NETSCOUT InfiniStreamNG vs SolarWinds NPM comparison

Why PeerSpot?

NETSCOUT and SolarWinds are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. NETSCOUT is ranked #72, while SolarWinds is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.4. NETSCOUT holds a 0.6% mindshare in NMS, compared to SolarWinds’s 3.7% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of NETSCOUT users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of SolarWinds users who would recommend it.

NETSCOUT InfiniStreamNG

Read 13 NETSCOUT InfiniStreamNG reviews

3,014 Views
2,863 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

SolarWinds NPM

Read 161 SolarWinds NPM reviews

26,624 Views
20,500 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

NETSCOUT InfiniStreamNG

SolarWinds NPM

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 2024

SolarWinds NPM and NETSCOUT InfiniStreamNG compete in the network performance monitoring domain. SolarWinds NPM has the upper hand in pricing and support, while NETSCOUT InfiniStreamNG excels in feature robustness, attracting users willing to invest more.

Features: SolarWinds NPM offers an intuitive dashboard, scalability, and a comprehensive alerting system. NETSCOUT InfiniStreamNG provides deep packet inspection, real-time analytics, and forensic capabilities.

Room for Improvement: SolarWinds NPM could enhance its feature set for more advanced network analysis, improve data depth processing, and offer more tailored solutions. NETSCOUT InfiniStreamNG could simplify its deployment process, offer more cost-effective options, and improve ease of monitoring variety.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SolarWinds NPM benefits from a straightforward installation and detailed customer support, allowing for quick onboarding. NETSCOUT InfiniStreamNG has a more complex deployment but offers advanced technical assistance, making it ideal for users seeking expert advice.

Pricing and ROI: SolarWinds NPM provides competitive pricing with high ROI due to its cost-effective structure and scalability. NETSCOUT InfiniStreamNG, while requiring a higher initial investment, offers advanced capabilities advantageous for comprehensive network insights, delivering long-term benefits.

To learn more, read our detailed NETSCOUT InfiniStreamNG vs. SolarWinds NPM Report (Updated: September 2026).

Buyer's Guide

NETSCOUT InfiniStreamNG vs. SolarWinds NPM

September 2026

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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

NETSCOUT InfiniStreamNG

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

72nd

Average Rating

8.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

SolarWinds NPM

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

3rd

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

161

Ranking in other categories

IT Infrastructure Monitoring (7th), Cloud Monitoring Software (9th)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of NETSCOUT InfiniStreamNG is 0.6%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds NPM is 3.7%, down from 4.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
SolarWinds NPM	3.7%
NETSCOUT InfiniStreamNG	0.6%
Other	95.7%

Network Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

Michael Gideon Genita

Associate System Engineer at SMS Global Technologies, Inc.

Easy to set up with good documentation and helpful support

I'm using it for a customer The packet flow switch is the most valuable aspect of the solution. It's an easy product to set up. We can scale the solution if we need to. It's stable. The documentation is well-written and quite useful. It's compatible with other products. Under the pocket flow…

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Vivek Jaiswal

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.

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

"Because we are doing proactive monitoring instead of reactive, the end users don't even see that there is something wrong."

"We use it for monitoring whenever we update a new circuit or site."

"The ability to troubleshoot customers' connectivity has been very beneficial."

"It has cut our troubleshooting down by days. Once we have a product in place, we show people examples of how it can streamline their troubleshooting process."

"We are attracting customers in good sized numbers as we advertise and market this solution."

"This solution has saved us hours (three to four) per problem when troubleshooting."

"The solution has helped to increase application and network uptime, reduced our mean time to repair significantly for application and network issues, and cut our overall troubleshooting time from an hour down to five minutes."

"It's an easy product to set up."

More NETSCOUT InfiniStreamNG pros

"I found a lot of valuable features in SolarWinds NPM, such as the customized application monitoring that allows you to customize any monitoring and script customization, and you also have the option to deploy and upgrade SolarWinds NPM online, which is very useful for my organization."

"SolarWinds Orion NPM tracks bottlenecks in your network infrastructure and lets you troubleshoot them before a disaster happens."

"From web interfaces to custom monitors and alarms, this product has a high level of flexibility that can be molded to suit your business needs, regardless of the size of your organization."

"For a medium-sized customer, it has everything that you're looking for."

"We had some interfaces where the SFP Ports were having some problems after a while. We found which of the SFP Ports was having the error and changed it, so the bandwidth become okay."

"SolarWinds NPM has specific modules for monitoring different network capabilities, which provides rich features for carrying out specific tasks."

"If you’re looking to get a lot more insight and visibility into your network devices, servers, applications, and other devices, along with real-time alert notifications, SolarWinds NPM should be towards the top of your list."

"Everything has been complete and stable for our needs over the past four years."

More SolarWinds NPM pros

Cons

"The scalability has some limitations and quirks to it. I would like to be able to upgrade rather than replace the whole thing."

"Sometimes, we can't access it."

"The monitoring and reporting tool needs improvement. Users want more information, such as the level of detail when doing a packet analysis. They want more detail to be able to isolate down to a specific point."

"The stability depends on who is using the tool, because you only can get as much out of the tool as you put into it. There are a lot of patches for this particular environment, so you have to keep on them. If you lose track of them, then the product is not useful anymore."

"We don't use the single pane of glass view, even though we own it."

"I'd like them to make the product more user-friendly."

"It can be scalable. It just costs too much."

"The NetFlow Collectors could handle more flows per minute."

More NETSCOUT InfiniStreamNG cons

"SolarWinds needs to be improved such that it is on par with the leading products in the market."

"Back in the early days and new major releases, of course, there were some hiccups and gotchas."

"The scalability can be better."

"An area for improvement in SolarWinds NPM is the short retention period. Currently, it's just for seven days of data, which is very low, making it hard for my organization to keep that data. SolarWinds recommended a seven-day retention period, but my organization needs a fourteen-day data retention period. Hence, I'd like an increase in the retention period or the database limit in SolarWinds NPM because you can't go back to the data for any investigation if seven days have passed. Another area for improvement in SolarWinds NPM is the database, which needs to be a bit more mature. I want a modified database in the next release of SolarWinds NPM. I'd also like more options added to groups because, currently, it's very limited."

"With regards to suggested areas of improvement for the product, I would like to see the price come down, and in addition I think the network element mapping tool is not as robust as it should be."

"There isn't a great deal of flexibility to create custom metrics that can be discovered easily or custom aggregation schemes."

"We previously used WhatsUpGold, which has a fraction of the features for a tenth of the price."

"Real-time analytics is the major weakness of the SolarWinds NPM platform today."

More SolarWinds NPM cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It can be scalable. It just costs too much. With a company as big as ours, it gets too expensive to accommodate every single site."

"The scalability is good, but it comes at a cost. E.g., if you need 100 InfiniStream because you are sending gigs or terabytes of data to one InfiniStream, then you will have to purchase another InfiniStream, which are not cheap."

"The price is a little high."

"This product could be cheaper."

"To capture more with the solution that we bought, you have to buy another InfiniStreamNG, and there are only four ports in the back."

"I would like it to be more scalable with less spend."

"The price points are more than competitive when compared to other vendors."

"Some solutions are open source and free."

"Most of the licenses are perpetual, and the annual maintenance charges are not high."

"Excluding the costs of running VMs and physical blade servers, our licensing costs run around US$200,000/year for over 60 polling engines."

"We pay approximately $4,000 annually for SolarWinds NPM. There are no additional fees required other than the standard fees."

"It is too expensive."

"It is relatively inexpensive compared to other products in the same category."

"When I compare the cost of CA Spectrum to that of SolarWinds NPM, the cost of CA Spectrum is way too high, and the cost of SolarWinds NPM is pretty low."

More SolarWinds NPM pricing and cost advice

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Comparison Review

it_user174738

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…

Read full review

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Outsourcing Company

14%

Manufacturing Company

13%

Comms Service Provider

12%

Construction Company

11%

Outsourcing Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Construction Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	8

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	60
Midsize Enterprise	33
Large Enterprise	87

Questions from the Community

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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...

See all answers

What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?

From my point of view, SolarWind is the best tool.

See all answers

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...

