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OpenText Diagnostics vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 24, 2024

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

OpenText Diagnostics
Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability
59th
Average Rating
7.8
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SolarWinds Server and Appli...
Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability
17th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
4.5
Number of Reviews
44
Ranking in other categories
Server Monitoring (8th), Active Directory Management (8th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category, the mindshare of OpenText Diagnostics is 0.6%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is 1.2%, down from 1.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor1.2%
OpenText Diagnostics0.6%
Other98.2%
Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability
 

Featured Reviews

RS
Performance and Fault-tolerance Architect with 1,001-5,000 employees
Very good for transaction level monitoring, but expensive and HP needs better support and training
HP Diagnostics is a very good monitoring tool especially for transaction level monitoring -- it shows hot spots which can be drilled down to DB level, table, query, SP's, record and field level and also at Object level, Classes level,method or Augment levels instead of pinpointing bottlenecks at layer level it goes deep inside for information. It has very good tracing capabilities despite being an agent based tool compared to other agent less monitoring tools. Overall a very good tool for monitoring application diagnostics for quick and easy resolution with help of thread information. Drills down from slow, end-user transactions to the bottle necked component, method, or SQL statement, helping to solve memory, exception, and other common problems Key features and benefits • Automatically detects all components touched by a business process and traces them with no user intervention • Provides complete application visibility across the application lifecycle, enabling higher application quality when applications go live • Reduces mean time to resolution (MTTR) in your J2EE, .NET, ERP, or CRM (SAP, Oracle®, PeopleSoft) environment • Integrates fully with HP Business Availability Center software, HP LoadRunner, and HP Performance Center.
NikhilKalwint - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"For banking and telecom solutions, it's been quite useful."
"The most valuable feature of Micro Focus Diagnostics is the information reported from an application that has timed out. For example, when you're Googling, or you're booking a ticket for Burj Khalifa here, the longest tower in the world, there are situations where the system can time out. There are times when you might not receive a response on the payment gateway or you are not able to find the reservation. The customer only receives the information that the session has timed out."
"The diagnostics and configuration are the solution's most valuable aspects."
"The information from the diagnostics is detailed."
"For banking and telecom solutions, it's been quite useful."
"The diagnostics and configuration are the solution's most valuable aspects."
"HP Diagnostics is a very good monitoring tool especially for transaction level monitoring -- it shows hot spots which can be drilled down to DB level, table, query, SP's, record and field level and also at Object level, Classes level, method or Augment levels instead of pinpointing bottlenecks at layer level it goes deep inside for information."
"I am impressed with the tool's AppStack feature which mainly helps us in the identification process. This feature can give an overview of the fault and help us identify the issues for performance degradation. Instead of looking at multiple places, we can look at a single place to identify the issues."
"Extremely user friendly: Any IT professional can learn how to admin NPM in a short time."
"SolarWinds is a very stable platform compared to others on the market."
"Manage Groups: The capability to group appropriate devices gives better visibility of sites, categories, or critical regions. The same can be used to represent a dashboard for higher management."
"The most valuable feature of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is its powerful monitoring capabilities."
"SolarWinds is one of the best products on the market and if they eventually support the IBM Mainframe then it will be perfect."
"The component and cable monitoring are good. SolarWinds is more intuitive and user-friendly than AppDynamics. The AppDynamics console is more complex because it's a more feature-rich solution, so it's not easy for somebody to pick it up."
"There are many valuable features, including the network configuration manager, and the network performance manager."
 

Cons

"The interface could be more user friendly."
"Price is little expensive for number of license points and HP Diagnostics trainers are not available in market and no proper support from HP for any diagnotics level queries or issues."
"The interface could be more user friendly."
"The GUI and metrics of Micro Focus Diagnostics can be improved. The metrics the solution gathers can be limited and could be enhanced by giving more details."
"The GUI and metrics of Micro Focus Diagnostics can be improved."
"The interface is very old, and not very user-friendly. Most of our clients don't like the UI."
"The interface is very old, and not very user-friendly."
"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."
"SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is not stable. We have to maintain the platform and it goes down frequently."
"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."
"SAM AppInsight for SQL: The ability to ignore fragmentation of specific indexes."
"SAM's software-defined network monitoring capability is also low and could be improved."
"I would like to see support for non-Windows or non-Microsoft domains, especially Apache and other non-Windows servers."
"SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor could improve by having a cloud version. They have an observability platform but it still needs to be maintained by us."
"The stability, flexibility, and ease of use could be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"Nagios XI, WhatsUpGold, Uptime Software, PRTG, Manage Engine, and SpiceWorks are the other tools that have lower pricing and licensing costs. However, they can't compete with SolarWinds when it comes to the features and functionality that SolarWinds can provide."
"The tool is available for my company at a good price point."
"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."
"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 product is expensive."
"The solution is overpriced in terms of application management."
"We pay around $ 2,000 to $ 5,000 yearly for the solution."
"Its licensing is on a yearly basis. It is just the standard price, but it can vary depending on the current rate of the dollar."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
14%
Performing Arts
11%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Educational Organization
13%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
7%
Healthcare Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business17
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise21
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
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...
 

Also Known As

Micro Focus Diagnostics, MF Diagnostics
SolarWinds SAM
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

BSkyB, Alior Bank
Andr. L. Riis AS, NetSuite
Find out what your peers are saying about OpenText Diagnostics vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
894,738 professionals have used our research since 2012.