ServiceNow IT Operations Management vs SolarWinds AppOptics comparison

ServiceNow and SolarWinds are both solutions in the IT Infrastructure Monitoring category. ServiceNow is ranked #11 with an average rating of 8.2, while SolarWinds is ranked #61. ServiceNow holds a 1.2% mindshare in IM, compared to SolarWinds’s 0.8% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of ServiceNow users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 80% of SolarWinds users who would recommend it.

ServiceNow IT Operations Ma...

Read 46 ServiceNow IT Operations Management reviews

6,698 Views
3,349 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

SolarWinds AppOptics

Read 9 SolarWinds AppOptics reviews

2,750 Views
1,403 Comparison Views

80% willing to recommend

ServiceNow IT Operations Ma...

SolarWinds AppOptics

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 9, 2024

SolarWinds AppOptics and ServiceNow IT Operations Management are competing in the IT management space. ServiceNow IT Operations Management seems to have the upper hand based on features and capabilities, while SolarWinds AppOptics has advantages in pricing and support.

Features: SolarWinds AppOptics facilitates comprehensive performance management with end-to-end monitoring and real-time analytics. It offers intuitive dashboards and an easy-to-understand interface tailored for quick insights. ServiceNow IT Operations Management provides robust automation capabilities, deeply integrates with the ServiceNow ecosystem, and supports diverse operational workflows through powerful orchestration tools.

Room for Improvement: SolarWinds AppOptics could enhance its automation capabilities and improve integration options across multiple platforms. Increasing customization for reporting and expanding ecosystem interoperability are additional areas to address. ServiceNow IT Operations Management may benefit from streamlining deployment processes and offering more competitive pricing structures. Users have noted challenges with the learning curve, indicating a need for more streamlined training resources.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SolarWinds AppOptics is recognized for straightforward deployment and reliable customer service, making it suitable for simpler implementations. ServiceNow IT Operations Management involves a more complex deployment process but fits well into existing ServiceNow frameworks, requiring more initial setup time.

Pricing and ROI: SolarWinds AppOptics is noted for its competitive setup costs and a favorable ROI with pricing models appealing to budget-conscious tech buyers. ServiceNow IT Operations Management often involves higher initial investments, potentially offering superior returns when its full capabilities are leveraged, although initial costs may deter some buyers.

To learn more, read our detailed ServiceNow IT Operations Management vs. SolarWinds AppOptics Report (Updated: April 2026).

Buyer's Guide

ServiceNow IT Operations Management vs. SolarWinds AppOptics

April 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

ServiceNow IT Operations Ma...

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

11th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Event Monitoring (1st), Cloud Management (9th), AIOps (3rd)

SolarWinds AppOptics

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

61st

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (55th), Cloud Monitoring Software (44th)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the IT Infrastructure Monitoring category, the mindshare of ServiceNow IT Operations Management is 1.2%, down from 2.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds AppOptics is 0.8%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

IT Infrastructure Monitoring Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
ServiceNow IT Operations Management	1.2%
SolarWinds AppOptics	0.8%
Other	98.0%

IT Infrastructure Monitoring

Featured Reviews

reviewer2755671

Solution architect at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

Significant enhancement in operations with powerful discovery and analytics, yet pricing structure poses challenges

ServiceNow IT Operations Management provides out-of-the-box dashboards. Along with the dashboard, it also provides the Operations Workspace, which is very useful for operations teams. There is a functionality called Performance Analytics, which we are also using to develop some dashboards for the senior leadership and operations team where they can perform trend analysis of alerts and events happening across the infrastructure and application landscape. These dashboards are really useful here. ServiceNow IT Operations Management's biggest plus point is that it is a platform. ITOM is just one module that ServiceNow IT Operations Management offers, but they provide seamless integration of ITOM with their other modules such as ITSM, where we can leverage the AIs for discovery, perform impact analysis, which essentially helps to enhance the overall IT operations and reduce the downtime and MTTR.

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John Yuko

Assistant Manager ICT - Projects at I&M Bank Ltd

Unique features allow consolidating and combing metrics into a single dashboard, but don't monitor mobile solutions

I would like to see more granular information provided on Unix applications. Also, the integration with Unix services should be a bit more straightforward in terms having an agent to retrieve your credentials rather than having to enter or save them for SSH on SolarWinds. From the outset, we had to set some commands to log into the search console, and they are saved on the solution, which presents a challenge in terms of exposure. The solution is unable to monitor APK solutions completely because we'd then be forced to break down the APK and provide the APIs or go through the source code. They don't have a module that can analyze an application that is maybe under-used.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"ServiceNow IT Operations Management is a stable product."

"It is a very stable solution."

"The software asset management features — especially around discovery — are the tools I find to be the most valuable."

"Has service mapping, impact management, metric intelligence and health of analytics."

"The reason is it's cost-effective, number one."

"The most valuable features of ServiceNow IT Operations Management are ease of use, intuitive design, and ease of management, and its based on IT practices which are good."

"Feature-wise, it is a very good tool, especially when it comes to upgrades. Upgrades are seamless. You will not even notice an upgrade is happening."

"It is a market leader and is very implementation-friendly. Developers have a clear understanding of how the solution works, and it is mature enough to handle different client needs."

More ServiceNow IT Operations Management pros

"The product has a great dashboard."

"SolarWinds AppOptics does far more than what an individual may realize; it is not just a SIEM tool."

"The sum solution, NTA, and DPA."

"I have found the most valuable feature is application performance management."

"The reporting of the solution is very good."

"With minimal effort on our part, TraceView provides extraordinary visibility into the requests that flow through our SOA applications."

"The reporting of the solution is very good."

"Technical support is always live and they're supportive."

More SolarWinds AppOptics pros

Cons

"The service discovery tool should include HR automations that automatically remove an employee who is leaving."

"The pricing of some modules is higher because they are sold in packages. If we need something specific, we cannot take it individually."

"The discovery portion of ServiceNow IT Operations Management is not in-depth as what the customers are looking for, and the information that it gathers from the assets is a little more limited than what other tools provide."

"The solution's subscription model could be improved."

"If you are new to using the solution, you will find the setup complex."

"Service mapping is pretty limited."

"ServiceNow could be more prescriptive on how customers can leverage some of the benefits."

"There is a slower learning curve associated with the tool's scripting part. It is also not cheap."

More ServiceNow IT Operations Management cons

"The implementation needs improvement. It needs to get modernized with the newer cloud scenario in both public and private deployment models."

"The support is not too bad, but also not very good—it's quite standard."

"Because of its inability to monitor mobile solutions, I would rate this solution as a seven out of ten."

"I would like to see more integration with other tools that are available on the market."

"AppOptics would benefit from having a much more centralized view."

"In terms of the technology, I think they need to put some more advanced troubleshooting into SolarWinds, in terms of AI capabilities. That's the next generation, especially in the cases of APIs which have already adopted AI capabilities into their products."

"Does not perform traditional SNMP/CLI/NetFlow/WMI etc monitoring."

More SolarWinds AppOptics cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"While not entirely sure, I believe the solution costs at least a million dollars annually."

"The cost of ServiceNow is much higher."

"My customers pay for the ServiceNow IT Operations Management license annually. I'd rate the pricing based on value. ServiceNow IT Operations Management is a premium product as it has better features than competitors."

"ServiceNow IT Operations Management is a costly solution. I'd rate the price at ten, on a scale from one to ten with one being the lowest and ten being the highest price. Some clients do have a problem with the price, but most find that the solution is worth the cost."

"The price of ServiceNow IT Operations Management is expensive."

"It is expensive. It is around 10 Euros per server per month."

"The solution offers yearly licenses and a subscription model for add-on features."

"The solution is costly compared to the products offered by its competitors."

More ServiceNow IT Operations Management pricing and cost advice

"Since it's a negotiable rate, I would rate the pricing as a five out of five."

"Mostly, it's a perpetual license. We don't have any customers using the subscription right now—it's mostly a perpetual license that the customers purchase. The licensing is based on the number of elements, whereas other solutions are node-based."

"I believe the current licensing cost is reasonable."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Computer Software Company

Healthcare Company

Financial Services Firm

13%

Construction Company

13%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	12
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	29

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	2
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	7

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ServiceNow IT Operations Management?

It is definitely high-priced compared to other products available in the same domain in the market.

See all answers

What needs improvement with ServiceNow IT Operations Management?

