OmniPeek vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor comparison

OmniPeek vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

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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

OmniPeek

Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

37th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Monitoring Software (48th)

SolarWinds Server and Appli...

Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

18th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

4.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Server Monitoring (6th), Active Directory Management (8th)

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category, the mindshare of OmniPeek is 0.6%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is 1.1%, down from 1.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor	1.1%
OmniPeek	0.6%
Other	98.3%

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

Featured Reviews

AjayKumar19

Senior Software Engineer at Microchip Technology Inc.

Helps analyze network packets effectively and saves time for testers

I have utilized the packet capturing capabilities in OmniPeek. Using the Alpha sniffer and hardware-supported network devices, we can perform sniffer capturing for Wi-Fi wireless packets and router packets. The interface allows us to capture packets and observe connection establishment, data transfer, and the downloading and uploading of packets, such as TCP and UDP packets. The software works for both wireless and wired connections, including Ethernet. As a wireless test engineer in the wireless industry, the features of OmniPeek help me monitor network activity. While there are alternatives such as Wireshark, OmniPeek supports Windows and is particularly helpful for testers, especially for device certification validation. This software enables packet analysis to verify protocol compliance and identify issues. For developers, packet captures from OmniPeek assist in understanding and debugging issues.

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NikhilKalwint

Technical Specialist at ServiceIO

Monitoring over a thousand systems has improved decision making and operational visibility

From an advantage perspective, SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is comparatively cheaper from a commercial point of view. It is easy to install and configure, very user-friendly, and quick to get up and running, allowing you to see the early value adds in your organization. It is compatible with most technologies for monitoring with very few chances of incompatibility. Configuration also allows us to monitor all the technical parameters we are looking for, making it a very good experience for us. The alerting feature in SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is a main advantage, as it alerts based on threshold breaches and can raise tickets to the ticketing system, send SMS, and email notifications, allowing engineers to work on those tickets to resolve issues and avoid further impact. The visibility into server health is a beneficial feature that I am utilizing. We widely use various application performance metrics in SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor such as database monitoring and server monitoring, which are quite good enough for any monitoring solution. We utilize the customizable dashboards in SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor.

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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 valuable feature is OmniPeek is user-friendly."

"OmniPeek shows the entire packet flow and structure, particularly in security-related scenarios, whereas Wireshark sometimes fails to capture all packets."

"The most valuable feature of OmniPeek is the ability to assign custom color codes to the different packets easily."

"This is a good product; I would recommend and encourage people to use it because it has helped me a lot in the field."

"The most valuable features are the voice bot, which checks the quality of service for voice, and the expert view that gives me insight on what and where to troubleshoot."

"OmniPeek is a good product, but you should know its purpose for your organization."

"OmniPeek's ability to convert application visibility into flow helps me quickly understand application performance over LAN, WAN, or wireless."

"The most valuable feature of OmniPeek was the ability it gave us to see the connection procedure."

More OmniPeek pros

"If you are looking for a single pane of glass to monitor Windows products then SolarWinds is your product."

"Once we got our IT inventory organized and aligned with the business, we were able to leverage our Orion Platform to provide more than just a reactive-based monitoring service to the business."

"SAM has altered the way monitoring is being looked at - from just being able to monitor CPU, Mem, Disk and network utilization levels we have moved to the next levels of finding out process related issues, service related issues and specific application related issues to identify root cause of performance issues."

"One of the most valuable features are the reports. They're pretty good. Also, the ease of installation and customization for the client is another feature that we value. SolarWinds has a lot of features but these are the ones I like the most. We also like that the KPIs have the ability to be preset."

"I have found the visibility into server health with SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor very beneficial, which we use on a daily basis."

"We manage SolarWinds ourselves without outsourcing its services."

"Hardware health: It allows for proactive monitoring of the hardware health and is a game changer."

"Extremely user friendly: Any IT professional can learn how to admin NPM in a short time."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor pros

Cons

"Making it more clear on how to configure the filters, or really automating them, would be an improvement."

"Centralized management of configurations needs improvement."

"I don't see a clear roadmap in the future for improving this software."

"OmniPeek doesn't support Linux or Unix installations, which prompted the shift to Wireshark."

"The solution's automation has room for improvement."

"I am not using OmniPeek for automation, we only do manual testing. Automation testing is tedious to do. The automation should be more user-friendly. I have exposed some APIs but the usage is not user-friendly."

"I would like to see the saving feature improved. We have had issues if you do not save your progress then you have to start from the beginning."

"OmniPeek needs to improve its performance level."

More OmniPeek cons

"The templates could use improvement. Currently, they are quite complex. They should have drag-and-drop functionality instead. It would make it easier to use."

"Application-based monitoring, such as monitoring within servers like Apache and IIS, has room for improvement."

"The technical support is nothing special."

"This product has no real downside unless they fail to continue development of its capabilities."

"I believe that SolarWinds should spend more effort in reporting."

"The product does not explain why a problem occurred."

"SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor could improve the server monitoring and the web application monitoring features are not good. Microsoft SCOM has better server monitoring."

"I had some stability issues. I lost my environment, but with the help of SolarWinds support, I was able to get back to a stable platform."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing for this solution could be improved, as it is a very expensive product."

"We have only purchased the add-on once and have not paid for any subsequent versions as it was too costly for us."

"There are different types of licenses available."

"We are on an annual license to use the solution. The price of the solution is expensive. The price is based on a bunch of factors, such as the number of engines and elements."

