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Microsoft Active Directory vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 9, 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

Microsoft Active Directory
Ranking in Active Directory Management
5th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
43
Ranking in other categories
Single Sign-On (SSO) (7th)
SolarWinds Server and Appli...
Ranking in Active Directory Management
10th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.0
Number of Reviews
42
Ranking in other categories
Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (19th), Server Monitoring (11th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Active Directory Management category, the mindshare of Microsoft Active Directory is 6.4%, up from 2.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is 1.1%, down from 1.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Active Directory Management
 

Featured Reviews

Roberta Politano - PeerSpot reviewer
Has good authentication features
The solution's group policy is a normal way to deploy configuration and helps deploy to a wider environment. The solution is deployed both on-premises and on the cloud. I would recommend the solution to other users based on their infrastructure. Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.
Carlos Camargo - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides user-friendly API features and has straightforward deployment process
One product area that could benefit from improvement is the synchronization of licensing periods across different modules. The misalignment of licensing terms can present commercial challenges when adding new modules or additional pollers. Additionally, the granularity of polling times for specific components could be enhanced to better meet individual customers' needs without impacting the entire polling pool.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution’s management capability is very good. The tool is also very scalable. You can add any number of users that you want to operate. Moreover, you can easily organize the solution."
"We use the tool for FSMO, policies, and customized user registrations."
"I can use Active Directory to block a user's internet access and monitor how an employee is using the internet."
"The scalability of the solution is high...The initial setup of the solution is easy, and I would rate it an eight or nine out of ten on a scale of one to ten, where one being difficult and ten being easy."
"It is a stable solution."
"The solution's initial setup is straightforward."
"Stability and performance are good. So far, we have not observed any major downtime or performance issues since we deployed it."
"It is an all-in-one solution for cybersecurity and is available at a very low price."
"I'd rate technical support at eight out of ten. They are helpful and fast."
"AppInsight for SQL: Enables us to see the relevant error log entries on the same page as performance parameters."
"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."
"Monitoring of processes and services is the most valuable feature. It is not necessarily just the server alone in terms of the CPU or the memory. We can go in-depth into services and processes."
"SSL Certificate Monitoring and Expiry Alerting"
"It's good at monitoring system-specific things like ports, services."
"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."
"The most beneficial aspect of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is its ability to monitor at the application level."
 

Cons

"The product's premium support services could be less expensive."
"Microsoft Active Directory fails to provide MFA. MFA, which is also known as multi-factor authentication on top of the password and username, is what I would like to see in the product's future releases."
"The interface for logs should be user-friendly and allow for enhanced filtering to drill down to incidents."
"The scalability of the solution needs improvement."
"Perhaps the synchronization could be simpler and more controllable. There are some features that need improvements in terms of ease of use and frequency of updates."
"Sometimes, it can be overly complicated, and when you apply Group Policy in an Active Directory environment, sometimes those settings apply and sometimes they don't."
"The solution should maintain the infrastructure according to the period you are in and the security changes."
"The solution's price could be better."
"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."
"SAM's software-defined network monitoring capability is also low and could be improved."
"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."
"The product does not explain why a problem occurred."
"SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor could improve by having a cloud version. They have an observability platform but it still needs to be maintained by us."
"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."
"A lot of times, we have to do a lot of manual cleanups."
"One product area that could benefit from improvement is the synchronization of licensing periods across different modules"
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Active Directory is built-in into Microsoft Windows 10. I'm not an administrator and would not be involved in purchasing decisions for new versions of the software. I have only used the client portion of it, I do not know if there is a cost to using the solution."
"I rate the product’s pricing a five out of ten."
"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."
"The version of Microsoft Active Directory I was using was expensive because it was used for large companies."
"The product's premium support services are expensive."
"We have to purchase a license for the solution."
"I'm unsure about the cost of the solution, as I was never involved in that aspect. However, I don't think it would be expensive. It might be average, around four or five out of ten."
"The solution is based on a licensing model."
"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."
"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."
"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 is overpriced in terms of application management."
"I would rate the pricing for this solution a three out of five."
"I would advise potential buyers to wait until the end of the quarter, end of year, or other time to place orders. There are actually great deals to be had at those times if your budget cycle can match up."
"The product is expensive."
"When compared to other licensed models in the market, it stands out as one of the more cost-effective options."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Educational Organization
7%
Educational Organization
19%
Computer Software Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft Active Directory?
The solution is easy to install and has good reliability.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Active Directory?
Technology is evolving. AI is offering solutions. However, short-term fixes are like band-aids.
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Active Directory?
I utilize it in almost every scenario. I use the Hazer database and meet daily needs across every industry, every time.
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

No data available
SolarWinds SAM
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Andr. L. Riis AS, NetSuite
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Active Directory vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
859,957 professionals have used our research since 2012.