Plixer Scrutinizer vs SolarWinds NPM comparison

Plixer and SolarWinds are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Plixer is ranked #72, while SolarWinds is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.3. Plixer holds a 0.5% mindshare in NMS, compared to SolarWinds’s 3.7% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of Plixer users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of SolarWinds users who would recommend it.

Plixer Scrutinizer

Read 15 Plixer Scrutinizer reviews

3,344 Views
2,508 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

SolarWinds NPM

Read 161 SolarWinds NPM reviews

23,097 Views
18,016 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Plixer Scrutinizer

SolarWinds NPM

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 2024

SolarWinds NPM and Plixer Scrutinizer compete in the network management software market. SolarWinds NPM appears to have an advantage in vendor support and deployment options, while Plixer Scrutinizer stands out in traffic analysis.

Features: SolarWinds NPM offers quick deployment, extensive monitoring capabilities, and customizable alerts supporting multiple vendors. Its modular pricing allows purchasing only the needed features. Plixer Scrutinizer focuses on data visibility with advanced network traffic analysis and reporting, detailed flow analysis, and efficient deployment.

Room for Improvement: SolarWinds NPM can improve its frequent updates, alerting, topology mapping, and flexibility in creating custom metrics, requiring additional modules for full functionality. Plixer Scrutinizer needs enhancement in its user interface, update processes, data visualization, scalability, and ease of handling high traffic volumes.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SolarWinds NPM provides flexible deployment on-premises, hybrid, and public cloud environments. Its customer service is generally well-rated, though aggressive sales tactics and mixed technical support reviews are noted. Plixer Scrutinizer is primarily on-premises and receives positive feedback for responsive customer service, although non-critical support response time could improve.

Pricing and ROI: SolarWinds NPM's pricing model is often perceived as complex and expensive, with additional module costs. However, it is recognized for its ROI in efficiency and proactive alerting. Plixer Scrutinizer's pricing based on device count is competitive for traffic-heavy environments, offering scalable options and good ROI in detailed traffic analysis.

To learn more, read our detailed Plixer Scrutinizer vs. SolarWinds NPM Report (Updated: August 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Plixer Scrutinizer vs. SolarWinds NPM

August 2026

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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

Plixer Scrutinizer

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

72nd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (13th)

SolarWinds NPM

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

2nd

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

161

Ranking in other categories

IT Infrastructure Monitoring (6th), Cloud Monitoring Software (7th)

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Plixer Scrutinizer is 0.5%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds NPM is 3.7%, down from 4.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
SolarWinds NPM	3.7%
Plixer Scrutinizer	0.5%
Other	95.8%

Network Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

Ira Mulyanti

Sales Director at ARGA SOLUSI

An affordable product with great integration capabilities

Plixer Core Platform is a valuable feature and a good software. Plixer Scrutinizer uses NetFlow analysis to monitor whatever is there in a network. Price-wise, Plixer Scrutinizer is not an expensive product. Basically, Plixer Scrutinizer is an affordable product. Plixer Scrutinizer is a tool that allows for customization, especially in scenarios where customers need new product features. Plixer Scrutinizer is a tool that can integrate with any other brand or product in the market, so it is not an area of concern.

Read full review

Vivek Jaiswal

Manager IT at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Central monitoring has improved outage alerts and now needs smarter detection and modern dashboards

Regarding the automated network topology and mapping feature in SolarWinds NPM, I am not satisfied with it. For static monitoring, it is acceptable. However, if it is possible, I would need a feature in SolarWinds in the future for some kind of malfunctioning detection, such as malware attacks or that type of environment. We did not have any facility to detect that in SolarWinds. I think it would be better to incorporate those types of features. Regarding customization options in SolarWinds, the ability to customize the dashboard has room for improvement. The dashboard is quite old, and we need some improvement in it. Nowadays, we have multiple tools with AI-based monitoring and web-based dashboards. SolarWinds also has a web-based dashboard, but I think there is scope for improvement in the UI. There may be other areas I would like to improve in SolarWinds NPM.

