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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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.

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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.

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

"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 solution detects the operating systems, which makes testing the software much easier before making the payload."

"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 scan our network and identify devices that aren't connected properly. This helps us detect any issues related to the operating systems of these devices."

"The initial setup was simple."

"It is a very user-friendly product."

"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."

"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

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

"The deployment process is quick."

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

"The most valuable feature of SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is monitoring."

"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 is flexible and works with multiple vendor devices."

"I like the mapping that you could do and the dashboards were very pretty."

"The solution and its interface are elaborate and fully integrate all monitored items for easy analysis and troubleshooting."

More SolarWinds Network Device Monitor pros

Cons

"Since I started using Nmap, it has been completely based on the command prompt and I think it would help other users if they implemented a decent GUI as well."

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

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

"The price is high and could be cheaper."

"There are concerns with the stability of the product, making it an area where improvements are required."

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

"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."

"Nmap needs to improve its scanning speed."

More Nmap cons

"The security could always be improved."

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

"It should provide user-friendly page"

"The solution is not user-friendly."

"The main disadvantage of SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is the licensing cost, which is expensive."

"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."

"When an organization's network grows, the complexity of the dashboard becomes an area of concern where improvements are required."

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

More SolarWinds Network Device Monitor cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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 solution is open source so it is free."

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

"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 product. You don't need a license to install it."

"I am using the free version of Nmap."

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

"The solution is free of cost."

More Nmap pricing and cost advice

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

"When compared with other solutions SolarWinds is more expensive."

"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."

"The product is expensive."

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

"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."

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

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...

See all answers

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

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Compared 8% of the time

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Compared 8% of the time

Domotz Pro vs Nmap

Compared 8% of the time

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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

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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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