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NETSCOUT Network & Application Observability vs SolarWinds Network Device Monitor comparison

Why PeerSpot?
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 12, 2026

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 Network & Applicat...
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
10th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
75
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SolarWinds Network Device M...
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
38th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of NETSCOUT Network & Application Observability is 2.9%, up from 2.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is 0.8%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
NETSCOUT nGeniusONE2.9%
SolarWinds Network Device Monitor0.8%
Other96.3%
Network Monitoring Software
 

Featured Reviews

HT
Newwork And Collaboration Supervisor at Nafeza
Monitoring has improved bandwidth insights and application diagnosis but setup and costs still need work
They need room for improvement about the spare parts. There are shortages in Egypt in their stock. We tried to make RMA for specific parts, and it took a long time. Comparing this to a vendor like Cisco, who provides any component next business day, NETSCOUT nGeniusONE took a long time. This needs more improvement. I believe it is expensive. They need to reduce its budget a little bit. Comparing to other solutions, it is very expensive.
SG
IT Infrastructure Senior Network Technician at Autoliv
Offers some features but needs better customization and analysis tools
There are solutions that can perform better, but due to pricing for our corporate implementation, we had to stay with this solution. It accomplishes the necessary tasks, but there is room for improvement. The features are not as customizable as we would prefer, but they are workable. If configured properly, you can perform a drill-down analysis. However, I have not used this feature much for our infrastructure on the network side.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"This is the best protocol analyzer I've used and I've used some from WildPackets and quite a few other places."
"This solution has saved us hours (three to four) per problem when troubleshooting."
"It has versatility to correlate different traffic types and performance management statistics."
"This solution has cut our overall troubleshooting time, sometimes going down to a few hours over what might have taken one to two days to fully troubleshoot an issue, and it has helped to increase our application uptime as we try to keep the five nines."
"It catches bigger issues on a weekly basis. That's how often we find something big enough that the only reason we know about it is because of the nGeniusONE. The bigger issues are mostly security-type issues: Odd traffic leaving our network or coming into it, that has found its way past a firewall."
"I love the single pane of glass view. It makes it easier to not have to navigate everywhere. It allows more simplistic visibility, without having to go from tool to tool to tool, or from window to window to window."
"It gives me the MOS, latency, and jitter."
"Reach out, contact NETSCOUT. It's an amazing tool, it has a lot of integrations, and it's definitely worth looking at."
"Overall, it is a good user experience and the dashboards are very usable."
"The product is useful for switches and IP phones."
"In real-time, we know when there's an issue on our network and it helps us to be proactive to solve the situation."
"SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is a straightforward product with valuable functionality."
"The most valuable feature of SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is monitoring."
"Link monitoring is the most valuable feature of this solution."
"The solution and its interface are elaborate and fully integrate all monitored items for easy analysis and troubleshooting."
"The most valuable features of SolarWinds Network Device Monitor are the reports. We are configuring the reports, and the first reports are only about the devices. We are configuring the thresholds in order to monitor all the devices."
 

Cons

"The single pane of glass view is a challenge. I like the graphics, they're easy to understand, but when more digging is required, it's more complicated to get what I'm expecting."
"I think it could have an easier to understand interface."
"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."
"The technical support could improve a bit with quicker responses for early on questions. What I think are simple questions are taking a long time to get answers to."
"I would recommend enhancing the APM capabilities."
"Only problems that we have had are fiber issues going into the TAPs or vSTREAMs, which are usually local site issues."
"Initially, we were having a lot of issues with bugs when using version 6.1.1. There were a lot of problems with the dashboard causing confusion. We worked with our SE and the NETSCOUT engineering team to fix the visibility with the data. There should be a patch release to fix this issue. However, this seems to be working fine for us right now after the 6.2.2 upgrade."
"Some help screens would be nice, especially if we bring on new operators. It would be great to see if they have more helpful tips available."
"There are solutions that can perform better, but due to pricing for our corporate implementation, we had to stay with this solution."
"If everything were in the package so that everything was ready to go out of the box, that would be ideal."
"The initial setup of the SolarWinds Network Device Monitor could be easier. It took us approximately one month to complete the implementation."
"The security needs improvement, which is why we are moving away from Solar Winds. We have security concerns."
"Technical support needs to respond to its customers faster. We are not 100% satisfied with the level of support we get."
"The security could always be improved."
"The solution lacks in performance monitoring."
"The way they are presenting the map of our devices needs to be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This product could be cheaper."
"The price is a little high."
"The product is too expensive compared to other products."
"The tool's price is okay. On a scale of one to ten, I rate it as a five, where one means it is not expensive, and ten means it is the most expensive."
"If you are able and you are willing to use everything that Netscout provides to you, it's probably a relatively fair price. The problem is that it's such a large and such a complex tool that I'm not sure that many companies would be able to use it entirely, the way it's expected to be used."
"I would like it to be more scalable with less spend."
"The license becomes cost prohibitive very quickly."
"There is a need to make yearly payments towards the licensing charges attached to the product. The product may come across as a cheap tool for some, while it may seem costly for others."
"I rate the product's price as three to three and a half or on a scale of one to ten, where one means low price, and ten means high price."
"When compared with other solutions SolarWinds is more expensive."
"Thankfully, it doesn't take a lot of manpower to install and deploy."
"The product is expensive."
"The enterprise license is good for the SolarWinds Network Device Monitor. However, it is expensive, they should reduce their price."
"SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is not an expensive solution."
"I find the cost of SolarWinds Network Device Monitor reasonable for our company. Though, I'm not aware of the exact licensing cost."
"Well, we had a perpetual license and the renewal was $20 to $25,000."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Outsourcing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Construction Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Outsourcing Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise52
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise14
 

Questions from the Community

Which is the best DDoS protection solution for a big ISP for monitoring and mitigating?
I would say if it’s an ISP that will build a scrubbing center, Netscout/Arbor is a good solution. In all other solutions, Imperva is a great choice.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NETSCOUT nGeniusONE?
Regarding its high price, I give NETSCOUT nGeniusONE a seven.
What needs improvement with NETSCOUT nGeniusONE?
They need room for improvement about the spare parts. There are shortages in Egypt in their stock. We tried to make RMA for specific parts, and it took a long time. Comparing this to a vendor like ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SolarWinds Network Device Monitor?
I am not a positive person regarding SolarWinds Network Device Monitor.
What needs improvement with SolarWinds Network Device Monitor?
There are solutions that can perform better, but due to pricing for our corporate implementation, we had to stay with this solution. It accomplishes the necessary tasks, but there is room for impro...
What is your primary use case for SolarWinds Network Device Monitor?
I have experience regarding the AD part, but my focus for the last 15 years has been oriented to the network side. My experience with identity tools comes more from a network perspective. We used N...
 

Also Known As

NETSCOUT nGenius, NETSCOUT nGeniusONE, NETSCOUT nGeniusPULSE, NETSCOUT vSTREAM, NETSCOUT InfiniStreamNG, Iris Session Analyzer, ClearSight Analyzer
Network Device Monitor
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Cerner Corporation
Air Rarotonga
Find out what your peers are saying about NETSCOUT Network & Application Observability vs. SolarWinds Network Device Monitor and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
917,403 professionals have used our research since 2012.