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SCOM vs SolarWinds Network Device Monitor comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 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

SCOM
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
14th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
83
Ranking in other categories
Event Monitoring (4th)
SolarWinds Network Device M...
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
30th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of SCOM is 1.6%, down from 1.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is 0.9%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
SCOM1.6%
SolarWinds Network Device Monitor0.9%
Other97.5%
Network Monitoring Software
 

Featured Reviews

AK
Assistant Manager at SMS group GmbH
Have integrated effective monitoring and seamless alerting with improved visualization capabilities
The most valuable feature of SCOM is its monitoring capability, and we have integrated SCOM with Grafana, which is a dashboarding tool. We have implemented and integrated this to create dashboarding of the SCOM monitoring system for the database, SQL, and the Linux servers we have configured in SCOM. We have created separate dashboarding for it, and the monitoring and creating rules and monitors in the management servers and management packs that SCOM provides are very useful for us. The alerting mechanism of SCOM has benefited our operations because we have modified the thresholds as per our internal requirements. We have configured threshold modifications for the CPU, memory, and especially for disk space. For routine disk space usage on the system, we have provided a separate threshold configuration.
SG
IT Infrastructure Senior Network Technician at Autoliv
Offers some features but needs better customization and analysis tools
There are solutions that can perform better, but due to pricing for our corporate implementation, we had to stay with this solution. It accomplishes the necessary tasks, but there is room for improvement. The features are not as customizable as we would prefer, but they are workable. If configured properly, you can perform a drill-down analysis. However, I have not used this feature much for our infrastructure on the network side.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"This solution saves us a lot of work because it reduces the effort that is required in order to start monitoring."
"The solution's reporting engine has given me detailed information on which applications or services I've either failed or about to fail in terms of the predictive makeup on Azure cloud."
"This solution satisfies all of the requirements that we need for our Windows-based systems, so if you are using the Windows platform then this is an easy solution."
"Mature product, strong brand, many customers, Gartner awards Excellent Microsoft server/application monitoring capabilities Fast and consistent UX for system admins Extensive dashboarding capabilities REST API available Excellent technical support, rich user community Designed for on-premise installations"
"This is the main monitoring system for our company; we use it for monitoring, reporting, and analytics."
"This product helps companies detect problems before they cause any real problems like downtime."
"The feature I like most about SCOM is that it is easy-to-use."
"The most valuable feature is the monitoring of Windows and Linux servers."
"The solution and its interface are elaborate and fully integrate all monitored items for easy analysis and troubleshooting."
"The most valuable feature of SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is it can alert you when a device is not working."
"This product proactively tells us about issues before the users notice."
"The solution and its interface are elaborate and fully integrate all monitored items for easy analysis and troubleshooting."
"We are doing more with SolarWinds Network Device Monitor than we were doing in the past with WhatsApp Gold; when we moved to SolarWinds Network Device Monitor, the whole observability part started to grow."
"The most valuable feature of SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is it shows you the utilization of devices to allow you to take proactive action before something goes down or reaches the saturation point."
"There are vital features of auto-plugin core ports"
"SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is a straightforward product with valuable functionality."
 

Cons

"It could use some system enhancements, such as better dashboards."
"Dashboarding and application performance management."
"The console was not stable at the early versions of 2007 product, opening multiple consoles might cause a crash, and the web console might hang when opening multiple sessions as well."
"The System Centre Operations Manager (SCOM) is great at alerting you when something breaks. It's not so great at reporting."
"I would like to see them improve their network monitoring."
"The configurations could be better. There are multiple tests where you can do something, but they can be a trigger as well. The overriding methodologies are not that easy. The configurations are difficult. The configuration and thorough day-to-day operations to get them to the level you want takes some time. It's very difficult."
"The GI is difficult to work with and the reporting servers are also difficult."
"If they're looking for real-time, within-the-minute monitoring of servers from a console, then I would say that it falls short there."
"SolarWinds Network Device Monitor could improve by being more user-friendly. The network has so many features which make it difficult to find how to configure how to use it. It is not simple to customize."
"Although I haven't explored all of the features available, I wouldn't mind if the software were made to be a bit more customizable."
"The initial setup of the SolarWinds Network Device Monitor could be easier. It took us approximately one month to complete the implementation."
"There were certain aspects that weren't supported exactly. I was just able to monitor some basic things."
"In terms of price, it could be less expensive."
"The way they are presenting the map of our devices needs to be improved."
"In terms of price, it could be less expensive."
"Integration with different tools, such as ServiceNow and Excel, can be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We have an enterprise agreement that includes this product as part of it."
"Our Enterprise Agreement includes the price."
"Our licensing fees are approximately $30 per user, per month."
"The platform is cost-effective due to our existing Microsoft support."
"We have an EA with Microsoft, and it comes as part of the EA."
"I don't know the exact cost because it's managed by our sales team, but Microsoft is on the higher side."
"SCOM is very cheap because it's included in the license for the System Center suite, which is around $8,400 per CAL."
"Two customers bought the enterprise agreement with Microsoft and paid for Software Assurance. But few customers don't buy it for Software Assurance. They just buy it and deploy it, and they think that we will be using it for the next five years."
"Thankfully, it doesn't take a lot of manpower to install and deploy."
"I rate the product's price as three to three and a half or on a scale of one to ten, where one means low price, and ten means high price."
"I find the cost of SolarWinds Network Device Monitor reasonable for our company. Though, I'm not aware of the exact licensing cost."
"The price of the SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is good."
"SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is not an expensive solution."
"When compared with other solutions SolarWinds is more expensive."
"Well, we had a perpetual license and the renewal was $20 to $25,000."
"The product is expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Government
10%
Computer Software Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise22
Large Enterprise54
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise14
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about SCOM?
The tool helps to monitor Windows servers. It offers alerts from a central location.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SCOM?
I am not aware of the exact pricing as it is managed by my supervisor. As an academic institution, we receive substantial discounts.
What needs improvement with SCOM?
We believe that the dashboarding in SCOM needs to be improved or enhanced because it is not too expressive in reporting. We can work on deploying new ways of viewing things and modifying visualizat...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SolarWinds Network Device Monitor?
I am not a positive person regarding SolarWinds Network Device Monitor.
What needs improvement with SolarWinds Network Device Monitor?
There are solutions that can perform better, but due to pricing for our corporate implementation, we had to stay with this solution. It accomplishes the necessary tasks, but there is room for impro...
What is your primary use case for SolarWinds Network Device Monitor?
I have experience regarding the AD part, but my focus for the last 15 years has been oriented to the network side. My experience with identity tools comes more from a network perspective. We used N...
 

Also Known As

System Center Operations Manager, SCOM 2012
Network Device Monitor
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Dialog Telekom
Air Rarotonga
Find out what your peers are saying about SCOM vs. SolarWinds Network Device Monitor and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
890,071 professionals have used our research since 2012.