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

"We see things that we did not see before; it's opened up peoples' eyes among our network folks and overall it has had a good, positive impact."

"If you have a large network then this product is totally invaluable."

"We didn't experience any bugs."

"There are other tools out there that will do what Scrutinizer does. But what I have found with Scrutinizer is that it does it very quickly. I've taken 25 million individual data fragments from the different sensors, and it has graphed that and mapped it and presented a picture within 30 seconds. It has a very efficient database algorithm that I am really impressed with."

"If you really want to know what's happening on your network, this is one of the best tools that you can use."

"Scrutinizer does exactly what we need it to do; we're very happy with it, we're not looking to change in the short-term or long-term, and it's a product that runs without any issues and gives the information that we need."

"The reporting and generating troubleshooting reports would be the best feature; our host-to-host conversation reporting."

"The most valuable features of Plixer Scrutinizer are its ease of use, accessibility, and UI."

More Plixer Scrutinizer pros

"If your infrastructure is big, and requires a good kind of reporting tool, then SolarWinds fulfills all these requirements."

"The stability is fantastic."

"There are a lot of options for customization of the dashboard, alerts, and reports."

"I have been able to catch network/server issues before they became critical."

"SolarWinds has greatly helped us, especially in tracing when the SoundCloud Software goes down without any apparent reason."

"SolarWinds' network and server application monitoring features are strong."

"Its GUI is very user-friendly."

"We found that it was easy to operate, and it was simple if anyone has entry-level working experience or even if someone is not experienced."

More SolarWinds NPM pros

Cons

"There is room for improvement around the data that they have on the website about solutions."

"Data retention needs improvement. Data retention is a thing where we are looking for a better way to collect flow data for a longer time to do forensic research on security incidents. By default, data retention is quite low. We need detailed data in safe storage for a longer time, e.g., for a couple of months. An improvement would be a way to export data into a secure long-term storage."

"We were trying to set up some configuration, but it just wasn't quite working properly; we couldn't get it set up properly."

"There is room for improvement around the data that they have on the website about solutions... they should have more templated solutions on their website. Going out and identifying how to do RTP performance with a Cisco router, or how to do application response times in an Arrista data center deployment was where most of the work was... They should spend some more time documenting solutions and putting together white papers."

"From what I understand it is that the solution is not very scalable in a high volume traffic environment with a large number of flows."

"In Plixer Scrutinizer, scalability is an area with minor concerns where improvements are required."

"There was a price lift because previously the product was privately owned, and now there is some external capital in the organization, so pricing could be lower, though, for Plixer Scrutinizer, there is almost no competition at this price point."

"The reporting structure, the front-end GUI, also needs some work. It needs some getting used to. It works fairly well, but it's a technical tool rather than a user tool. You have to understand the structure of the databases before you can really use it."

More Plixer Scrutinizer cons

"The reporting is good, but I want it to be a little easier when creating custom reports. The reports are all on the website now, but it takes some know how to get some to display the way you would like."

"Scalability is a bit tricky because it requires more gateways in order to get the performance you may need. It also requires a lot of licensing."

"Back in the early days and new major releases, of course, there were some hiccups and gotchas."

"We decided that we were no longer going to trust that their products have not been capitalized."

"New, web-based interface lacks some features of traditional GUI."

"It would be nice if SolarWinds added some technical protocols like Modbus. The market needs a simple solution for monitoring a technical device."

"Some features are missing (which will be in any product out there) but there is a community that either provides workarounds or the ability to request the improvement."

"However, the sales team at SolarWinds is extremely aggressive and I would give it probably a 1/10."

More SolarWinds NPM cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There are no extra costs. It's about $8,000 a year. The bang for the buck (cost) is definitely a plus."

"We pay our one-off cost for the licenses, per device, in blocks of 50. And then we pay an annual maintenance fee of about $15,000 Australian, which is, at this point in time, about $9,000 US, for those 250 devices. The upfront costs for the 250-license use, were about $50,000 Australian, which is about $32,000 US."

