New Relic vs SolarWinds NPM comparison

New Relic and SolarWinds are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. New Relic is ranked #9 with an average rating of 8.2, while SolarWinds is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.3. New Relic holds a 1.5% mindshare in NMS, compared to SolarWinds’s 3.7% mindshare. Additionally, 94% of New Relic users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of SolarWinds users who would recommend it.

New Relic

Read 176 New Relic reviews

22,559 Views
6,542 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

SolarWinds NPM

Read 161 SolarWinds NPM reviews

21,458 Views
16,523 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

New Relic

SolarWinds NPM

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 8, 2026

SolarWinds NPM and New Relic compete in the performance monitoring market. New Relic seems to have the upper hand in application performance monitoring due to its real-time insights and integration capabilities.

Features: SolarWinds NPM offers modular pricing and strong network monitoring capabilities, allowing businesses to customize features to their needs. It provides robust performance monitoring and high configurability, which users find flexible and efficient. New Relic is known for its detailed application monitoring, offering real-time insights and robust integration, which help diagnose server and application performance issues swiftly. Its alerting system and SLA reporting are also viewed as valuable features by users.

Room for Improvement: SolarWinds NPM could improve in network automation and custom metric creation, which some users find cumbersome. It also has a complex initial setup process. New Relic faces data privacy concerns and could improve its alert precision. Users have also cited challenges integrating third-party plugins and occasional sluggish support response times.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SolarWinds NPM is typically hosted on-premises and praised for its flexible deployment and active community support through Thwack. However, mixed reviews on technical support responsiveness highlight room for faster assistance. New Relic's SaaS model supports quick deployment on public cloud platforms, but its customer service has slow response times. Deployment ease varies, with SolarWinds suited for extensive on-premises setups, while New Relic offers a cloud-native approach.

Pricing and ROI: SolarWinds' pricing, based on node and interface counts, can become costly for large deployments, but users report a strong ROI from reduced downtime and efficient management. New Relic's premium pricing is based on data ingestion, seen as cost-effective for application-centric environments, offering significant operational efficiencies. SolarWinds is generally considered more cost-effective for network-heavy operations, whereas New Relic is preferred for its focus on application performance monitoring.

To learn more, read our detailed New Relic vs. SolarWinds NPM Report (Updated: June 2026).

Buyer's Guide

New Relic vs. SolarWinds NPM

June 2026

Download the complete report

Helped 904,928 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score

6.1

New Relic effectively enhances application performance by quickly resolving issues, saving time, and improving customer satisfaction.

Sentiment score

6.8

SolarWinds NPM is praised for reducing costs, offering quick ROI, and enhancing network management with reliable alerts and reporting.

There is return on investment because since we reduced the downtime, we can definitely save a lot of money within that period.

BasilJiji

System engineer at a retailer with 10,001+ employees

There is a definite return on investment for New Relic, as we would not have invested in building its infrastructure if there were no returns.

ArjunSharma

senior software at Norton Lifelock

After implementing New Relic, we have decreased staffing requirements while saving time and money.

reviewer2805771

Senior Observability Engineer I at a computer software company with 51-200 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the New Relic report

The return on investment is significant as the solution effectively reduces costs while being worth its expense.

Wahyu Krisnamukti

Network Administrator at PT Bni Life Insurance

For more quotes and insights, download the SolarWinds NPM report

Customer Service

Sentiment score

7.3

New Relic's customer service is praised for its responsiveness and support, though some users desire quicker, clearer responses.

Sentiment score

6.9

SolarWinds NPM's customer service is praised, but technical support varies, with some users noting slow responses and availability issues.

If I drop an email to them, they will respond quickly to my email.

Vamsi Busa

Senior DevOps Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

Customer support from New Relic is very good, and we rarely need to create support tickets.

ArjunSharma

senior software at Norton Lifelock

They are very polite and helped him out.

TusharGoel

Cloud Engineer at TO THE NEW Digital

For more quotes and insights, download the New Relic report

If there is no timely response, getting a resolution is more difficult.

SJ6

Network Security Engineer at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees

Regarding technical support from SolarWinds, I find it excellent.

Vijay Samant

Assistant Manager at a outsourcing company with 10,001+ employees

We had contact with SolarWinds regarding the implementation, and they were helpful.

Wahyu Krisnamukti

Network Administrator at PT Bni Life Insurance

For more quotes and insights, download the SolarWinds NPM report

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

7.6

New Relic is highly scalable, supporting varied workloads and environments, aided by seamless AWS integration and a flexible SaaS model.

Sentiment score

6.9

SolarWinds NPM efficiently scales in large environments, but may require extra polling engines and face complex licensing challenges.

We currently use New Relic for tens of thousands of developers and hundreds of teams within our organization, and we have not encountered any scalability issues.

