Microsoft Active Directory vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor comparison

Microsoft Active Directory vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

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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

Microsoft Active Directory

Ranking in Active Directory Management

2nd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Single Sign-On (SSO) (8th)

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 (18th), Server Monitoring (6th)

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the Active Directory Management category, the mindshare of Microsoft Active Directory is 6.5%, down from 6.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is 3.0%, up from 1.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Active Directory Management Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Microsoft Active Directory	6.5%
SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor	3.0%
Other	90.5%

Active Directory Management

Featured Reviews

Eko Kurniawan

IT Operations & Security at veris

Has simplified credential management and improved secure access control across departments

The features I find most useful in Microsoft Active Directory are especially for the Single Sign-On. This is very useful for users, particularly if they have plenty of applications, such as tablet applications. When they log in to their computer, the application will automatically log in with their credentials. They don't need to remember another user and password to log in to the application because it's already maintained with Microsoft Active Directory using Single Sign-On. To assess the impact of Microsoft Active Directory's centralized domain management on security protocols and access permissions, Microsoft Active Directory itself has constraints with security because when we have a solution such as SSO or Single Sign-On, which makes it easier for users to log in, some parts have security openings. When their computer is compromised with a threat, malware, or other cyber threats, it becomes easier to enter the application without login permission.

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

"We find the user interface valuable as it is very user-friendly."

"It is an all-in-one solution for cybersecurity and is available at a very low price."

"The most valuable features of Microsoft Active Directory are the management of user and group policies."

"I can use Active Directory to block a user's internet access and monitor how an employee is using the internet."

"We can also have separate domain controllers in different Active Directory sites based on their location."

"The ability for a single sign-on for applications."

"Active Directory makes managing user policies easier, like when a user wants to share files. We also use it to create and manage our email accounts."

"It is a scalable solution."

More Microsoft Active Directory pros

"The most valuable feature of the solution is its interface, which is used for monitoring."

"SolarWinds fit the bill because it gave many possibilities in monitoring with a good amount of out of the box capabilities."

"The product integrates with Remedy."

"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."

"The recommendations are a life saver."

"The component and cable monitoring are good. SolarWinds is more intuitive and user-friendly than AppDynamics. The AppDynamics console is more complex because it's a more feature-rich solution, so it's not easy for somebody to pick it up."

"We manage SolarWinds ourselves without outsourcing its services."

"This feature from Solarwinds SAM helped us to monitor and alert whenever the SSL cert is going to expire on the server to avoid any downtime of the services running on the server specially on ADFS platform where we have Video conference, Webex, Office 365 and single sign-on services."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor pros

Cons

"In the solution, assigning permissions is complex, making it difficult to grant them at a granular level or to multiple users without templates or alternative tools."

"In my experience, it's difficult to manage Microsoft Active Directory when the server is attacked by a threat or malware."

"Active Directory's user experience is a little dated. Group policy management should be more customizable."

"Microsoft Active Directory could improve by having better integration with other solutions."

"I expect additional features like maximizing user flow, improving the branding of the UI, and enabling non-interactive login. Customizing the login page is limited to changing the background and logo, and adding terms and conditions during registration requires JavaScript."

"The solution's price could be better."

"There could be enough material to learn about the product."

"The interface for logs should be user-friendly and allow for enhanced filtering to drill down to incidents."

More Microsoft Active Directory cons

"Reporting is the only thing with which we currently have challenges. They have this in two ways. There is the report writer, which is the backend, and we also have web reports, which are on the console. So, they have removed the report writer for the backend reports, and we are making use of the web console, but most of the users are not finding it very interesting to use the frontend reports. I would like them to bring back the report writer. That's the key area within it to improve on the reporting. If they can bring back the report writer, then most users will actually be comfortable. I have some customers who are trying to export their report to an Excel format, but it is not possible because they said any report that has been done from the web console cannot be exported to Excel, but most of the customers need to export their reports to Excel. That's one area they need to work on."

"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."

"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."

"Some custom applications cannot be monitored, and a lot more applications need to be included."

"Having two places to build and manage alerts is not efficient and not all alerting tools are available in the trap manager."

"It needs time-based functions for monitoring. Some things need to be polled on a specific schedule or only during a specific window."

"SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is not stable. We have to maintain the platform and it goes down frequently."

"The tool's AppStack needs to improve in the storage monitoring part. It should also include an analytics and recommendation approach. If I have found a fault in a server or application, I would like to know what caused it and how do I recover from it."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The license per user can probably be reduced."

"The license is perpetual and the cost is minimal. If you purchase Microsoft Windows then Microsoft Active Directory comes with the package."

"It's not overly expensive. It's considered a base function by Microsoft."

"The price of Microsoft Active Directory could improve. We pay annually for the solution."

"I rate the product’s pricing a five out of ten."

"The version of Microsoft Active Directory I was using was expensive because it was used for large companies."

"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a four out of ten."

"Its price is reasonable."

More Microsoft Active Directory pricing and cost advice

"SAM is not per server so the pricing model can be deceiving. If you have an enterprise environment, you will quickly exceed your licensing quickly. You should know this before going in."

"Price can always be lower. It is neither on the expensive side nor on the cheap side. We have worked with them for a lot of years, so we get a discount due to the size of the installation."

"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."

"I like the pricing for this SolarWinds product."

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

"Pricing and licensing is fair for what you get. It does have a great bang-for-the-buck appeal."

"The solution is overpriced in terms of application management."

"The tool is available for my company at a good price point."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

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902,894 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Healthcare Company

Computer Software Company

Educational Organization

13%

University

Financial Services Firm

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	21
Midsize Enterprise	7
Large Enterprise	20

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

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Microsoft Active Directory?

The best way to protect this is to use Microsoft Defender. For Microsoft support for Microsoft Active Directory, I would rate it as eight. If I give it 10, it would be too perfect. Eight is fair. M...

What is your primary use case for Microsoft Active Directory?

My main use cases for Microsoft Active Directory are to manage user access and credentials.

What advice do you have for others considering Microsoft Active Directory?

Regarding Microsoft Active Directory's integration with third-party applications, it depends on the requirements. It's not always linked or combined with Microsoft Active Directory. In my experienc...

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.

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 ...

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...

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Product Reports

Microsoft Active Directory

Download Microsoft Active Directory product report

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Download SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor product report

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor report

Also Known As

No data available

SolarWinds SAM

Overview

Microsoft Active Directory enables centralized management of user identities and permissions, integrating seamlessly with cloud services via Azure AD Connect. Its support for hybrid environments makes it essential for businesses looking to manage authentication, authorization, and access control efficiently.

Active Directory offers a robust framework for network and identity management, focusing on scalability and ease of use. Its integration with Single Sign-On enhances user convenience by synchronizing login credentials across cloud and on-premises applications. While it efficiently manages security protocols, scalability, and third-party application integration, users note areas for improvement like better reporting capabilities, a modernized interface, improved synchronization between on-prem and cloud setups, and streamlined configurations.

What are the essential features of Microsoft Active Directory?

User-Friendliness: Designed for easy navigation and management.
Azure AD Connect: Seamless integration with cloud services.
Group Policy Management: Centralized control over user and device settings.
Single Sign-On: Unified credential management across applications.
Scalability: Supports growing business environments.

What benefits and ROI should users expect?

Centralized Management: Streamlines user and application administration.
Enhanced Security: Strong protocols for identity verification and access control.
Flexibility: Supports both on-premises and cloud environments effectively.
Operational Efficiency: Reduces complexity and minimizes administrative errors.

In industries like finance and healthcare, Active Directory is implemented to manage sensitive data access and user authentication across complex networks. Retailers rely on its scalability for managing vast customer and product datasets, while educational institutions utilize its centralized management features to efficiently administer student and faculty permissions across multiple applications and platforms.

Microsoft

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

Information Not Available

Andr. L. Riis AS, NetSuite

Microsoft Active Directory vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor