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Microsoft System Center vs SolarWinds AppOptics comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 18, 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 System Center
Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software
42nd
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
Application Infrastructure (17th)
SolarWinds AppOptics
Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software
44th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (56th), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (62nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Cloud Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Microsoft System Center is 0.7%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds AppOptics is 1.1%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Cloud Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Microsoft System Center0.7%
SolarWinds AppOptics1.1%
Other98.2%
Cloud Monitoring Software
 

Featured Reviews

Carl Palapal - PeerSpot reviewer
Sr. Sys. Server & Storage Egineer / Tech .Consultant at CANAR OFFICE SYSTEMS
Provides comprehensive system management with effective deployment and integration capabilities
The advantages of Microsoft System Center are significant, and I have seen other products as well. As far as advantages are concerned, they have PXE deployment, which is good for deploying operating systems, such as Windows client systems including Windows 10 and Windows 11. Since it is a Microsoft product, all the patches are proprietary, making it easier to deploy. In Microsoft System Center, all the features are integrated already, whereas in ManageEngine, you have to license each feature individually to access those features. The automated features of Virtual Machine Manager are very useful; it automates as long as the policy that I have created is in line with the objective, especially the templates when I'm going to deploy. Regarding endpoint management, Microsoft System Center is very helpful; it has integrated endpoint protection deployment, allowing me to handle endpoint configuration, system deployment, and patch deployment, making it an all-in-one stop shop for managing and configuring end clients. The impact of using Microsoft System Center is significant; it gives me a whole picture of my environment, making it easy to get inventory details regarding applications and hardware, providing full visibility of my setup within the organization.
John Yuko - PeerSpot reviewer
Assistant Manager ICT - Projects at I&M Bank Ltd
Unique features allow consolidating and combing metrics into a single dashboard, but don't monitor mobile solutions
I would like to see more granular information provided on Unix applications. Also, the integration with Unix services should be a bit more straightforward in terms having an agent to retrieve your credentials rather than having to enter or save them for SSH on SolarWinds. From the outset, we had to set some commands to log into the search console, and they are saved on the solution, which presents a challenge in terms of exposure. The solution is unable to monitor APK solutions completely because we'd then be forced to break down the APK and provide the APIs or go through the source code. They don't have a module that can analyze an application that is maybe under-used.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Management Packs for Microsoft-specific products, which help us implement the best practices for each product."
"If you're using only Microsoft products then this is a good solution because you're working in a unified environment."
"The availability performance matrix and the reporting capabilities are the solution's most valuable features."
"This solution has helped us to have better visibility of what we have in our environment, the stages of access, and it allows me to see everything I need to better communicate with the business easily concerning the situations of our services."
"The installation process is easy."
"System Center 2012 SP1 is one hell of infrastructure management suite."
"The detail in the alarms is great."
"The solution is easily available. That's its most valuable aspect."
"Technical support is always live and they're supportive."
"I have found the most valuable feature is application performance management."
"AppNeta provides a range of products, all based around intelligent network testing algorithms."
"SolarWinds AppOptics does far more than what an individual may realize; it is not just a SIEM tool."
"It's a solid application."
"Customer service is exceptional, as they are very much in tune with our service needs and are always in contact for both enhancement requests and overall satisfaction."
"The reporting of the solution is very good."
"With minimal effort on our part, TraceView provides extraordinary visibility into the requests that flow through our SOA applications."
 

Cons

"Have had challenges to integrate with Non-Microsoft Products."
"The multi-tenancy support needs to be improved. We need to have the ability to manage several different environments from one central point of administration."
"In my opinion, DPM needs a lot of improvements to its limitations."
"The most difficult area we faced was the requirement of having one central system center that deployed in one domain, capable of managing and controlling the end user devices."
"We have, on occasion, experienced some crashes that have caused the application to break down."
"Implementation and integration in the case of multi-tenant environments needs improvement."
"The platform performance and responsiveness need improvement. It still demands high computing resources."
"Installation is cumbersome and not much documentation available for best practices for installation."
"The integration with Unix services should be a bit more straightforward."
"The implementation needs improvement. It needs to get modernized with the newer cloud scenario in both public and private deployment models."
"I would like to see more integration with other tools that are available on the market."
"The support is not too bad, but also not very good—it's quite standard."
"In terms of the technology, I think they need to put some more advanced troubleshooting into SolarWinds, in terms of AI capabilities. That's the next generation, especially in the cases of APIs which have already adopted AI capabilities into their products."
"I'd like to see the ability to use other internal instrumented applications as filters in the overview/aggregation screen."
"We had a stability issue with a portion of the installation (Sequencer) when it was first introduced and have chosen not to install that specific function."
"Because of its inability to monitor mobile solutions, I would rate this solution as a seven out of ten."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Microsoft System Center is quite expensive."
"It's rolled into our enterprise subscription. The entire subscription is around $25,000 a year, however, that covers all the products that we use."
"We maximized our license investment."
"I rate the product price as five to six on a scale of one to ten, where one means it is cheap and ten means it is expensive."
"Microsoft System Center's licensing is costly."
"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a six out of ten."
"I know that sometimes there is some reduction in the prices of Microsoft System Center because of the costs of Microsoft SQL Server, which can be advantageous."
"I believe the current licensing cost is reasonable."
"Mostly, it's a perpetual license. We don't have any customers using the subscription right now—it's mostly a perpetual license that the customers purchase. The licensing is based on the number of elements, whereas other solutions are node-based."
"Since it's a negotiable rate, I would rate the pricing as a five out of five."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
16%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Construction Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise10
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise7
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Microsoft System Center?
The disadvantage of Microsoft System Center is related to the many integrated services; if one service is failing, then all features will be affected. For example, with site configuration, when one...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft System Center?
I am using Microsoft System Center. I use Microsoft System Center for patch deployment and application deployment.
What advice do you have for others considering Microsoft System Center?
The connection is not very stable. I rate Microsoft System Center a nine out of ten.
Ask a question
Earn 20 points
 

Also Known As

MS System Center
AppOptics, SolarWinds TraceView, Librato
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Kassen_rztliche Vereinigung Nordrhein, Magyar Telekom Nyrt., Adeka, QualCare, Aeriandi, UniCredit Bank d.d., Mostar, Allianz Australia Ltd., Grupo Familia
TraxoCovea Insurance BTE TechnologyDatarista
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft System Center vs. SolarWinds AppOptics and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.