ArjunSharma

senior software at Norton Lifelock

It is also suitable for cloud native architectures, SaaS, or software as a service, and for high volume data ingestion also.

TusharGoel

Cloud Engineer at TO THE NEW Digital

Regarding New Relic's scalability, it excels at the enterprise level for cloud integrations that can utilize tags.

reviewer2805771

Senior Observability Engineer I at a computer software company with 51-200 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the New Relic report

SolarWinds NPM is scalable and effective in handling large network infrastructures.

Tochukwu Uzomba

Solutions Architect at Boch Systems Company Limited

For more quotes and insights, download the SolarWinds NPM report

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

7.9

New Relic is stable, reliable, and efficient, with swift issue resolution, though minor performance hiccups occur occasionally.

Sentiment score

7.5

SolarWinds NPM is praised for stability, with resource allocation and documentation adherence mitigating most upgrade-related issues.

New Relic lags sometimes.

TusharGoel

Cloud Engineer at TO THE NEW Digital

New Relic is stable based on my experience, as I have not seen any problems with the UI.

Oleksii Barybin

Contingent Worker at a retailer with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the New Relic report

For stability, I rate SolarWinds NPM as a ten, which is the best.

Vijay Samant

Assistant Manager at a outsourcing company with 10,001+ employees

The NPM product is stable, particularly when used for simple network monitoring.

SJ6

Network Security Engineer at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the SolarWinds NPM report

Room For Improvement

Users request plugin enhancements, better data retention, third-party integration, improved interface, and optimized alerting, dashboards, and pricing.

SolarWinds NPM requires enhancements in analytics, scalability, UI, security, integration, customization, monitoring, automation, stability, and cost-effectiveness.

If they could improve the customer support by reducing their SLA within three to five days, if they could remediate everything, that will be so much helpful.

BasilJiji

System engineer at a retailer with 10,001+ employees

Using real-time data, if there are any malicious patterns or something happening, they can identify those.

Hari Rajendiran

Platform Software Engineer 4 at Nexthink

Because of the pricing model, organizations have experienced uncontrolled costs and were not able to afford New Relic.

Aditya Krishnakumar

Senior SRE Engineer at SentinelOne

For more quotes and insights, download the New Relic report

SolarWinds needs to upscale on observability and add full-fledged observability features, including security features.

Tochukwu Uzomba

Solutions Architect at Boch Systems Company Limited

Customers have given feedback about the delayed response times from the technical team.

SJ6

Network Security Engineer at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees

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.

Vivek Jaiswal

Manager IT at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the SolarWinds NPM report

Setup Cost

New Relic's pricing is often seen as high but justified by its comprehensive features, despite confusing models.

SolarWinds NPM offers a flexible licensing model with competitive pricing, though costs may rise for extensive setups.

Considering the features New Relic offers, the pricing or cost setup has not been a blocker for our budget.

ArjunSharma

senior software at Norton Lifelock

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for synthetic monitoring is that minions used to cost a lot.

Palak Bhawsar

DevOps engineer at a tech company with 5,001-10,000 employees

As we talk about pricing, it is not that much cheaper.

HemantKumar7

Senior Site Reliability Engineer at a tech vendor with 501-1,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the New Relic report

The solution is considered expensive.

Wahyu Krisnamukti

Network Administrator at PT Bni Life Insurance

Pricing-wise, SolarWinds NPM is more expensive than PRTG.

Tochukwu Uzomba

Solutions Architect at Boch Systems Company Limited

It is not too pricey and is adequate.

Vivek Jaiswal

Manager IT at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the SolarWinds NPM report

Valuable Features

New Relic offers real-time monitoring, easy dashboards, and alerting, enhancing performance insights with integration and predictive analytics.

SolarWinds NPM provides intuitive network monitoring with advanced customization, scalability, and proactive alerts, suiting diverse business needs.

Using New Relic speeds up troubleshooting and resolution, giving us a clearer picture of where issues are, thus saving time and effort.

Pietro Dell'Erba

Head of API at a marketing services firm with 11-50 employees

New Relic is very useful for teams that don't have much of a dedicated DevOps team but want to have observability for their platform, and it's an easy way to get started.

Aditya Krishnakumar

Senior SRE Engineer at SentinelOne

New Relic has positively impacted our organization by reducing errors, improving performance, and saving time.

ArjunSharma

senior software at Norton Lifelock

For more quotes and insights, download the New Relic report

Whenever any node is down in our network, whether it is a server or any network device, we receive information through email that the device is down.

Vivek Jaiswal

Manager IT at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees

The ability to customize the dashboard in SolarWinds NPM provides key benefits like saving time and money, and streamlining some processes.

Vijay Samant

Assistant Manager at a outsourcing company with 10,001+ employees

The most valuable feature for us is the database performance analyzer, which we use a lot.

