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Oracle Enterprise Manager vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 6, 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

Oracle Enterprise Manager
Ranking in Server Monitoring
7th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
129
Ranking in other categories
Database Development and Management (3rd)
SolarWinds Server and Appli...
Ranking in Server Monitoring
8th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
4.5
Number of Reviews
44
Ranking in other categories
Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (22nd), Active Directory Management (9th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Server Monitoring category, the mindshare of Oracle Enterprise Manager is 2.2%, down from 2.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is 3.3%, up from 2.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Server Monitoring Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Oracle Enterprise Manager2.2%
SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor3.3%
Other94.5%
Server Monitoring
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer996648 - PeerSpot reviewer
Founder and President at a training & coaching company with 1-10 employees
Extensive functionality impresses despite occasional setup complexity
The functions and features of Oracle Enterprise Manager that I have found most valuable are its evolution from being problematic in 10g and 11g versions to becoming better and more stable. Now it has become a significantly improved product. We have integrated identity management, and we are using it for normal database examination, tuning, and performance. We are working with STATSPACK and similar tools that are integrated in Oracle Enterprise Manager. We are currently working with version 13.5, having upgraded from 13.4 last year. Automation is useful for improving operational efficiency, and there are many more opportunities to automate outside the databases. Not many things need to be automated inside the databases. We have jobs running, imports, exports, and similar tasks. To automate these processes, we utilize the Scheduler from Oracle, which is managed in the databases by the vendor. This is not part of our DBA functions in Oracle Enterprise Manager.
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

"Due to the infrastructure's size, the introduction they offer is very, very useful. It helps with an overall understanding of the product."
"The best features are the usability and the interface."
"The first reason we chose Oracle was the feature set; it was really comprehensive."
"In my opinion, without Enterprise Manager no DBA can do their job."
"With ASH Analytics, ADDM, Real-Time SQL Monitoring, SQL Tuning Advisor, we can measure SLAs, detect performance hotspots, perform deep diagnostics into specific tiers, tune applications, and remediate."
"The solution's most valuable aspect is the fact that it is embedded with the Oracle database and Oracle's engineering system, its extra data, and analytics."
"As a troubleshooter, I was able to quickly resolve memory issues."
"The most valuable features of Oracle Enterprise Manager are the data guide and online monitoring."
"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."
"The solution can be deployed quickly."
"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 is application monitoring."
"From a customers point of view, they get a good return on investment because they are not paying a lot of money when you compare to what they used to pay for IBM and other large vendors."
"There are many valuable features, including the network configuration manager, and the network performance manager."
"The recommendations are a life saver."
"I'd rate technical support at eight out of ten. They are helpful and fast."
 

Cons

"The fact that Oracle Enterprise Manager is an expensive solution is a matter of concern and needs to be considered for improvement."
"They should improve the hover text context. This would provide assistance whenever a task is attempted by a DBA."
"Every release, they seem to move the navigation and you have to retrain your entire DBA staff."
"Easier to read. For example, on the home page of information, under Adm, that should be a little bit easier to read."
"In my opinion, rather than a younger DBA, think the user interface could be improved."
"The tool is expensive."
"The SQLrun sometimes does not work, and it crashes most of the time."
"Middleware (weblogic) has some bugs and crashes occur which should be fixed to make OEM more productive."
"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."
"It lacks a user experience for measuring things like the end-to-end time for which a user waits for a specific response in the system."
"One area that could benefit from improvement is its performance"
"The technical support team's response time could be improved."
"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 could improve by having a cloud version. They have an observability platform but it still needs to be maintained by us."
"There is one feature that is a report writer. And they are currently trying to take it out from being a stand-alone application and integrating to the web. This doesn't give us the flexibility and it doesn't expand what we can get when it comes to reporting. So, putting it on the web is going to make it difficult to get some information. Leaving it where it is now will help us a lot."
"Mapping interactions between systems."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is highly-priced."
"The license is good but can be improved."
"Evaluate your requirements carefully. Elaborate DR and HA setup of OEM can become expensive."
"Based upon 3 days of implementation by a single person, plus licensing costs would be approximately $60,000, including the virtualized hosts."
"It's expensive."
"It is part of Real Application Testing, so no new investment is necessary for clients who already are already using RAT."
"As with all Oracle products, care should be taken when using any features to ensure that they do not activate licensed features that have not been paid for."
"Oracle Enterprise Manager is a free tool from Oracle."
"When compared to other licensed models in the market, it stands out as one of the more cost-effective options."
"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."
"The product is expensive."
"Price can always be lower. It is neither on the expensive side nor on the cheap side. We have worked with them for a lot of years, so we get a discount due to the size of the installation."
"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."
"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 tool is available for my company at a good price point."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Marketing Services Firm
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Performing Arts
6%
Educational Organization
12%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Government
8%
Healthcare Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business37
Midsize Enterprise25
Large Enterprise81
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business17
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise21
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Oracle Enterprise Manager?
What I like most about Oracle Enterprise Manager are its features, particularly the active session history. It provides insights into SQL, and I use it regularly to identify potential issues.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Oracle Enterprise Manager?
I would rate the pricing of Oracle Enterprise Manager as very expensive, definitely deserving a 10 out of 10.
What needs improvement with Oracle Enterprise Manager?
The weaknesses I would like to address in Oracle Enterprise Manager involve the dealing of Grid Infrastructure. Oracle Enterprise Manager's handling of Grid Infrastructure needs some improvement. I...
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 ...
 

Also Known As

No data available
SolarWinds SAM
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

7-Eleven, Halliburton, Cisco, Garmin, Nationwide, Korea Telecom, Allied Irish Bank
Andr. L. Riis AS, NetSuite
Find out what your peers are saying about Oracle Enterprise Manager vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
885,286 professionals have used our research since 2012.