Nmap vs SolarWinds Network Device Monitor comparison

Nmap and SolarWinds are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Nmap is ranked #9 with an average rating of 8.8, while SolarWinds is ranked #27 with an average rating of 7.9. Nmap holds a 0.7% mindshare in NMS, compared to SolarWinds’s 0.8% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Nmap users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of SolarWinds users who would recommend it.

Nmap

Read 22 Nmap reviews

1,820 Views
1,638 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

SolarWinds Network Device M...

Read 23 SolarWinds Network Device Monitor reviews

1,335 Views
1,295 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Nmap

SolarWinds Network Device M...

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 2024

Nmap and SolarWinds Network Device Monitor compete in network management. Nmap holds an advantage in terms of cost-effectiveness, while SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is favored for its comprehensive feature set.

Features: Nmap offers powerful network discovery, security auditing capabilities, and vulnerability identification. SolarWinds Network Device Monitor provides real-time monitoring, advanced alerting systems, and detailed reporting for proactive network management.

Room for Improvement: Nmap could improve user interface, scalability in large enterprises, and integration with other tools. SolarWinds Network Device Monitor may benefit from simplified deployment, lowering the cost for smaller businesses, and enhancing dashboard customization.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Nmap’s straightforward deployment is advantageous in simple environments. SolarWinds Network Device Monitor's complex deployment is accompanied by strong customer support, aiding in integration and troubleshooting.

Pricing and ROI: Nmap is cost-effective with low setup costs and minimal ongoing expenses. SolarWinds Network Device Monitor requires a higher initial investment but produces significant ROI through enhanced functionality and network oversight.

To learn more, read our detailed Nmap vs. SolarWinds Network Device Monitor Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Nmap vs. SolarWinds Network Device Monitor

December 2025

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Helped 881,176 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:

Categories and Ranking

Nmap

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

9th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

SolarWinds Network Device M...

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

27th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Nmap is 0.7%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is 0.8%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Nmap	0.7%
SolarWinds Network Device Monitor	0.8%
Other	98.5%

Network Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

MoshiurRahman Khan

CEO at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

Improves network monitoring and offers insights into traffic, including VPNs

The real-time reporting feature of Nmap is particularly valuable. It generates detailed reports on the source and destination IP addresses, the protocols used, and the types of traffic. This feature is crucial for law enforcement agencies to monitor and analyze network connectivity effectively. It also has traffic analysis. For example, assessing bandwidth usage and configuring the tool to track specific types of traffic is crucial. Unlike SolarWinds, which requires configuration for this, Nmap has built-in functionality that allows it to check all 4,000 computer ports. It identifies the type of traffic each port is using and can easily generate reports on network communications between computers, whether there are 100 or 1000 in the network.

Read full review

Sorin Gogean

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.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most important function, according to me, is the capability to use some arguments in the scanning. The solution's capability to go figure and do a deep dive, discovering information on specific aspects."

"The best feature of Nmap is that it lets me see useful information about each endpoint in my entire network environment. For example, I can see every single connection of the network as well as each and every port."

"The tool's most valuable feature is its scripts. These scripts prove beneficial when security features may obscure or block connections. Nmap helps identify vulnerabilities across different systems, including web servers and various server types."

"The scanning procedure includes UDP ports which sets it apart from competitors."

"The most valuable feature of the solution for security audits stems from the fact that it serves as a powerful tool with the ability to scan a large number of ports."

"It enables us to delve deeper and identify the services and open ports on the system and visualize this information on a dashboard automatically."

"Nmap has a powerful command line tool and a set of diagnostic features."

"Nmap is easy to use. It's a command-line interface, and the output is quite good."

More Nmap pros

"In terms of general network monitoring features, I find SolarWinds Network Device Monitor very flexible and comfortable to use. The software itself is extremely useful when it comes to monitoring how our data moves between different networks and environments."

"We are doing more with SolarWinds Network Device Monitor than we were doing in the past with WhatsApp Gold; when we moved to SolarWinds Network Device Monitor, the whole observability part started to grow."

"The alerting functionality in SolarWinds Network Device Monitor helps us stay informed during off-hours by sending alerts if our main links or devices are impacted, allowing us to quickly address any issues."

"SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is a straightforward product with valuable functionality."

"The alerts we are getting when we start losing connection access have been helpful."

"You can create an attractive dashboard and create a hierarchy."

"Link monitoring is the most valuable feature of this solution."

"This product proactively tells us about issues before the users notice."

More SolarWinds Network Device Monitor pros

Cons

"The solution should increase the number of features under a free license."

"The solution is not that easy for a beginner to learn."

"There could be a specific option to check non-pingable endpoints for the product."

"The challenge often lies in finding suitable courses and professional resources."

"They should deliver Playtech's username and password."

"Nmap needs to improve its scanning speed."

"It takes a bit of time to get familiar with the solution and its options."

"The tool's license limits the number of scans it can perform. Improving the license model could benefit customers by allowing more scans for compliance and other purposes."

More Nmap cons

"The solution should have AI-powered issue-resolving capabilities"

"In terms of price, it could be less expensive."

