SolarWinds AppOptics vs VMware Aria Operations for Applications comparison

SolarWinds and Broadcom are both solutions in the Cloud Monitoring Software category. SolarWinds is ranked #47, while Broadcom is ranked #15 with an average rating of 8.8. SolarWinds holds a 0.9% mindshare in CMS, compared to Broadcom’s 2.0% mindshare. Additionally, 80% of SolarWinds users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of Broadcom users who would recommend it.

SolarWinds AppOptics

Read 9 SolarWinds AppOptics reviews

1,452 Views
494 Comparison Views

80% willing to recommend

VMware Aria Operations for ...

Read 14 VMware Aria Operations for Applications reviews

3,211 Views
1,284 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

SolarWinds AppOptics

VMware Aria Operations for ...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 24, 2024

VMware Aria Operations for Applications and SolarWinds AppOptics are two leading application performance management tools. Users are happier with the pricing and support of VMware Aria Operations for Applications but SolarWinds AppOptics offers superior features that users feel justify the price.

Features: VMware Aria Operations for Applications is praised for comprehensive monitoring, advanced analytics, and scalability. SolarWinds AppOptics is recognized for quick setup, real-time visibility, and extensive integration capabilities.

Room for Improvement: VMware users suggest improvements in the documentation and user training materials. SolarWinds users indicate a need for better customization options and enhanced alerting features.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: VMware Aria Operations for Applications deployment is noted for being complex, but their customer service is highly regarded. SolarWinds AppOptics boasts an easier deployment process but receives mixed reviews for customer service quality.

Pricing and ROI: VMware Aria Operations for Applications users find the setup costs reasonable and believe it delivers a strong ROI. SolarWinds AppOptics users acknowledge higher setup costs but also report a high ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed SolarWinds AppOptics vs. VMware Aria Operations for Applications Report (Updated: January 2026).

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds AppOptics vs. VMware Aria Operations for Applications

January 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

SolarWinds AppOptics

Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

55th

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

58th

Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software

47th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

VMware Aria Operations for ...

Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

19th

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

16th

Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software

15th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Container Monitoring (5th)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Cloud Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of SolarWinds AppOptics is 0.9%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware Aria Operations for Applications is 2.0%, up from 1.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud Monitoring Software Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
VMware Aria Operations for Applications	2.0%
SolarWinds AppOptics	0.9%
Other	97.1%

Cloud Monitoring Software

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

Ajay Shukla

Consultant at HCLTech

Automation and insightful diagnostics elevate operations while improvements are welcome

The new version 8.18 has brought significant improvements. The main purpose of using this tool is having a single console to manage all entities. The cloud integration capabilities, including private, public, and hybrid, are already well-implemented. The ability to manage multiple vCenters across different geographical locations is very effective. The new Skyline health feature and certificate and licensing management are particularly useful improvements. The dashboard's overview tab provides comprehensive information about current vCenter status, resizable amounts, reclamation opportunities, anomalies, diagnostics, licensing, and certificates. However, there is room for improvement in application analysis. The current functionality lacks detailed monitoring at the kernel level, focusing mainly on CPU, memory, and storage matrices. Enhanced application monitoring capabilities, including tracking downtime for specific types of applications such as transactional or e-commerce applications, would be beneficial.

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 product has a great dashboard."

"The reporting of the solution is very good."

"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 sum solution, NTA, and DPA."

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

"Tanzu itself, integrated with multiple solutions, bestows support and security upon a container platform, especially when it comes to managing open-source container platforms such as Kubernetes."

"No issues with stability."

"The features I find most valuable is the querying and alerting capabilities."

"People are very pleased with the implementation."

"The solution provides single-console management for multiple VMware environments and cloud integrations, whether hybrid, private, or public cloud."

"Scalability for VMware Aria Operations for Applications is easy to implement and manage."

"VMware comes with a support team, and if you have trouble, you can easily create a ticket, and VMware will help you. Therefore, the best aspect is the support."

"It significantly improves application performance management by offering recommendations for resource allocation to avoid wastage or overcommitment."

More VMware Aria Operations for Applications pros

Cons

"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."

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

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

"The solution should be more user-friendly."

"VMware technical support has declined since the Broadcom acquisition. Previously, they were more focused on issue resolution, but now they prioritize licensing verification before providing support."

"The solution could be expensive, which might be a limiting factor."

"I find that there could be improvements in the support service response time, as the urgency varies unless specified as Priority 2 or 1 cases."

"I would like to see integration with Kubernetes cluster and APIs so that you can manage the entire stack."

"It could use a URL document server. Everything in the market is moving towards automation and everybody's looking for the single click operations as well relational data locality."

"The initial setup should be easier and more seamless."

"The solution could be expensive, which might be a limiting factor."

"An area for improvement would be more in-depth reporting, such as analyzing disk IO during business hours compared to after hours."

More VMware Aria Operations for Applications cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I believe the current licensing cost is reasonable."

"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."

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

"I would rate the pricing as three out of five."

"The licensing costs are very high, particularly when you consider that we have to purchase a level 1 license for every integration, such as the load balancer, HAProxy, and the MSSP. And if you want to use vSAN, that's another license. Then, of course, Tanzu Observability has its own separate license."

"Different locations require different setups. In your terms, around 300 to around 400K USD."

"I don't have the details. In our case, there is a mixture in place. We have production usage, and we are also doing training for VMware. So, we also have a training instance. It is worth the money you would spend on it. That's because if you were to build all of this yourself by using some of the open source tools, then you would need a lot of time."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Government

Manufacturing Company

University

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Computer Software Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	10

Questions from the Community

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VMware Tanzu Observability by Wavefront?

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What needs improvement with VMware Tanzu Observability by Wavefront?

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What is your primary use case for VMware Tanzu Observability by Wavefront?

I have been involved in several projects where I had to implement automation and monitoring alerting. I performed automation using VMware Aria Operations for Applications. There is an automation ta...

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

January 2026

Download SolarWinds AppOptics product report

Buyer's Guide

VMware Aria Operations for Applications

December 2025

VMware Aria Operations for Applications report

Download VMware Aria Operations for Applications product report

Also Known As

AppOptics, SolarWinds TraceView, Librato

Tanzu Observability, Wavefront, Wavefront by VMware, VMware Tanzu Observability

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

VMware Tanzu Observability by Wavefront is a powerful tool for monitoring and analyzing the performance and availability of applications and infrastructure in real-time.

With its comprehensive monitoring capabilities, visualizing and analyzing data becomes effortless. The real-time alerting system ensures timely issue resolution, while scalability and a user-friendly interface provide a seamless experience for smooth operations.

Broadcom

Sample Customers

TraxoCovea Insurance BTE TechnologyDatarista

1. Atlassian 2. Cisco 3. Databricks 4. DigitalOcean 5. Equinix 6. Fidelity Investments 7. Google 8. Hewlett Packard Enterprise 9. Honeywell 10. IBM 11. Intel 12. JetBlue Airways 13. LinkedIn 14. Lyft 15. Mastercard 16. Microsoft 17. MongoDB 18. Netflix 19. Nvidia 20. Oracle 21. PayPal 22. Pinterest 23. Qualcomm 24. Red Hat 25. Salesforce 26. SAP 27. Spotify 28. Square 29. TMobile 30. Twitter 31. Uber 32. VMware

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds AppOptics vs. VMware Aria Operations for Applications

January 2026

Free Report: SolarWinds AppOptics vs. VMware Aria Operations for Applications

Find out what your peers are saying about SolarWinds AppOptics vs. VMware Aria Operations for Applications and other solutions. Updated: January 2026.

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