SolarWinds AppOptics vs Splunk Observability Cloud comparison

SolarWinds and Splunk are both solutions in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category. SolarWinds is ranked #56, while Splunk is ranked #8 with an average rating of 8.7. SolarWinds holds a 0.3% mindshare in APM, compared to Splunk’s 1.9% mindshare. Additionally, 80% of SolarWinds users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of Splunk users who would recommend it.

SolarWinds AppOptics

Read 9 SolarWinds AppOptics reviews

619 Views
304 Comparison Views

80% willing to recommend

Splunk Observability Cloud

Read 56 Splunk Observability Cloud reviews

3,129 Views
1,456 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

SolarWinds AppOptics

Splunk Observability Cloud

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 19, 2025

Splunk Observability Cloud and SolarWinds AppOptics compete in the IT monitoring and observability category. Splunk Observability Cloud has the upper hand due to its advanced customization and integration features, though it comes at a higher cost.

Features: Splunk Observability Cloud is strong in custom dashboards, real-time analysis, and log reporting, offering integration with various environments and strong security. SolarWinds AppOptics stands out with network performance analysis, application monitoring, and ease of use with comprehensive data visualization.

Room for Improvement: Splunk Observability Cloud should improve scalability, automation, and third-party tool integration, along with simplifying data handling. SolarWinds AppOptics can enhance its centralized data views and external tool integration while advancing its troubleshooting features and licensing model.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Splunk Observability Cloud offers on-premises, cloud, and hybrid deployment options, with mostly responsive customer support, though complex scenarios may face delays. SolarWinds AppOptics provides reliable support with on-premises and cloud deployment, though Splunk's comprehensive options suit larger environments better.

Pricing and ROI: Splunk Observability Cloud's high cost is offset by its extensive features, catering to organizations requiring detailed monitoring, while SolarWinds AppOptics offers a more budget-friendly model with good ROI, appealing to cost-conscious entities through its straightforward pricing.

To learn more, read our detailed SolarWinds AppOptics vs. Splunk Observability Cloud Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds AppOptics vs. Splunk Observability Cloud

June 2025

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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

SolarWinds AppOptics

Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

56th

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

57th

Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software

43rd

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Splunk Observability Cloud

Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

8th

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

7th

Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software

8th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Monitoring Software (6th), Container Management (7th), Digital Experience Monitoring (DEM) (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category, the mindshare of SolarWinds AppOptics is 0.3%, down from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Splunk Observability Cloud is 1.9%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

Featured Reviews

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.

Read full review

Lakshmi Padaga

Java Developer at U.S. Bank

Collaborates performance metrics with log data to pinpoint the exact cause of issues and offers error detection

Splunk APM is a robust tool with many capabilities. There are always areas for potential improvement to enhance its functionality and user experience. For Splunk APM, there could be simplified navigation, like streamlining the user interface to make navigation more intuitive for our users, especially those new to APM, which can enhance usability. We can provide more customization options for dashboards and visualizations to help users tailor the platform to their specific needs. There could be more integration capabilities with a wider range of third-party tools and platforms would also be beneficial. By focusing on these areas, Splunk APM can enhance its value proposition, improve user satisfaction, and better meet the evolving needs of organizations monitoring their application performance.

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 sum solution, NTA, and DPA."

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

"Some of the most valuable features of SolarWinds are the topology discovery and network performance analysis."

"The reporting of the solution is very good."

"The product has a great dashboard."

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

"The ability to create custom dashboards is one of the best features and that's typically why most people deploy Splunk. Users can create dashboards for just about anything."

"It is very easy to monitor multiple cloud environments. It's like a single pane of glass for us. We can use it to monitor our on-prem and both of our cloud environments as opposed to having different tools for each environment. It makes it all come together in one tool."

"It can monitor, get the data, and then report on the data."

"Detectors are a powerful feature."

"The vibrant dashboards are valuable."

"Splunk Infrastructure Monitoring reduces our mean time to resolve. We are more proactive than reactive."

"Great monitoring of network devices."

"The best features in Splunk Observability Cloud are the metrics; I can see any logs or anything related to the server or services we want to monitor, and the metrics are a good function."

More Splunk Observability Cloud pros

Cons

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

"The integration with Unix services should be a bit more straightforward."

"The solution should be more user-friendly."

"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."

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

"Regarding dashboard customization, while Splunk has many dashboard building options, customers sometimes need to create specific dashboards, particularly for applicative metrics such as Java and process terms. These categories of dashboards would be very helpful for customers."

"We currently lack log analysis capabilities in Splunk APM."

"There are some predefined metrics.......we may want to create customized metrics."

"Splunk isn't an ideal tool for application performance management due to the extensive setup required."

"Support from Splunk is not very helpful because Splunk doesn't have a dedicated APM; they only have one APM engineer in Korea."

"We have both on-prem and cloud, and the challenge is getting all our log data aggregated or streams aggregated so that it is real-time. We do a pretty good job of that, but our organization is not using it as a security platform when it can do a great job of that."

