SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer vs WhatsUp Gold comparison

SolarWinds and Progress Software are both solutions in the Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) category. SolarWinds is ranked #4 with an average rating of 7.8, while Progress Software is ranked #12 with an average rating of 8.7. SolarWinds holds a 5.1% mindshare in NTA, compared to Progress Software’s 0.4% 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

1,825 Views
584 Comparison Views

83% willing to recommend

WhatsUp Gold

Read 25 WhatsUp Gold reviews

2,686 Views
27 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 2025).

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer vs. WhatsUp Gold

September 2025

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Helped 872,029 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)

4th

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)

12th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (31st), Network Monitoring Software (32nd), Server Monitoring (16th), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (30th), Configuration Management (17th), Log Management (28th), Cloud Monitoring Software (23rd)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) category, the mindshare of SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is 5.1%, down from 6.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of WhatsUp Gold is 0.4%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer	5.1%
WhatsUp Gold	0.4%
Other	94.5%

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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Tom Condo

Supervisor Information Services Operations at Seminole County Public Schools

If CPU, memory, or disk space is over-utilized, it alerts us immediately via text or email if there is an issue

When it comes to the intuitiveness of the topology mapping feature, our network architect created a vision diagram of our entire network and then created the links tied into the WhatsUp active monitoring to different spots on our topology map. It's one of the more critical functions we do here. We have the map displayed in different places in our room and help desk. We get alerted via emails but we can also see it visually. It does what it says it's going to do. We find this feature very helpful. The interactive mapping interface for scrolling, zooming, and drilling down on an element to learn about a network issue is good. When we see a network there will sometimes be a spot that has one link. You can go into a particular part of the topology map, scroll in, and see exactly which module it is. All the information is provided. This feature really helps. You can see the correlation between that link and what failed. This feature is very helpful. The interface is fairly intuitive. Some of our users used SolarWinds and Nagios, and WhatsUp is easy in comparison. Once you get set up, the look, feel, and configuration are good. Our network architect had never used it before but he was able to create the Visio and map. It was very simple. He has no problems with it.

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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

"With SolarWinds, we are now able to accurately gauge bandwidth consumption."

"This tool provides insights into top utilization applications or it identifies which circuit or application is consuming the most on the complete one-gig circuit traffic path."

"NTA's most valuable feature is traffic analysis and visibility."

"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."

"For managing the traffic, it provides you a response about whether the traffic is down, up, or heavy, which is a very powerful feature. It has a good response time. We have been using this solution for many years, and we don't have any problem with this solution."

"I like that it is able to monitor multiple devices and it's vendor-agnostic."

"I would rate NetFlow Traffic Analyzer's stability ten out of ten."

"The bandwidth indicates the utilization of the devices; if any issue occurs, it triggers an alert for me."

More SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer pros

"The user interface is good enough."

"The tool's most valuable feature is the visibility it offers of everything in the network and infrastructure."

"The most valuable feature is the monitoring of resources."

"The interface in the last few years it has been a lot greater, they are much more user-friendly. I like the interface."

"The installation and configuration process are easy."

"The most valuable feature of WhatsUp Gold is NetFlow and the virtualized maps."

"It is stable."

"The documentation is very good."

More WhatsUp Gold pros

Cons

"Currently, it shows only the top ten applications or ports in use, while the remaining data appears as 'remaining traffic,' causing confusion."

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

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

"If your network is on SolarWinds, and you notice that the traffic is bad because it says "user downloading a heavy file," it doesn't indicate which endpoint is downloading those heavy files. SolarWinds doesn't have the tools to be able to handle this kind of situation. You can just notice through your network device that the traffic is becoming overwhelming or heavy, but you cannot go inside and get more details related to the endpoint where it is happening. We would like SolarWinds to be able to handle this kind of situation and even manage the traffic inside a network from the endpoint to the network device. These would be good enhancements. It is mostly stable. The problem comes only when we want to add another SolarWinds model. SolarWinds has so many models, and sometimes when we want to add other models on the platforms that are reserved for our firm, it freezes. When this happens, we have to create a new VM for that model."

"There is room for improvement when it comes to the traffic generated by the analyzer and the analysis of that traffic."

"The tool itself is very complicated, so training is required to handle it effectively."

"Technical support needs improvement."

"SolarWinds' technical support is ok, but it could be faster and more knowledgeable."

More SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer cons

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

"I might like to see a better interface in the future."

"Improvements are needed in integration, especially for WhatsApp call and messages. Our region heavily uses WhatsApp Messenger for communication, and integration with this platform would be beneficial."

"You have to invest a few days to become an expert in this solution."

"I would like to see better integration with switches so that you can see what is connected to each port, what the traffic is, and have a network map automatically generated."

"The interface needs some work."

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

"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."

More WhatsUp Gold cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We have licenses for SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer. In terms of pricing, its license is not that expensive versus other tools such as HP."

"NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is reasonably priced."

"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."

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

"We pay yearly, and we are happy with its price."

"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."

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

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

More SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer pricing and cost advice

"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."

"The price of WhatsUp Gold is good."

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

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

"The choice of version depends on the number of points, or devices, that you want to monitor, and this makes the product expensive."

"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."

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

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

More WhatsUp Gold pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

16%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Computer Software Company

10%

Healthcare Company

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Government

11%

Computer Software 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 do you like most about WhatsUp Gold?

The interactive mapping interface for scrolling, zooming, and drilling down on an element to learn about a network issue is good. When we see a network there will sometimes be a spot that has one l...

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

Comparisons

Zabbix vs SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

Compared 16% of the time

Darktrace vs SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

Compared 13% of the time

Wireshark vs SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

Compared 10% of the time

SolarWinds NPM vs SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

Compared 9% of the time

Plixer Scrutinizer vs SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

Compared 9% of the time

More SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer Competitors

Grafana vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 11% of the time

PRTG Network Monitor vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 11% of the time

SolarWinds NPM vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 9% of the time

ManageEngine OpManager vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 7% of the time

Zabbix vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 6% of the time

More WhatsUp Gold Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

October 2025

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer report

Download SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer product report

Buyer's Guide

WhatsUp Gold

October 2025

Download WhatsUp Gold product report

Also Known As

Netflow Traffic Analyzer

No data available

Overview

SolarWinds Netflow Traffic Analyzer enables you to capture data from continuous streams of network traffic and convert those raw numbers into easy-to-interpret charts and tables that quantify exactly how the corporate network is being used, by whom, and for what purpose.

SolarWinds

Explore and manage your entire network infrastructure effortlessly with WhatsUp Gold's robust layer 2/3 discovery, creating a detailed interactive map from the edge to the cloud. Monitor devices, wireless controllers, servers, virtual machines, applications, and traffic flows across various environments. Real-time alerts ensure optimal performance, allowing you to meet or exceed SLAs. The platform offers customizable maps, dashboards, and alerts for easy network management. Quickly resolve issues with intuitive workflows, reducing Mean Time to Resolution (MTTR). WhatsUp Gold's integrated log management provides easy visibility and control of device log data, allowing monitoring, filtering, searching, and alerting on syslogs or Windows logs. Archive logs to comply with regulatory requirements and preserve historical data, all through a user-friendly interface. Streamline network monitoring and issue resolution with WhatsUp Gold, making network management efficient and hassle-free.

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 2025

Free Report: SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer vs. WhatsUp Gold

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