"SolarWinds Network Device Monitor could improve by being more user-friendly. The network has so many features which make it difficult to find how to configure how to use it. It is not simple to customize."

"SolarWinds Network Device Monitor could improve the features. We don't have the complete model for the database, and the monitoring for the database is up and down. We expect that we could monitor the blocking items on the database but we don't have that feature."

"The way they are presenting the map of our devices needs to be improved."

"The reporting feature needs improvement because we are unable to configure reports that were included during initial implementation."

"The solution lacks in performance monitoring."

"SolarWinds Network Device Monitor lacks the granularity of other monitoring tools like LiveNX."

More SolarWinds Network Device Monitor cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I am using the standard free version of Nmap."

"The solution is open source so it is free."

"I am using the free version of Nmap."

"Nmap is an open-source product. You don't need a license to install it."

"It's an open-source product, and I haven't seen any premiums. Options are available for those who purchase, but for my use case, everything I need is available in the community and forums."

"Nmap is an open-source and free product."

"Nmap is open source software, which suits us well because we are a manufacturing company and not an IT company, for example. If we were an IT company, we would probably need to pay for extra support or instead go for another software solution. But as it is, we don't have any need for high-end troubleshooting tools."

"The product's pricing is fine. The licensing options for Nmap include perpetual licenses and volume-based licenses. For perpetual licenses, once you purchase it, there's no need to invest in renewals. And for volume-based licenses, enterprise companies can use it multiple times based on the number of users or devices they need to scan. It's a pay-as-you-go model, similar to how you pay for what you use."

More Nmap pricing and cost advice

"The enterprise license is good for the SolarWinds Network Device Monitor. However, it is expensive, they should reduce their price."

"I find the cost of SolarWinds Network Device Monitor reasonable for our company. Though, I'm not aware of the exact licensing cost."

"The price of the SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is good."

"Thankfully, it doesn't take a lot of manpower to install and deploy."

"Well, we had a perpetual license and the renewal was $20 to $25,000."

"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."

"SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is not an expensive solution."

"The product is expensive."

More SolarWinds Network Device Monitor pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

14%

Government

University

Retailer

Manufacturing Company

15%

Computer Software Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	11

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	14

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Nmap?

Nmap is mostly helpful during compliance checks. We run the scanner to see how many devices are on our network and find vulnerabilities in those that aren't compliant. We also use it monthly to sca...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Nmap?

I am using the free version of Nmap.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Nmap?

Nmap is used for network scanning to map the network, identify devices, and assess their status. It helps determine open ports and services running on a particular endpoint or server within an ente...

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What do you like most about SolarWinds Network Device Monitor?

I rate the product's initial setup process a nine on a scale of one to ten, where one means it is a difficult phase and ten is an easy process.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SolarWinds Network Device Monitor?

I am not a positive person regarding SolarWinds Network Device Monitor.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SolarWinds Network Device Monitor?

See all answers

Comparisons

LiveNX vs Nmap

Compared 9% of the time

Zabbix vs Nmap

Compared 9% of the time

SolarWinds NPM vs Nmap

Compared 8% of the time

PRTG Network Monitor vs Nmap

Compared 8% of the time

Domotz Pro vs Nmap

Compared 8% of the time

More Nmap Competitors

ScienceLogic vs SolarWinds Network Device Monitor

Compared 16% of the time

OpenNMS vs SolarWinds Network Device Monitor

Compared 11% of the time

Domotz Pro vs SolarWinds Network Device Monitor

Compared 11% of the time

IBM SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM) vs SolarWinds Network Device Monitor

Compared 9% of the time

ThousandEyes vs SolarWinds Network Device Monitor

Compared 8% of the time

More SolarWinds Network Device Monitor Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Nmap

January 2026

Download Nmap product report

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds Network Device Monitor

January 2026

SolarWinds Network Device Monitor report

Download SolarWinds Network Device Monitor product report

Also Known As

No data available

Network Device Monitor

Overview

Nmap ("Network Mapper") is a free and open source (license) utility for network discovery and security auditing. Many systems and network administrators also find it useful for tasks such as network inventory, managing service upgrade schedules, and monitoring host or service uptime. Nmap uses raw IP packets in novel ways to determine what hosts are available on the network, what services (application name and version) those hosts are offering, what operating systems (and OS versions) they are running, what type of packet filters/firewalls are in use, and dozens of other characteristics. It was designed to rapidly scan large networks, but works fine against single hosts. Nmap runs on all major computer operating systems, and official binary packages are available for Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X. In addition to the classic command-line Nmap executable, the Nmap suite includes an advanced GUI and results viewer (Zenmap), a flexible data transfer, redirection, and debugging tool (Ncat), a utility for comparing scan results (Ndiff), and a packet generation and response analysis tool (Nping).

Nmap

Network Device Monitor is a free tool that makes it easy to monitor the real-time performance and health of a single device on your network with a desktop dashboard that alerts you when your device is in trouble.

SolarWinds

Sample Customers

Lockheed Martin, Eastern Bank Boston, Perspecta, Harris Corporation, Discovery Communication

Air Rarotonga

Buyer's Guide

Nmap vs. SolarWinds Network Device Monitor

December 2025

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