Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

ServiceNow Cloud Observability vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor comparison

ServiceNow and SolarWinds are both solutions in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category. ServiceNow is ranked #46 with an average rating of 7.3, while SolarWinds is ranked #20 with an average rating of 7.4. ServiceNow holds a 0.5% mindshare in APM, compared to SolarWinds’s 1.3% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of ServiceNow users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 89% of SolarWinds users who would recommend it.
ServiceNow Cloud Observability
Read 4 ServiceNow Cloud Observability reviews
  • 837 Views
  • 804 Comparison Views
100% willing to recommend
SolarWinds Server and Appli...
Read 42 SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor reviews
  • 3,599 Views
  • 2,339 Comparison Views
89% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report
Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 24, 2024

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor and ServiceNow Cloud Observability compete in the IT management tools category. User reviews indicate SolarWinds has the upper hand with its pricing model and customer support, while ServiceNow stands out for its robust features.

Features: SolarWinds offers comprehensive monitoring, alerting capabilities, and detailed performance insights. ServiceNow has strong IT workflow integration, advanced analytics, and extensive integrations.

Room for Improvement: SolarWinds could improve scalability, dashboard customization, and user interface. ServiceNow needs to address setup complexity, notification noise, and initial training requirements.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SolarWinds provides a straightforward deployment process with high-quality support. ServiceNow, while more complex to deploy, also offers robust customer service.

Pricing and ROI: SolarWinds is noted for cost-effective pricing and good ROI. ServiceNow, though higher in cost, offers satisfactory ROI due to its advanced features.

DOWNLOAD THE COMPLETE REPORT
To learn more, read our detailed ServiceNow Cloud Observability vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor Report (Updated: September 2025).
Buyer's Guide
ServiceNow Cloud Observability vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor
September 2025
Download the complete report
Helped 869,760 peers since 2012

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

ServiceNow Cloud Observability
Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability
46th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
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
20th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.0
Number of Reviews
42
Ranking in other categories
Server Monitoring (10th), Active Directory Management (10th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category, the mindshare of ServiceNow Cloud Observability is 0.5%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is 1.3%, down from 1.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor1.3%
ServiceNow Cloud Observability0.5%
Other98.2%
Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability
 

Featured Reviews

VinayKumar16 - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides ease of use in areas like analytics and reporting
The feature of the tool that is more impactful for cloud performance stems from the area revolving around analytics and reporting. It is an easy-to-use tool. There is something known as performance analytics within ServiceNow that offers complete analytics, which offers end-to-end analytics along with the KPI metrics with what we have in place and so on. With the aforementioned aspects of the tool, I think we should be able to create a dashboard according to the operations view called the operation dashboard view, specifically for C-level executives.
Read full review
VIVEK PATHAK - PeerSpot reviewer
Offering reasonably good dashboarding features but needs to improve the application performance monitoring
My company uses Riverbed for application performance monitoring. I was doing research so that I could understand if SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor provide APM capabilities similar to Riverbed, which allows our company to get a packet capture of an entire session, and on the basis of it, we look at the application performance monitoring part. With SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor, my company does SNMP polling, so it can drag an entire session, but it focuses more on availability, CPU memory, and server connection status. In Riverbed, my company catches an entire system, so when we deal with two applications, we have end-to-end app visibility. All the application monitoring happens through Riverbed. Our company's main problem is that, as of now, we have two different products in our organization, and we don't want to continue with the multiple products currently. I wanted to understand if SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor already have capabilities like Riverbed, and if they do, then I wanted to figure out why our company should not go with SolarWinds and why we are using products from multiple vendors. My company needs to continue with either Riverbed or SolarWinds. I wanted to see which products are good for the organization and how much I want to continue with Riverbed.
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

"The ability to create a stream based on different parameters, operation name, service name, URL, tags, and URI part, is one valuable feature."
"To a certain extent, it is possible to save on the costs of the product."
"The UI is very intuitive."
"The solution Lightstep/ServiceNow has a couple of pretty advanced functionalities to help us investigate a deviation and help the development teams have better observability in the environment using distributed and complex services."
"AppInsight. Provides a simple way to get very in-depth monitoring configured for our most popular applications. Exchange, SQL, and SharePoint."
"The most valuable feature of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is its powerful monitoring capabilities."
"I'd rate technical support at eight out of ten. They are helpful and fast."
"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."
"The initial setup was relatively easy, and we didn't have to install anything. All we had to do was put on the devices we wanted to monitor."
"The product integrates with Remedy."
"The most valuable feature is the Access Rights Manager."
More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor pros
 