Wahyu Krisnamukti

Network Administrator at PT Bni Life Insurance

For more quotes and insights, download the SolarWinds NPM report

Categories and Ranking

New Relic

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

9th

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

9th

Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software

2nd

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

176

Ranking in other categories

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (4th), IT Operations Analytics (3rd), Mobile APM (2nd), AIOps (5th)

SolarWinds NPM

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

2nd

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

4th

Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software

8th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

161

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of New Relic is 1.5%, down from 2.0% 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%
New Relic	1.5%
Other	94.8%

Network Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

BasilJiji

System engineer at a retailer with 10,001+ employees

Real-time alerts have reduced server outage impact and support fast incident response

In the dashboard, if they could show a little more metrics regarding the application and related things, that would be how New Relic could be improved. Currently, there are things showing from the server level and application level, but it can be improved. That is what I felt. Regarding user interface, I do not feel much concern, but for some kind of issues when we are trying to get support from the New Relic team, their SLA seems to be long. They are taking seven to ten working days for resolving some kind of scenario or issue. That is a bit difficult for us. If they could improve the customer support by reducing their SLA within three to five days, if they could remediate everything, that will be so much helpful. When it comes to the customer support part, I felt they need to be a little more improved on that part. The support overall is good, but they can improve. That is the reason I have given it eight out of ten.

Read full review

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

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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

Financial Services Firm

14%

Manufacturing Company

Outsourcing Company

Construction Company

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Construction Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	65
Midsize Enterprise	52
Large Enterprise	79

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	59
Midsize Enterprise	33
Large Enterprise	87

Questions from the Community

Any advice about APM solutions?

There are many factors and we know little about your requirements (size of org, technology stack, management systems, the scope of implementation). Our goal was to consolidate APM and infra monitor...

See all answers

What needs improvement with New Relic Insights?

While I appreciate many aspects of New Relic, I believe the product could improve in some areas—specifically, some advanced capabilities can have a learning curve for new users, and the licensing a...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for New Relic Insights?

Since I'm a performance engineer, I typically use New Relic day-to-day for investigating any performance bottlenecks identified during our performance testing of any application. I look at the resu...

See all answers

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

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

New Relic

July 2026

Download New Relic product report

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds NPM

June 2026

Download SolarWinds NPM product report

Also Known As

New Relic Browser, New Relic Applied Intelligence, New Relic Insights, New Relic Synthetics, New Relic Servers, New Relic APM

Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor, SolarWinds Network Bandwidth Analyzer

Overview

New Relic offers real-time application monitoring and insight into performance bottlenecks. Its customizable dashboards and APM integration provide efficient operational support, while server performance alerts ensure quick issue detection.

New Relic provides comprehensive monitoring of application performance, tracking bottlenecks across databases and front-end components. Users employ it for server and infrastructure monitoring, as well as analyzing key metrics such as CPU and memory usage. The solution's ability to integrate with tools like PagerDuty enhances incident management capabilities. However, users have expressed a need for improvements in query language simplicity, more detailed historical insights, and better mobile app monitoring support.

What are New Relic's most important features?

Real-Time Monitoring: Provides instant visibility into application performance.
Detailed Transaction Tracing: Identifies specific transaction issues quickly.
Error Rate Tracking: Monitors and reports on error occurrences efficiently.
Customizable Dashboards: Tailors dashboard views for specific needs.
APM Integration: Seamlessly integrates with application performance management tools.

What benefits and ROI should be considered?

Operational Efficiency: Quick issue detection reduces downtime.
Improved Debugging: Enhanced error analysis supports rapid problem resolution.
Comprehensive Monitoring: Offers a holistic view of application performance and user behavior.
Incident Management: Integration with incident tools helps streamline responses.
Efficient Alerts: Rapid alert systems ensure timely notifications of issues.

In industries like e-commerce and financial services, New Relic supports application performance monitoring to enhance user experience and system reliability. Organizations leverage its insights for optimizing performance, particularly in server operations and infrastructure management. Its ability to monitor API failures through synthetic monitoring is crucial for maintaining high service levels.

New Relic

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

World Fuel Services, Verizon, FootLocker, McDonald's, Trainline, Mondia Media, Confused, Costa Coffee, Ryanair, Marks & Spencer, William Hill, Delivery Hero, Skyscanner, BASF, DAZN, Veygo, Virtuo, movingimage, talabat, Australia Post, Tokopedia, Seven Network, Virgin Australia, Zomato, BigBasket, Mercado Libre, Lending Club

Microsoft, Federal Express, Hewlett-Packard, and MasterCard

Buyer's Guide

New Relic vs. SolarWinds NPM

June 2026

Free Report: New Relic vs. SolarWinds NPM

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