"The license is per device. We have 50 devices."

"We just renewed. The pricing is 5,000 euro per year. This is the final price. All tax (20 percent) is included."

"Our entire solution, amortized over five years, is in the vicinity of $40,000 to $50,000 a year."

"Compared to some of the other tools we have, it's incredibly reasonably priced."

"It's about €10,000 a year for initial license and yearly maintenance costs. In addition, the hardware costs are about €10,000 once every five years."

"Currently, the license for Plixer Scrutinizer is subscription-based and at a yearly fee. The price would depend on the amount of traffic you pull in. For example, there are several blocks from a 10K flow, a 40K flow, and a 100K flow, and based on the number of devices that you receive the flows from, that's the license, and it is not a per-interface pricing model, so that is a very strong, very competitive pricing feature of Plixer Scrutinizer. Licensing for the product is also not based on the number of storage, compared to some competing products that are priced based on the amount of storage you need, particularly based on the retention and the amount of data. Plixer Scrutinizer licensing is based on the device, and it's more in the direction of $10,000 because, with just $1,000, you don't have anything."

More Plixer Scrutinizer pricing and cost advice

"The price is more expensive than some other products, such as ManageEngine."

"SolarWinds NPM has different pricing models available. The cost of the solution is less than some competitors."

"There is a permanent license and also a subscription level which has annual fees. The price of the solution is fair."

"The licensing model is such that you can purchase only what you need; and then grow into the next level by paying only the difference in price and the associated maintenance costs."

"USD $15,000 annually for maintenance."

"It is too expensive."

"I think that the cost has risen, but the functionality and versatility is way above other products."

"The cost of the personal perpetual license for SolarWinds NPM is approximately $2,000."

More SolarWinds NPM pricing and cost advice

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Comparison Review

it_user174738

IT Developer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

May 31, 2015

Nagios vs. Zabbix vs. PRTG vs. Spiceworks vs. Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor

I have researched a quite a few network monitoring tools which can be used for various monitoring purposes of not only the servers, but the intermediate routers as well. There are majorly three types of these softwares. Ones which are completely open-source, you can do almost anything you want…

Read full review

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

11%

Outsourcing Company

Construction Company

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Construction Company

Outsourcing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	8

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	59
Midsize Enterprise	33
Large Enterprise	87

Questions from the Community

Ask a question

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What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?

It actually depends on the exact purpose or kind of devices (network devices, servers, something else). Some tools are better for only network devices while others are better for a cloud monitoring...

See all answers

What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?

From my point of view, SolarWind is the best tool.

See all answers

What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?

We are partners with SolarWinds and we sell a lot of Network management to large enterprises also because of scalability, products like Network Performance Monitor & Netflow Traffic Analyzer ar...

See all answers

Comparisons

Cisco Secure Network Analytics vs Plixer Scrutinizer

Compared 11% of the time

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer vs Plixer Scrutinizer

Compared 8% of the time

PRTG Network Monitor vs Plixer Scrutinizer

Compared 6% of the time

Garland Prisms vs Plixer Scrutinizer

Compared 5% of the time

Flowmon vs Plixer Scrutinizer

Compared 4% of the time

More Plixer Scrutinizer Competitors

ManageEngine OpManager vs SolarWinds NPM

Compared 3% of the time

Nagios XI vs SolarWinds NPM

Compared 3% of the time

DX Spectrum vs SolarWinds NPM

Compared 3% of the time

Zabbix vs SolarWinds NPM

Compared 3% of the time

PRTG Network Monitor vs SolarWinds NPM

Compared 2% of the time

More SolarWinds NPM Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Plixer Scrutinizer

August 2026

Download Plixer Scrutinizer product report

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds NPM

July 2026

Download SolarWinds NPM product report

Also Known As

No data available

Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor, SolarWinds Network Bandwidth Analyzer

Overview

Plixer Scrutinizer provides enhanced network traffic management and security analytics, enabling organizations to quickly identify bandwidth issues and threats through comprehensive reporting and real-time monitoring.

