compared 3% of the time

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Compared 3% of the time

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

ManageEngine ADAudit Plus

October 2026

Download ManageEngine ADAudit Plus product report

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

October 2026

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor report

Download SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor product report

Also Known As

No data available

SolarWinds SAM

Overview

ManageEngine ADAudit Plus provides real-time Active Directory monitoring with features like user behavior analytics and event analysis. It offers an intuitive interface and robust reporting capabilities, alerting users to changes for enhanced security and efficient management.

ManageEngine ADAudit Plus is designed for enterprises seeking comprehensive Active Directory auditing. With capabilities like real-time monitoring, file auditing, and activity tracking, it supports security and compliance needs. Efficient user management is achieved through alerts for group additions and changes and features like the Account Lockout Analyzer. Although known for its intuitive interface, there's potential for improved sophistication in its design. Integration with QRadar and Log360, better documentation, and enhancements for non-Microsoft products are areas for growth. The platform is widely used for monitoring login activities, auditing group policy objects, and providing detailed reports that assist IT teams in security and operational efforts.

What are the key features of ManageEngine ADAudit Plus?

Real-time Active Directory Monitoring: Delivers instant insights into changes and incidents.
User Behavior Analytics: Leverages machine learning to understand user actions.
In-depth Reporting: Offers detailed reports to track modifications and compliance metrics.
Event Analysis: Provides tools for analyzing security events comprehensively.
File Auditing: Tracks file access and changes for improved security.
Granular Report Details: Offers detailed information to meet auditing requirements.

What benefits should users consider in reviews?

Enhanced Security: Alerts for critical changes improve overall network protection.
Efficient User Management: Features like Account Lockout Analyzer streamline processes.
Intuitive Interface: Easy report generation without custom setup.
Comprehensive Monitoring: Monitors login and access activities accurately.

ManageEngine ADAudit Plus benefits industries requiring rigorous monitoring like finance and healthcare by ensuring compliance and security. Organizations utilize its detailed reports and alert systems to maintain operational integrity and protect sensitive data effectively.

ManageEngine

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor provides comprehensive server, application, and infrastructure monitoring, focusing on integration, application dependency, and network insights through user-friendly interfaces and detailed dashboards.

With AppStack and AppInsight support, SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor offers service management, detailed resource dashboards, and integration capabilities. It monitors hardware metrics and performance parameters, facilitating database and network insights for cloud and virtual environments. Robust alerting, predictive analytics, and capacity planning ensure efficient management of server health and application performance.

What are the key features?

Integration: Seamlessly connects with existing tools.
AppStack: Provides a holistic view of applications.
AppInsight: Supports widely-used applications.
SNMP Polling: Efficient network data collection.
Diagnostics: Real-time troubleshooting.
Customizable Dashboards: Tailored monitoring views.

What benefits should users expect?

Comprehensive Monitoring: Extends from servers to databases.
Transparent Control: Enhances visibility into performance metrics.
User-Friendly: Simplifies proactive monitoring with alerts.
Predictive Features: Supports capacity and trend planning.

Industries implement SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor to enhance server utilization reporting, network configuration, and AV equipment performance tracking. They benefit from monitoring critical services across diverse deployment models, improving management efficiency and decision-making.

SolarWinds

Sample Customers

Warsaw City Hall, Acument Global Technologies, Inc., Cosma International, Bank of South Pacific, Life Management Center, Central Bank, UncleBob's Self Storage, Leeds Building Society, California Transplant Donor Network, First Response, Blessing Hospital, Northern Land Council, RMK Marine

Andr. L. Riis AS, NetSuite

Buyer's Guide

ManageEngine ADAudit Plus vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

September 2026

Free Report: ManageEngine ADAudit Plus vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

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