We don't use the orchestration part of ServiceNow IT Operations Management here. The CMDB part of ServiceNow IT Operations Management is a little bit too complicated, and it is a bit slow at our co...

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What is your primary use case for ServiceNow IT Operations Management?

We are customers of ServiceNow IT Operations Management, using it for the ticketing systems and user management and change management. Change management and user management are the major use cases ...

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

ServiceNow IT Operations Management

April 2026

ServiceNow IT Operations Management report

Download ServiceNow IT Operations Management product report

Buyer's Guide

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

April 2026

Download SolarWinds AppOptics product report

Also Known As

ServiceNow ITOM

AppOptics, SolarWinds TraceView, Librato

Overview

ServiceNow IT Operations Management offers a scalable platform for managing IT infrastructure with features like discovery, dashboards, and service mapping. Ideal for incident, change, and problem management, it enhances operational efficiency and reduces IT service downtime.

ServiceNow IT Operations Management provides comprehensive solutions for consolidating events, automating workflows, and monitoring IT systems. Users utilize it for managing ticketing systems and conducting impact analysis through service mapping. The platform supports integrations with other modules, boosting efficiency with its intuitive interface. While highly functional, improvements in interface design and pricing are necessary, especially in integration with non-IP devices and cloud providers. Enhanced AI, machine learning, and discovery and monitoring functions are also needed.

What are the most important features?

Discovery: Automatically detects and maps IT infrastructure components.
Dashboard: Offers out-of-the-box reports through a user-friendly interface.
Service Mapping: Aids in assessing the impact of IT changes.
Event Management: Consolidates events for better management.
Orchestration: Streamlines automation processes to optimize workflows.

What benefits or ROI should be expected?

Scalability: Supports dynamic growth in IT operations.
Enhanced Efficiency: Improves workflow automation and event management.
Reduced Downtime: Minimizes service interruptions to maintain productivity.
Cost Reduction: Lowers operational costs by optimizing resources.

IT Operations Management by ServiceNow is widely implemented across industries like finance, healthcare, and manufacturing to optimize IT processes, enhance monitoring, and streamline infrastructure management. It is particularly effective in automating workflows and improving service reliability.

ServiceNow

SolarWinds AppOptics offers powerful network performance monitoring and application insights, aiding enterprises in optimizing operations.

SolarWinds AppOptics provides comprehensive tools for network and application performance management. This platform enhances real-time monitoring capabilities, offering topology discovery and hop-by-hop performance analysis. With a focus on minimal configuration, users gain extraordinary visibility into service-oriented architecture applications and are equipped to identify performance issues efficiently. The dashboard's integration capabilities streamline application performance data, empowering organizations with robust reporting features. The deployment is popularly on-premises, yet improvements are desired in pricing strategy and integrations with existing tools.

What are the important features of SolarWinds AppOptics?

Topology Discovery: Facilitates understanding of network structure and connections.
Real-Time Monitoring: Delivers current data to monitor system performance live.
Heat Maps: Provides visual insights into network traffic patterns and performance metrics.
Pathview Monitoring: Enables tracking and evaluation of network performance per segment.
Integration Capabilities: Supports metrics integration for comprehensive system monitoring.

What benefits and ROI should users expect?

Efficiency in Issue Resolution: Swift identification of network bottlenecks and performance issues.
Enhanced Reporting: In-depth reports facilitating data-driven decisions.
Increased Visibility: Comprehensive insights into application and network activities.
Minimal Configuration: Quick setup enabling immediate utility and productivity.

SolarWinds AppOptics is widely used in network operations within enterprises, also extending to server and application monitoring. Deployed to track servers and network devices, it aids in analyzation of logs and data across environments, and is essential for service management. Specific industries benefit from detailed deployment inventory and management portfolios enabled by AppOptics.

SolarWinds

Sample Customers

servicenow, TransAlta, NATS, Symantec

TraxoCovea Insurance BTE TechnologyDatarista

Buyer's Guide

ServiceNow IT Operations Management vs. SolarWinds AppOptics

April 2026

Free Report: ServiceNow IT Operations Management vs. SolarWinds AppOptics

Find out what your peers are saying about ServiceNow IT Operations Management vs. SolarWinds AppOptics and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.

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