See all answers

Comparisons

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NIKSUN NetVCR vs NETSCOUT InfiniStreamNG

Compared 6% of the time

Nmap vs NETSCOUT InfiniStreamNG

Compared 2% of the time

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Nagios XI vs SolarWinds NPM

Compared 3% of the time

DX Spectrum vs SolarWinds NPM

Compared 3% of the time

ManageEngine OpManager vs SolarWinds NPM

Compared 3% of the time

Zabbix vs SolarWinds NPM

Compared 3% of the time

PRTG Network Monitor vs SolarWinds NPM

Compared 2% of the time

More SolarWinds NPM Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

NETSCOUT InfiniStreamNG

September 2026

Download NETSCOUT InfiniStreamNG product report

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds NPM

September 2026

Download SolarWinds NPM product report

Also Known As

InfiniStreamNG, NETSCOUT ISNG, Infinistream

Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor, SolarWinds Network Bandwidth Analyzer

Overview

NETSCOUT InfiniStreamNG delivers fast, cost-efficient network visibility with a single pane of glass view, featuring real-time traffic analysis, dependency mapping, and performance metrics for comprehensive management.

InfiniStreamNG stands out for its real-time insights into network activity, providing a unified platform for managing network components. Its deep packet inspection, scalability, and compatibility make it an essential tool for IT professionals looking to optimize network performance and resolve issues quickly. User-friendly interface enhancements are anticipated for improved usability, alongside early product lifecycle notifications due to extensive certification periods.

What are the key features of NETSCOUT InfiniStreamNG?

Speed: Enhances real-time traffic analysis and performance monitoring.
Network Visibility: Provides a comprehensive view with single pane device management.
Packet Inspection: Supports deep packet inspections for detailed data analytics.
Stability and Scalability: Ensures reliable performance and adapts to varying network sizes.
Compatibility: Seamlessly integrates with other technologies for smooth operations.

What are the benefits and ROI of using NETSCOUT InfiniStreamNG?

Quick Issue Resolution: Identifies and addresses network issues swiftly.
Efficient Utilization: Offers insights for optimizing resource use and network management.
Proactive Monitoring: Facilitates early detection of potential issues to maintain performance.
Application Performance Tracking: Monitors app connectivity and performance effectively.
KPI Evaluation: Provides comprehensive data for informed decision-making.

NETSCOUT InfiniStreamNG is implemented across industries for packet collection and analysis, serving network monitoring and troubleshooting needs. Companies in telecommunications monitor LTE roaming traffic, while financial institutions rely on it for analyzing banking data. It supports application connectivity checks and proactive remote site monitoring, becoming integral in evaluating KPIs and reporting network issues.

NETSCOUT

SolarWinds NPM is a network performance monitoring tool offering a user-friendly interface with customizable dashboards. It provides real-time tracking of device health, latency, and bandwidth utilization, supporting diverse integration and scalability needs.

SolarWinds NPM's robust features include real-time monitoring of network performance and efficient tracking of device health, latency, and bandwidth utilization. The tool is appreciated for its ease of deployment, scalability, and support for integration with other tools. Features like SNMP monitoring, NetPath, and comprehensive reporting enhance its diagnostic capabilities and network visibility. However, users identify areas for improvement such as real-time analytics, advanced customization options, and enhanced scalability for larger enterprises. Better customer support, improved integrations, and security measures are also desired.

What are the key features of SolarWinds NPM?

User-Friendly Interface: Simplifies navigation and operation.
Customizable Dashboards: Allows personalized data views.
Real-Time Monitoring: Provides instant updates on network performance.
Strong Alerting Capabilities: Offers immediate notifications for issues.
Scalability: Supports growth with ease.
Integration: Works smoothly with other tools for comprehensive monitoring.
SNMP Monitoring: Tracks device stats effectively.
NetPath: Helps visualize network paths and performance.

What benefits and ROI can users expect?

Improved Network Visibility: Enables proactive issue resolution.
Enhanced Diagnostics: Facilitates quicker troubleshooting.
Real-Time Performance Data: Supports informed decision-making.
Ease of Deployment: Reduces setup time and complexity.
Infrastructure Monitoring: Ensures network stability and reliability.
Custom Integration: Adapts to existing IT environments.

In enterprise environments, SolarWinds NPM is deployed to monitor network health and device status, sending alerts for any issues. It provides visibility into network performance, tracking bandwidth utilization and server metrics efficiently. Its applications span from monitoring routers, switches, and firewalls to supporting infrastructure monitoring across industries.

SolarWinds

Sample Customers

U.S. Department of Defense

Microsoft, Federal Express, Hewlett-Packard, and MasterCard

Buyer's Guide

NETSCOUT InfiniStreamNG vs. SolarWinds NPM

September 2026

Free Report: NETSCOUT InfiniStreamNG vs. SolarWinds NPM

Find out what your peers are saying about NETSCOUT InfiniStreamNG vs. SolarWinds NPM and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.

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