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Quest Spotlight vs SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 23, 2025

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

Quest Spotlight
Ranking in Database Development and Management
6th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.8
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SolarWinds Database Perform...
Ranking in Database Development and Management
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Database Development and Management category, the mindshare of Quest Spotlight is 6.8%, down from 8.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer is 9.8%, up from 8.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Database Development and Management
 

Featured Reviews

Seha R - PeerSpot reviewer
Good tool for the design and development of public APIs
The software does not support webhooks. It doesn't support advanced versions of APIs. The tool also doesn't support advanced versions of specifications. The change that we do in one part of the model is not reflected throughout the specification. There are also some mutations in the clones. I am not able to do a local source control with the product as well.
Fausto Espinosa - PeerSpot reviewer
Powerful monitoring solution with good technical support
I don't remember the exact version of the SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer I'm using, but it's the most recent. Four operators and three administrators currently use the solution in my company, but only administrators see everything, while the rest only see the dashboard. The advice I would give to others who want to implement SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer is that support is needed to successfully implement the solution. I would rate SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer nine out of ten. My company is a customer of SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Spotlight provides valuable features such as the ability to get alerted and drill down to a very granular level to find out where actual problems are coming from."
"Spotlight provides valuable features such as the ability to get alerted and drill down to a very granular level to find out where actual problems are coming from."
"Its dashboards are most valuable. The drill-down of the dashboards is useful."
"The tool is a SaaS product where I just need to type a URL and start with the design process. I can integrate all elements of source control like GitHub, GitLab, etc. The tool also supports authentication-related provisions like SSH."
"I consider the solution very scalable."
"The initial setup is pretty straightforward."
"SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer's most valuable features include the notification of consuming the SQL queries, collecting data, and notifying about managing space and tables."
"The platform solves and prevents delays in receiving answers from databases."
"What I like most about SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer is that it's a powerful solution that lets me advise customers about performance, and it also gives a lot of supporting information."
"Monitoring is most valuable, and being able to know that there is an issue or problem and I need to go look is also valuable. So, monitoring and learning are the most important features."
"The most valuable feature of SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer is anomaly detection. It alerts you when things outside the norm are happening, and the feature that analyzes your indexes informs you if you have wide or overlapping indexes. It also helps identify SQL query bottlenecks, letting you know if something is taking longer than usual, if a query plan has changed, and if you need to update statistics. In terms of usage, it is straightforward to use, learn and understand. The patching process is smooth and explains each feature, including links to external resources for further reading."
"SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer helped us locate the performance issues quickly."
"In IT, problems often occur in areas such as applications, web interfaces, or databases. The tool allows users to easily determine the root cause of these issues, whether they stem from the network layer, database layer, or elsewhere."
 

Cons

"One improvement could be the inclusion of suggestions for missing indexes or better analysis of how indexes are utilized and how execution plans are used, similar to what other products offer."
"One improvement could be the inclusion of suggestions for missing indexes or better analysis of how indexes are utilized and how execution plans are used, similar to what other products offer."
"There's no reporting with this tool, and there really should be. They should add that into future releases."
"The software does not support webhooks. It doesn't support advanced versions of APIs. The tool also doesn't support advanced versions of specifications. The change that we do in one part of the model is not reflected throughout the specification. There are also some mutations in the clones. I am not able to do a local source control with the product as well."
"Some customizations of the dashboard, such as having backup reports, would be useful."
"SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer should provide customization options allowing users to add different columns."
"There is room for improvement with the pricing of the platform."
"The areas where it currently lags are in reporting and dashboarding. The reports and dashboards are somewhat static, and we cannot create custom dashboards for specific customer needs."
"One area where the tool could improve is by adding support for additional databases. For instance, supporting newer databases like Couchbase or MongoDB would be beneficial."
"Technical support for this solution needs to be improved."
"SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer should include more details on how everything works."
"The solution should add little details on the server so that an independent team could easily do the implementation."
"SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer should be easy to implement and it should have more facilities to make it better."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Its cost was somewhere in the middle."
"The tool is cloud-based. It is priced well."
"The pricing is fairly reasonable, and it becomes more cost-effective with larger volumes of instances."
"SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer is a little bit expensive."
"Customers need to pay for the subscription-based license annually."
"The pricing of the solution is average."
"There are no extra costs for maintenance or using the solution's support."
"It could be less expensive."
"I don't remember the exact licensing cost for SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer, but it's within the range of $2,000 to $3,000 a year."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Computer Software Company
11%
Healthcare Company
9%
Government
8%
Computer Software Company
15%
Healthcare Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Quest Spotlight?
The tool is a SaaS product where I just need to type a URL and start with the design process. I can integrate all elements of source control like GitHub, GitLab, etc. The tool also supports authent...
What needs improvement with Quest Spotlight?
One improvement could be the inclusion of suggestions for missing indexes or better analysis of how indexes are utilized and how execution plans are used, similar to what other products offer.
What is your primary use case for Quest Spotlight?
I primarily use Spotlight for on-the-spot troubleshooting and alerting to see if there are any issues. The drill-down features allow me to pinpoint problems, whether they are indexing, long-running...
What do you like most about SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer?
In IT, problems often occur in areas such as applications, web interfaces, or databases. The tool allows users to easily determine the root cause of these issues, whether they stem from the network...
What needs improvement with SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer?
One area where the tool could improve is by adding support for additional databases. For instance, supporting newer databases like Couchbase or MongoDB would be beneficial.
What is your primary use case for SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer?
We use SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer for performance monitoring, tuning, and troubleshooting performance issues. It's mainly related to performance and the database community. Database a...
 

Also Known As

Dell Spotlight
Confio, SolarWinds DPA, Ignite8
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Jenkon
GSI Commerce, Liquid Digital Media, ProLogis, Indiana University
Find out what your peers are saying about Quest Spotlight vs. SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
849,686 professionals have used our research since 2012.