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NetCrunch vs SolarWinds NPM comparison

Why PeerSpot?
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 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

NetCrunch
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
70th
Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring
62nd
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
Server Monitoring (27th), Log Management (51st)
SolarWinds NPM
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
3rd
Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring
8th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
161
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Monitoring Software (9th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of NetCrunch is 0.7%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds NPM is 3.6%, down from 4.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
SolarWinds NPM3.6%
NetCrunch0.7%
Other95.7%
Network Monitoring Software
 

Featured Reviews

it_user1038504 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Systems Administrator, Technical Lead at Connectivity Wireless
A network monitoring platform with a useful reporting feature, but permission-based options could be better
The initial setup is fairly easy. Most of it's wizard-based. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to set it up. But if you don't know certain things related to protocols and everything else, it might be difficult. If you know how SNMP works, it'll be fairly simple to set up.
Vivek Jaiswal - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager IT at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Central monitoring has improved outage alerts and now needs smarter detection and modern dashboards
Regarding the automated network topology and mapping feature in SolarWinds NPM, I am not satisfied with it. For static monitoring, it is acceptable. However, if it is possible, I would need a feature in SolarWinds in the future for some kind of malfunctioning detection, such as malware attacks or that type of environment. We did not have any facility to detect that in SolarWinds. I think it would be better to incorporate those types of features. Regarding customization options in SolarWinds, the ability to customize the dashboard has room for improvement. The dashboard is quite old, and we need some improvement in it. Nowadays, we have multiple tools with AI-based monitoring and web-based dashboards. SolarWinds also has a web-based dashboard, but I think there is scope for improvement in the UI. There may be other areas I would like to improve in SolarWinds NPM.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The setup is very intuitive and quick - it all just took a few minutes we were done."
"Reporting on NetCrunch is pretty good; it's very similar to SolarWinds, just with a different interface, and the majority of everything there was beneficial."
"SolarWinds NPM has helped our organization by proactively indicating if we are low on resources for a particular server."
"The solution is stable and reliable."
"It's very easy to scale; the scalability is brilliant, and if you need additional monitoring resources or need to plug in your secondary data center, it takes thirty minutes and is easy to use."
"The solution is very user-friendly."
"Can easily be interconnected with other management systems."
"The most valuable features of SolarWinds NPM are network performance monitoring and the overall benefit for servers."
"I can do everything remotely, including running PowerShell scripts or performing standard updates."
"Feature rich produce suite that addresses many aspects of BSM."
 

Cons

"Our network is made up of a lot of Cisco devices, and it needs improvements."
"I didn't care for the role-based, permission-based options, which were not the best."
"Technical support hasn't been the most reliable. Sometimes it takes them a long time to respond or resolve the issues."
"SolarWinds is expensive. That's why it's primarily banks using the solution."
"The initial setup of SolarWinds NPM is complex, and I find it challenging."
"It would be nice if SolarWinds could have a polling engine on the site that would collect the reporting and then manage everything itself."
"I would like to have a Syslog server module for this product. That would make the solution better."
"If they could combine everything into one product, that would be very helpful."
"SolarWinds NPM could improve the graphics of the interface and more customized reporting."
"If they did some type of synthetic monitoring, it would have been better."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"I think that the cost has risen, but the functionality and versatility is way above other products."
"The standard licensing fees are what we're paying. It's about $20,000 a year for all our licensing."
"I’d suggest that people be aware that licensing has tiers."
"Our customer reports that the solution is somewhat costly and licensing is a bit complicated."
"There's standard licensing, and then it depends on the size of the customer."
"It's expensive and there are costs in addition to the standard licensing."
"The cost of the personal perpetual license for SolarWinds NPM is approximately $2,000."
"The solution's pricing is low compared to a lot of other tools in the market."
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Comparison Review

it_user174738 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Developer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
May 31, 2015
Nagios vs. Zabbix vs. PRTG vs. Spiceworks vs. Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor
I have researched a quite a few network monitoring tools which can be used for various monitoring purposes of not only the servers, but the intermediate routers as well. There are majorly three types of these softwares. Ones which are completely open-source, you can do almost anything you want…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
21%
Comms Service Provider
17%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Outsourcing Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Construction Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business60
Midsize Enterprise33
Large Enterprise87
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
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What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?
It actually depends on the exact purpose or kind of devices (network devices, servers, something else). Some tools are better for only network devices while others are better for a cloud monitoring...
What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?
We are partners with SolarWinds and we sell a lot of Network management to large enterprises also because of scalability, products like Network Performance Monitor & Netflow Traffic Analyzer ar...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor, SolarWinds Network Bandwidth Analyzer
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

manufacturing, banking, utilities, energy, universities, healthcare institutions, school districts, military and police entities, non-profit organizations, 
Microsoft, Federal Express, Hewlett-Packard, and MasterCard
Find out what your peers are saying about NetCrunch vs. SolarWinds NPM and other solutions. Updated: November 2026.
921,028 professionals have used our research since 2012.