"Splunk would be better if some tools were integrated to be able to take action on security or network concerns."

"One thing I recently ran into was that the logs on the server most often get Gzipped after they have been rotated. We found that we were not monitoring some of the things, so we had to go back and pull them in. Right now, it pulls one at a time, untars it, or unzips it, so I cannot look at the entire history. There can be an improvement in that area."

More Splunk Observability Cloud cons

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."

"It appears to be expensive compared to competitors."

"Splunk APM is a very cost-efficient solution."

"Splunk APM is expensive."

"Splunk has been fairly expensive, but it has been predictable."

"It is expensive."

"I am not in that circle, but we are currently licensing based on our queries. That is working out for us. Previously, it was by volume of data, and now, we can store as much data as we want."

"The price of Splunk APM is less than some of its competitors."

"This is an expensive solution."

More Splunk Observability Cloud pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

26%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Government

12%

Computer Software Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

17%

Computer Software Company

15%

Government

Retailer

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

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What do you like most about SignalFx?

The most valuable feature is dashboard creation.

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What needs improvement with SignalFx?

Regarding dashboard customization, while Splunk has many dashboard building options, customers sometimes need to create specific dashboards, particularly for applicative metrics such as Java and pr...

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What is your primary use case for SignalFx?

The solution involves observability in general, such as Application Performance Monitoring, and generally addresses digital applications, web applications, sites, and mobile applications. I worked ...

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Comparisons

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Compared 28% of the time

New Relic vs SolarWinds AppOptics

Compared 15% of the time

Zabbix vs SolarWinds AppOptics

Compared 12% of the time

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor vs SolarWinds AppOptics

Compared 11% of the time

Zenoss Cloud vs SolarWinds AppOptics

Compared 9% of the time

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Observe vs Splunk Observability Cloud

Compared 10% of the time

Sentry vs Splunk Observability Cloud

Compared 9% of the time

SigNoz vs Splunk Observability Cloud

Compared 5% of the time

Dynatrace vs Splunk Observability Cloud

Compared 4% of the time

ThousandEyes vs Splunk Observability Cloud

Compared 4% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

June 2025

Download SolarWinds AppOptics product report

Buyer's Guide

Splunk Observability Cloud

June 2025

Download Splunk Observability Cloud product report

Also Known As

AppOptics, SolarWinds TraceView, Librato

Splunk Infrastructure Monitoring, Splunk Real User Monitoring (RUM), Splunk Synthetic Monitoring

Overview

AppOptics is a SaaS-based simple, powerful and affordable Infrastructure & Application monitoring for custom on-premises, cloud, and hybrid systems.

Your business runs on applications, and when they go down or run slowly, it can impact the business in lost productivity, customers, or revenue. To add to the complexity, your IT environment is changing, and workloads can be spread across data centers, and cloud resources. You need to monitor the availability and performance of applications and infrastructure, regardless of where they are, so you can identify potential issues early and address them before they impact users

SolarWinds

Splunk Observability Cloud offers sophisticated log searching, data integration, and customizable dashboards. With rapid deployment and ease of use, this cloud service enhances monitoring capabilities across IT infrastructures for comprehensive end-to-end visibility.

Focused on enhancing performance management and security, Splunk Observability Cloud supports environments through its data visualization and analysis tools. Users appreciate its robust application performance monitoring and troubleshooting insights. However, improvements in integrations, interface customization, scalability, and automation are needed. Users find value in its capabilities for infrastructure and network monitoring, as well as log analytics, albeit cost considerations and better documentation are desired. Enhancements in real-time monitoring and network protection are also noted as areas for development.

What are the key features?

Log Searching: Efficiently search and analyze logs from various sources.
Data Integration: Seamlessly integrate with multiple environments.
Dashboard Customization: Tailor dashboards to specific monitoring needs.
Monitoring Capabilities: Provides comprehensive insights into application performance.
Security Features: Analyze and address security threats across systems.
Visualization Tools: Enhance data analysis and system performance optimization.

Why consider this for ROI?

Comprehensive Visibility: Gain complete insights into IT infrastructure.
Performance Optimization: Improve overall system performance and efficiency.
Rapid Deployment: Quick setup to meet organization demands swiftly.
Enhanced Security: Strengthen security measures through detailed analytics.

In industries, Splunk Observability Cloud is implemented for security management by analyzing logs from detection systems, offering real-time alerts and troubleshooting for cloud-native applications. It is leveraged for machine data analysis, improving infrastructure visibility and supporting network and application performance management efforts.

Splunk

Sample Customers

TraxoCovea Insurance BTE TechnologyDatarista

Sunrun, Yelp, Onshape, Tapjoy, Symphony Commerce, Chairish, Clever, Grovo, Bazaar Voice, Zenefits, Avalara

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds AppOptics vs. Splunk Observability Cloud

June 2025

Free Report: SolarWinds AppOptics vs. Splunk Observability Cloud

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