Plixer Scrutinizer is a network monitoring tool that efficiently manages and visualizes traffic to detect bandwidth utilization and security threats. Its integration capabilities and compatibility with network devices enhance data context, ensuring robust network visibility. Organizations leverage its rapid data processing and extensive customization options for specific needs, supporting both on-premise and cloud deployment strategies.

What are the key features of Plixer Scrutinizer?

Comprehensive Reporting: Offers detailed insights to facilitate informed decision-making.
User-Friendly Interface: Simplifies navigation and improves user experience.
Advanced Security Analytics: Provides enhanced security threat detection capabilities.
Integration Capabilities: Ensures seamless compatibility with network devices and security products.
Real-Time Traffic Monitoring: Allows for immediate network traffic assessment.
Customization Options: Adapts to specific organizational needs and requirements.

What benefits and ROI should users expect from Plixer Scrutinizer?

Efficient Bandwidth Management: Ensures optimal utilization and performance.
Enhanced Threat Detection: Identifies and mitigates security risks promptly.
Improved Network Visibility: Offers comprehensive oversight of network activities.
Cost-effective Data Processing: Reduces operational costs through streamlined processes.

In sectors like telecommunications, educational institutions, and healthcare, Plixer Scrutinizer supports network monitoring and troubleshooting. It helps track bandwidth utilization and security, enabling capacity planning and analyzing traffic across multiple vendor environments.

Plixer

SolarWinds NPM is a network performance monitoring tool offering a user-friendly interface with customizable dashboards. It provides real-time tracking of device health, latency, and bandwidth utilization, supporting diverse integration and scalability needs.

SolarWinds NPM's robust features include real-time monitoring of network performance and efficient tracking of device health, latency, and bandwidth utilization. The tool is appreciated for its ease of deployment, scalability, and support for integration with other tools. Features like SNMP monitoring, NetPath, and comprehensive reporting enhance its diagnostic capabilities and network visibility. However, users identify areas for improvement such as real-time analytics, advanced customization options, and enhanced scalability for larger enterprises. Better customer support, improved integrations, and security measures are also desired.

What are the key features of SolarWinds NPM?

User-Friendly Interface: Simplifies navigation and operation.
Customizable Dashboards: Allows personalized data views.
Real-Time Monitoring: Provides instant updates on network performance.
Strong Alerting Capabilities: Offers immediate notifications for issues.
Scalability: Supports growth with ease.
Integration: Works smoothly with other tools for comprehensive monitoring.
SNMP Monitoring: Tracks device stats effectively.
NetPath: Helps visualize network paths and performance.

What benefits and ROI can users expect?

Improved Network Visibility: Enables proactive issue resolution.
Enhanced Diagnostics: Facilitates quicker troubleshooting.
Real-Time Performance Data: Supports informed decision-making.
Ease of Deployment: Reduces setup time and complexity.
Infrastructure Monitoring: Ensures network stability and reliability.
Custom Integration: Adapts to existing IT environments.

In enterprise environments, SolarWinds NPM is deployed to monitor network health and device status, sending alerts for any issues. It provides visibility into network performance, tracking bandwidth utilization and server metrics efficiently. Its applications span from monitoring routers, switches, and firewalls to supporting infrastructure monitoring across industries.

SolarWinds

Sample Customers

Oxford Networks, Squaw Valley Ski Holdings, UltiSat, Wipro, West Aurora School District 129, SUNY Geneseo College, Bloomington Public Schools, First National Bank of Pennsylvania, Kitsap Credit Union, Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County Houston Texas, Carilion Clinic, Banner Health, IDEXX Laboratories, Phibro Animal Health Corporation, Goodwill Industries, Parmalat, Armstrong Coal Company, Flybe, James Walker

Microsoft, Federal Express, Hewlett-Packard, and MasterCard

Buyer's Guide

Plixer Scrutinizer vs. SolarWinds NPM

August 2026

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