"The licenses start from USD 3000.00 and go up to USD 20,000.00 for the year. It's a perpetual license. Nothing is free in SolarWinds, anything that you need is an additional cost."

"Understanding the counts of objects to monitor will determine the licensing need. In terms of pricing, it’s not cheap but it’s not expensive as larger vendors whose products don’t have all the features or integrations."

"I have always said SolarWinds is very “proud” of their products, meaning they are expensive. I cannot afford to purchase all the licenses I need for all the SolarWinds products."

"The price is too high."

"I would advise potential buyers to wait until the end of the quarter, end of year, or other time to place orders. There are actually great deals to be had at those times if your budget cycle can match up."

"The product is expensive."

"SAM is not per server so the pricing model can be deceiving. If you have an enterprise environment, you will quickly exceed your licensing quickly. You should know this before going in."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability solutions are best for your needs.

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902,988 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Comms Service Provider

12%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Construction Company

Healthcare Company

Educational Organization

13%

University

Financial Services Firm

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	7

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	17
Midsize Enterprise	8
Large Enterprise	21

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with OmniPeek?

There isn't anything specific that needs improvement in OmniPeek, as it performs better than Wireshark for our requirements. However, OmniPeek could benefit from supporting different platforms. Pla...

What is your primary use case for OmniPeek?

I have been working with the OmniPeek product for almost two years at the start of my career, primarily using it for wireless 802.11 Wi-Fi packets, sniffer, and analysis. My experience with OmniPee...

What advice do you have for others considering OmniPeek?

I didn't explore much about OmniPeek beyond its basic features. OmniPeek is user-friendly and easy to start working with, especially on the Windows platform. For beginners, it is very easy to handl...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor?

The initial cost is quite high, but the renewal cost is reasonable.

What needs improvement with SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor?

There is definitely room for improvement besides simplifying its setup. As a non-technical person, I believe the dashboards could be improved. Everything we use appears on video walls, and we need ...

What is your primary use case for SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor?

I am doing research as we currently have both solutions, and I am looking to see if we need both or can manage with one. Currently, the outcome indicates that we need both. The focus point is diffe...

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Product Reports

OmniPeek

Download OmniPeek product report

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Download SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor product report

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor report

Also Known As

Savvius OmniPeek

SolarWinds SAM

Overview

OmniPeek enables effective network monitoring by offering packet capturing capabilities for Wi-Fi and routers, providing insights crucial for maintaining network performance and troubleshooting issues.

OmniPeek serves as a pivotal tool for wireless packet analysis, assisting teams with capturing and analyzing Wi-Fi 802.11 packets across standards. It aids in testing WLAN protocols and provides application performance and security analytics, supporting network issue monitoring, protocol analysis, and troubleshooting both on-premises and cloud applications. Real-time analytics integration with LiveNX and expert view functionalities make it a preferred choice for user-friendly network operation, although improvements in platform support, automation, and guidance are sought by users.

What are OmniPeek's key features?

Packet Capturing: Efficiently captures Wi-Fi and router packets for robust network analysis.
Channel-Based Sniffing: Monitors DFS and non-DFS transitions, vital for network stability.
Real-Time Analytics: Integrates with LiveNX for live data insights.
Custom Color Coding: Enhances packet visibility for easier analysis.
Expert View: Offers in-depth troubleshooting capabilities.

What benefits should users consider?

Ease of Use: Simple interface enhances usability and efficiency.
Protocol Compliance: Verifies protocols for reliable network operations.
Application Performance Monitoring: Ensures optimal application functionality.
Voice Quality Checks: Maintains high communication standards.

OmniPeek is implemented across sectors that require precise wireless packet analysis. It's crucial for testing WLAN protocols, validating IP blocks, and ensuring network performance during enterprise-level authentications and internet egress, offering organizations user-friendly solutions for comprehensive WLAN monitoring.

BlueCat

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor provides comprehensive server, application, and infrastructure monitoring, focusing on integration, application dependency, and network insights through user-friendly interfaces and detailed dashboards.

With AppStack and AppInsight support, SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor offers service management, detailed resource dashboards, and integration capabilities. It monitors hardware metrics and performance parameters, facilitating database and network insights for cloud and virtual environments. Robust alerting, predictive analytics, and capacity planning ensure efficient management of server health and application performance.

What are the key features?

Integration: Seamlessly connects with existing tools.
AppStack: Provides a holistic view of applications.
AppInsight: Supports widely-used applications.
SNMP Polling: Efficient network data collection.
Diagnostics: Real-time troubleshooting.
Customizable Dashboards: Tailored monitoring views.

What benefits should users expect?

Comprehensive Monitoring: Extends from servers to databases.
Transparent Control: Enhances visibility into performance metrics.
User-Friendly: Simplifies proactive monitoring with alerts.
Predictive Features: Supports capacity and trend planning.

Industries implement SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor to enhance server utilization reporting, network configuration, and AV equipment performance tracking. They benefit from monitoring critical services across diverse deployment models, improving management efficiency and decision-making.

SolarWinds

Sample Customers

Apcon, Aruba Networks, Avaya Inc., Cisco Systems, Ekahau, Gigamon Systems, HP, IBM, IXIA, Meru Networks, Napatech, NextComputing, Procera Networks, Qualcomm Atheros, Ralink Technology Corporation, Telchemy

Andr. L. Riis AS, NetSuite

OmniPeek vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor