SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer vs WhatsUp Gold comparison

Why PeerSpot?

SolarWinds and Progress Software are both solutions in the Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) category. SolarWinds is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.0, while Progress Software is ranked #13 with an average rating of 7.0. SolarWinds holds a 6.2% mindshare in NTA, compared to Progress Software’s 3.4% mindshare. Additionally, 83% of SolarWinds users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of Progress Software users who would recommend it.

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic ...

Read 43 SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer reviews

5,020 Views
2,108 Comparison Views

83% willing to recommend

WhatsUp Gold

Read 25 WhatsUp Gold reviews

16,207 Views
648 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic ...

WhatsUp Gold

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer and WhatsUp Gold based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer vs. WhatsUp Gold Report (Updated: September 2026).

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer vs. WhatsUp Gold

September 2026

Download the complete report

Helped 921,028 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

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic ...

Ranking in Network Traffic Analysis (NTA)

3rd

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

WhatsUp Gold

Ranking in Network Traffic Analysis (NTA)

13th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (44th), Network Monitoring Software (25th), Server Monitoring (18th), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (23rd), Configuration Management (22nd), Log Management (41st), Cloud Monitoring Software (27th)

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) category, the mindshare of SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is 6.2%, up from 4.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of WhatsUp Gold is 3.4%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer	6.2%
WhatsUp Gold	3.4%
Other	90.4%

Network Traffic Analysis (NTA)

Featured Reviews

Raja Xabi

Technical Manager at APRAL

Improved bandwidth management and network visibility have resulted in financial benefits and streamlined operations

There is always room for improvement in SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer, such as implementing instant reporting based on business intelligence reports and more granular filters in their dashboard to improve the GUI view and reporting. The licensing model of SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is always an issue for users because competitors offer unlimited and perpetual licenses, and SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer's model is quite costly compared to other brands. If users are comfortable with SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer, they have to make the hard decision to invest, and it's suggested from a user's perspective that SolarWinds should improve their financial model and licensing to become competitive, especially for small to medium businesses.

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Erik Cheng

Technical Manager at Quan Hung Gourmet

Efficient monitoring with detailed customization, yet complexity remains

The best feature of WhatsUp Gold is the automatic generation of topology and its integration with virtualization and wireless. I have used the automated device discovery with this topology feature. The interactive map feature helps me manage the topology because sometimes we cannot draw the topology correctly, so we need to manually edit the connections. The alerting system is very tunable and customizable, but it's a little complicated to use. Many customers cannot manage it by themselves and need support from us, the provider. We always use the dashboards in the SOC, where we constantly display a dashboard or multiple dashboards. This allows us to know immediately if the connection or bandwidth is full or if the connection is broken.

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 bandwidth monitoring functionality is one of the most important features for our customers. When the customer notices that their bandwidth usage is too high for some reason, they will use the traffic analysis within SolarWinds NTA to identify which protocols (e.g. HTTPS) or applications are using up the bandwidth."

"We conduct network traffic analysis for a couple of key reasons. First, we look for traffic anomalies, such as unexpected increases or decreases in network traffic within specific segments. This helps us determine if the network needs to be re-architected."

"The most valuable feature is the alarm that is set up to trigger based on bandwidth utilization."

"What my organization likes best about SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is its easy deployment."

"The program is scalable enough for our usage."

"The network performance monitor I have embedded has been able to give me a customized dashboard."

"What my organization likes best about SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is its easy deployment. It's also well-integrated in terms of monitoring because my organization also uses a SolarWinds solution for monitoring. You can connect SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer directly to that monitoring tool to get information. My organization also finds the default graphs that appear before the configuration in SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer very useful."

"The solution's most valuable feature is its traffic analysis."

More SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer pros

"It's a good product, and if one has the expertise to use it, it will be a good investment and it will help IT to save and plan for the future."

"The most valuable feature is the auto-discovery function."

"Their tech support is very good."

"The best feature of WhatsUp Gold is the automatic generation of topology and its integration with virtualization and wireless."

"It handles the basics of monitoring."

"There is a flow monitor option, so we can trace the source IP, the destination IP, and top talker feature in this."

"The product is reasonably priced."

"It is stable."

More WhatsUp Gold pros

Cons

"It's not a cheap product, so the pricing could be improved."

"An area for improvement in SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is the dashboarding. The user interface also has room for improvement because it's currently clunky."

"There are some areas for improvement in SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer. There are some challenges with the solution when compared to other monitoring tools such as difficulty in operations and difficulty with backup installation. My team is currently trying out different solutions but would need to see how it goes."

"One area that we struggle with is the price. Because the price of this solution is so high, we are largely unable to introduce it into the local market, and only the banking sector has the means to afford it."

"The pricing is expensive."

"The licensing model of SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is always an issue for users because competitors offer unlimited and perpetual licenses, and SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer's model is quite costly compared to other brands."

"I would like to see more training videos and additional material for learning how to use this solution."

"What needs improvement in SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is performance because sometimes, my team struggles too much for the solution to perform correctly for a specific deployment in my organization. Having a more detailed view in SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is another area for improvement, but that's more part of the protocol than the actual solution."

More SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer cons

"Adding on services increases the cost and on the version we have there is no option for ATM monitoring."

"The point system is not clear and clarity around this would improve our understanding of the system."

"Users want SMS available via Whatsapp Gold. They don't want to go through third party SMS servers. The solution should work to make this possible."

"I haven't had any issue with stability, except during the upgrade to 2017 when we encountered slow responses."

"The product is old and not updated."

"This product should add other options for monitoring. It does not currently meet the broader needs of the banking industry in the version we have deployed."

"WhatsUp Gold should work on real-time monitoring and configuration management. If they succeed in doing this, the solution will cover all the network troubleshooting aspects and will be a benefit."

"Integrations with other devices. I want to have a product that has full integration with my active directory so I can track user activity. I want to track my complete user activity, so I'm looking for a product to implement in the near future, which will have full integration with my network and active directory users. It became very difficult to track user activity."

More WhatsUp Gold cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing for this solution is based on the number of nodes."

"Pricing for SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is very high. I have a customer that needs the solution but doesn't have the budget for SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer because the problem is that you can't use the solution only. You have to buy requirements such as the SolarWinds NPM first, and some companies don't have the budget for all the required components and modules. SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer can cost up to $10,000, and some customers don't have that budget. Another product has all the modules that SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer has, with a very low price, that can be a replacement, which is ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer. PRTG is another solution that can replace SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer."

"NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is reasonably priced."

"While the pricing is fair, it could be better."

"The pricing is really good."

"The price of this solution is exceptional."

"For our environment, we pay approximately $25,000 USD yearly."

"Licensing for SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is paid yearly, and there are no additional costs that you need to pay apart from the standard licensing fees because you don't need to purchase another solution to make SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer work. Pricing for SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is more expensive than other solutions."

More SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer pricing and cost advice

"This is a well priced solution."

"The pricing can be on the expensive side when considering competing products."

"I'm not sure, but it's expensive. We don't pay any additional fees."

"The most valuable feature is the cost compared to other solutions."

"There are some subscription charges that are quite heavy. I need to pay for support every year and these charges can be quite expensive. Aside from the initial cost for the tool, you need to pay additionally for support."

"It is per device, per year. The pricing is very clear. If you have a service agreement, you get all of your major upgrades and minor upgrades. It was under $10,000 to go all-in with all of the different add-ons for it."

"There is a license needed to use WhatsUp Gold."

"Pricing is reasonable compared to other products."

More WhatsUp Gold pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) solutions are best for your needs.

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Outsourcing Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

14%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Healthcare Company

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Comms Service Provider

Outsourcing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	13
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	26

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	14

Questions from the Community

What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?

I have worked from 1973 with all kind of systems in large enterprises across the world. And have experience with all kind of software in monitoring from infra to end to end, it depends on the funct...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer?

The licensing model of SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is always an issue for users because competitors offer unlimited and perpetual licenses, and SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer's model i...

See all answers

What needs improvement with SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer?

Regarding improvement, the application monitoring capabilities are not exceptional. If SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer could improve in that area, it would be helpful. It is less AIOps driven a...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for WhatsUp Gold?

Clients find the licensing calculator confusing, but we simplify this for them by collecting relevant information first. The licensing is based on devices, providing better cost-effectiveness than ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with WhatsUp Gold?

It would be great if WhatsUp Gold could add features that simplify management with AI, as it is currently too complicated to manage.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for WhatsUp Gold?

My use case for WhatsUp Gold includes all device availability checks, bandwidth usage, CPU, and memory usage, as well as alarm notifications.

See all answers

Comparisons

NETSCOUT Network & Application Observability vs SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

Compared 8% of the time

Wireshark vs SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

Compared 6% of the time

ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer vs SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

Compared 6% of the time

Plixer Scrutinizer vs SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

Compared 6% of the time

Cisco Secure Network Analytics vs SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

Compared 5% of the time

More SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer Competitors

Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 3% of the time

PRTG Network Monitor vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 3% of the time

SolarWinds NPM vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 2% of the time

SCOM vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 2% of the time

Splunk Enterprise Security vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 2% of the time

More WhatsUp Gold Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

October 2026

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer report

Download SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer product report

Buyer's Guide

WhatsUp Gold

October 2026

Download WhatsUp Gold product report

Also Known As

Netflow Traffic Analyzer

No data available

Overview

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer provides comprehensive bandwidth analysis and traffic visibility, offering real-time insights and proactive alerting to manage networks effectively.

Renowned for its extensive monitoring capabilities across diverse devices, SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer integrates seamlessly with other SolarWinds tools, enhancing network visibility and troubleshooting. Users benefit from customizable dashboards, detailed application tracking, and historical performance analysis. The tool is pivotal in managing network issues and ensuring network stability, although it faces some challenges in improving automation, third-party integration, and pricing flexibility.

What are the key features of SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer?

Bandwidth Analysis: Provides detailed insights into bandwidth consumption.
Traffic Visibility: Offers extensive monitoring of devices across vendor types.
Customizable Dashboards: Users can create tailored dashboards for specific needs.
Application Tracking: Delivers in-depth tracking of application performance.
Historical Performance Analysis: Allows thorough investigation of past network issues.

What benefits or ROI should users consider?

Real-Time Insights: Enables prompt detection of network issues.
Proactive Alerting: Alerts facilitate quick response to potential problems.
Enhanced Troubleshooting: Tools integration aids in faster problem resolution.
Capacity Planning: Assists in forecasting and managing bandwidth needs.
Comprehensive Reporting: Generates detailed reports for informed decision-making.

In industries requiring extensive network management, SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is widely implemented for monitoring network performance and traffic analysis. Organizations use it to supervise bandwidth consumption and assess site connections, aiding in bandwidth-heavy application analyses. It is crucial for generating reports and maintaining network stability, supporting capacity planning and endpoint monitoring to manage infrastructure proactively.

SolarWinds

WhatsUp Gold stands out with its comprehensive network monitoring, dynamic mapping, and real-time alerts, offering essential tools for managing extensive IT infrastructures.

WhatsUp Gold provides robust capabilities in network visibility through dynamic mapping and NetFlow analysis. The platform's interactive topology aids in pinpointing issues effectively. Auto-discovery ensures complete network device tracking. While offering an intuitive interface and integration with Cisco ServiceNow, users find server performance monitoring useful for incident handling. However, improvements are anticipated in application monitoring and Active Directory integration. The pricing model and customization options leave room for enhancement. Despite these, users benefit from its integrated dashboards for immediate device health checks and network updates, making it beneficial for large-scale infrastructure management.

What features does WhatsUp Gold offer?

Network Monitoring: Provides continuous oversight of network components
Dynamic Mapping: Offers visual representation of network topology
NetFlow Analysis: Delivers insights into bandwidth utilization
Threshold Alerts: Notifies users upon reaching set performance thresholds
Auto-Discovery: Detects devices automatically for complete network coverage

What benefits should users expect from reviews?

Comprehensive Visibility: Enhanced understanding of network elements
Real-Time Monitoring: Immediate insights into network and device status
Cost-Effectiveness: Competitive solution suitable for expansive networks
User-Friendly Interface: Simplifies the management of complex networks

Organizations in sectors like telecommunications, education, and healthcare utilize WhatsUp Gold for their network monitoring needs. Telecom companies track switches and routers, educational institutions manage bandwidth usage, and healthcare facilities monitor device availability to ensure seamless operations.

Progress Software

Sample Customers

Oceaneering International, Asia Pacific Network Information Centre, 335th Signal Command, Immofori

Artoni Trasporti, Austin Independent School District, Banca Marche, Burke County North Carolina, Cambridge University School of Clinical Medicine, Clayco, Community Integrated Care, Desca, Deutsche Bergbau, Flexi-Van, Gropper, Hamleys, Hammonds Furniture, Knowledge IT, Idras S.P.A., Sibeg, Swann Engineering, Trivium Lindenhof

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer vs. WhatsUp Gold

September 2026

Free Report: SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer vs. WhatsUp Gold

Find out what your peers are saying about SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer vs. WhatsUp Gold and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.

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