Cons

"The dashboard and graphics must be improved."
"In terms of licensing, users would want the product to offer them the ability to tailor the tasks offered in the solution to suit their needs."
"The support team could be better. Because of the different versions of different tactics of integrating reactive code base, the documentation is not very clear if someone has to be onboard. I would rate the documentation of Lightstep a five out of ten. It could need improvement."
"The design of this solution is not very intuitive and probably could come with more friendly tips for beginners."
"The tool's AppStack needs to improve in the storage monitoring part. It should also include an analytics and recommendation approach. If I have found a fault in a server or application, I would like to know what caused it and how do I recover from it."
"In terms of the dashboards on offer, they should work to improve them. The types of dashboards that you get in terms of the graphs on offer aren't ideal right now."
"Some custom applications cannot be monitored, and a lot more applications need to be included."
"It needs time-based functions for monitoring. Some things need to be polled on a specific schedule or only during a specific window."
"The product needs to reduce its price."
"One product area that could benefit from improvement is the synchronization of licensing periods across different modules"
"The setup was complex. We had local support to assist us."
"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."
More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product is expensive. I rate the tool's pricing model an eight out of ten."
"The solution is overpriced in terms of application management."
"Pricing and licensing is fair for what you get. It does have a great bang-for-the-buck appeal."
"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."
"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."
"I like the pricing for this SolarWinds product."
"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."
"The tool is available for my company at a good price point."
More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor pricing and cost advice
report
See which vendors are best for you
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability solutions are best for your needs.
See recommendations
869,760 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
19%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Educational Organization
7%
Computer Software Company
12%
Government
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Healthcare Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business16
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise20
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about LightStep?
The UI is very intuitive.
See all answers
What needs improvement with LightStep?
There are a lot of workflows and connectors. In terms of licensing, users would want the product to offer them the ability to tailor the tasks offered in the solution to suit their needs.
See all answers
What is your primary use case for LightStep?
I use the solution in my company since it has multiple tenants available. Basically, what happens in business is that you have a hybrid setup model, and for that, you extensively use a cloud platfo...
See all answers
What do you like most about SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor?
Identifying the problem statement is easy.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor?
The initial cost is quite high, but the renewal cost is reasonable.
See all answers
What needs improvement with SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor?
There are no specific features or functionality I would like to see improved or enhanced in SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor at this time. I have not encountered any missing features or fu...
See all answers
 

Comparisons

Datadog vs ServiceNow Cloud Observability Logo
Datadog vs ServiceNow Cloud Observability
Compared 27% of the time
Snyk vs ServiceNow Cloud Observability Logo
Snyk vs ServiceNow Cloud Observability
Compared 22% of the time
Grafana vs ServiceNow Cloud Observability Logo
Grafana vs ServiceNow Cloud Observability
Compared 17% of the time
Dynatrace vs ServiceNow Cloud Observability Logo
Dynatrace vs ServiceNow Cloud Observability
Compared 15% of the time
IBM Instana Observability vs ServiceNow Cloud Observability Logo
IBM Instana Observability vs ServiceNow Cloud Observability
Compared 10% of the time
More ServiceNow Cloud Observability Competitors
Dynatrace vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor Logo
Dynatrace vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor
Compared 17% of the time
Azure Monitor vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor Logo
Azure Monitor vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor
Compared 15% of the time
Splunk AppDynamics vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor Logo
Splunk AppDynamics vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor
Compared 8% of the time
Prometheus-AI Platform vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor Logo
Prometheus-AI Platform vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor
Compared 6% of the time
Nagios XI vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor Logo
Nagios XI vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor
Compared 5% of the time
More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor Competitors
 

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
ServiceNow Cloud Observability
September 2025
ServiceNow Cloud Observability reportDownload ServiceNow Cloud Observability product report
Buyer's Guide
SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor
September 2025
SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor reportDownload SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor product report
 

Also Known As

LightStep
SolarWinds SAM
 

Overview

ServiceNow Cloud Observability is a comprehensive platform designed to enhance visibility, control, and performance monitoring of your IT infrastructure and applications. It seamlessly integrates log management, trace management, metrics monitoring, and infrastructure monitoring in real-time, leveraging AI and machine learning for automated tasks and actionable insights. With benefits including improved visibility, faster incident resolution, enhanced application performance, simplified IT operations, and reduced costs, this cloud-native solution is ideal for businesses of all sizes with complex IT infrastructures. It integrates seamlessly with ServiceNow IT Operations Management (ITOM), supports OpenTelemetry standards, and provides AI-powered insights along with pre-built dashboards and reports. 

ServiceNow

SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor (SAM) delivers powerful application and server monitoring capabilities for IT pros, enabling them to diagnose and troubleshoot performance issues faster. Do not let slow applications and downtime impact your end-users and business services. Pinpoint the root cause of application issues across various layers of the IT stack. SolarWinds SAM is affordable and easy to deploy, use, and customize. You can automatically discover your system's environment and start monitoring in about an hour. No professional services or consultation needed.

SolarWinds
 

Sample Customers

InVision, Twilio, Lyft, Yext, DigitalOcean,
Andr. L. Riis AS, NetSuite
Buyer's Guide
ServiceNow Cloud Observability vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor
September 2025
Free Report: ServiceNow Cloud Observability vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor
Find out what your peers are saying about ServiceNow Cloud Observability vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
DOWNLOAD NOW
869,760 professionals have used our research since 2012.
See our ServiceNow Cloud Observability vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor report.

We monitor all Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.