SolarWinds Network Automation Manager vs vRealize Network Insight comparison

SolarWinds and VMware are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. SolarWinds is ranked #106, while VMware is ranked #34 with an average rating of 8.8. SolarWinds holds a 0.1% mindshare in NMS, compared to VMware’s 0.6% mindshare. Additionally, 50% of SolarWinds users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 89% of VMware users who would recommend it.

SolarWinds Network Automati...

Read 2 SolarWinds Network Automation Manager reviews

159 Views
76 Comparison Views

50% willing to recommend

vRealize Network Insight

Read 46 vRealize Network Insight reviews

1,328 Views
540 Comparison Views

89% willing to recommend

SolarWinds Network Automati...

vRealize Network Insight

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 2024

vRealize Network Insight and SolarWinds Network Automation Manager are competing in network management and visibility. vRealize Network Insight seems to have the upper hand in analytics and visualization, whereas SolarWinds Network Automation Manager excels in automation features.

Features: vRealize Network Insight offers advanced analytics, comprehensive flow-based monitoring, and enhanced troubleshooting capabilities. SolarWinds Network Automation Manager provides seamless network configuration, robust fault management, and extensive automation tools.

Room for Improvement: vRealize Network Insight could enhance its automation capabilities, expand its on-premise resource support, and improve integration with non-native systems. SolarWinds Network Automation Manager might aim to offer better analytics features, a more intuitive interface for non-technical users, and enhance its visualization tools.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: vRealize Network Insight provides flexible deployment options including cloud-based solutions, emphasizing ease of installation and scalability. Its customer service is highly rated. SolarWinds Network Automation Manager requires more on-premise resources but benefits from a strong support framework, providing users with ample assistance.

Pricing and ROI: vRealize Network Insight typically involves higher initial costs but offers substantial ROI due to its comprehensive features and network visibility. SolarWinds Network Automation Manager presents lower upfront costs, with a strong ROI appeal driven by its efficient automation and cost-effectiveness in network management.

To learn more, read our detailed SolarWinds Network Automation Manager vs. vRealize Network Insight Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds Network Automation Manager vs. vRealize Network Insight

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 Network Automati...

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

106th

Average Rating

5.6

Reviews Sentiment

8.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Automation (17th)

vRealize Network Insight

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

34th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

IT Infrastructure Monitoring (39th)

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of SolarWinds Network Automation Manager is 0.1%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of vRealize Network Insight is 0.6%, down from 1.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

Giulio Valeri

Owner at SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS SRL

Threat detection failures, poor technical support, and expensive

We use the solution to manage all of our customer's systems. We monitor and decide if everything is okay and if not, we do changes when needed. For example, if there is a need to change the antivirus software we can automate the process and install the new one. There are scripts within the software…

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NiteshKumar1

Principle consultant at Infosys

The tool's configuration is easy and artifacts are easily accessible through professional services and the web

The product is highly regarded, and many customers have been using it along with other VMware products like vSphere and VMware vCloud Usage Insight. However, recently, there's been a trend among customers, especially those using VMware for a considerable period, to explore the potential of migrating to the public cloud. The common concern among these customers is how the VMware products will perform in the public cloud environment. Migrating instances from VMware to different platforms is not easy, especially when dealing with many instances across multiple customers. Customers are keen to maintain the functionality of their existing VMware products but prefer to run them on the public cloud instead of on-premise servers. Our clients for vRealize Network Insight are enterprise businesses. I rate it a nine out of ten.

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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

"The installation is easy."

"The solution offers so many great resources, it makes them a powerhouse in the market."

"It allows us to see how the network devices function as well as to see network glitches or fluctuations or dropping of packets."

"The tool's ease of configuration and use and the availability of information and artifacts through professional services and the web are key factors that customers find valuable."

"If we deploy NSX it shows us how the workflow will flow in the organization, what the roadblocks are, and what we need to do to overcome those hurdles. When we run this product, it gives us reports which describe problems with physical switches. We work with the network team to get them all resolved."

"I find that the interface of most VMware products is very similar, which I consider an advantage due to its ease of use compared to other tools like Splunk."

"The most valuable feature for me is the different views that you can get when selecting an application or a VLAN. It shows you the traffic flows. It gives you a visual representation of something that, in text, just may not make as much sense."

"We haven't had any complaints about the stability of the solution or heard of any issues. None of our clients have mentioned running into bugs or glitches. There haven't been crashes."

"It helps a lot because, until now, we didn't have the tools to figure out the micro level, VM-to-VM kind of traffic; that was not in the current environment. We could not figure out VM-to-VM communication from the other tools. This is the tool which gives us end-to-end transparency."

"The initial was straightforward. You can have it up and running in one hour."

More vRealize Network Insight pros

Cons

"The price could be a bit lower."

"We did not like SolarWinds because it was not able to communicate between UPSA and our accounting system. They should have better integration."

"The UI, even though once you get to know it, it's easier, still it's hard to figure out by yourself. You have to go read, watch videos. It has a lot of data on it. So that is an issue."

"It just needs to be more reliable and more accurate. At some point, there are some things where it does not match properly."

"Support could be much better."

"It needs to be a little easier to use and to understand the information it's putting out. That would make it more helpful. If you're not a network person you need to understand things like network policies and concepts. If you gave it to a regular admin, it would be nice if it were easier for them to pick up what is going on, understand the flows and whether or not stuff should be talking to each other, as opposed to just port groups and IP addresses."

"When we talk about those micro-segmentation rules, there's an Export function. It is very macro-segmentation oriented instead. So if you choose an application, it will find the tiers within that application and say that it's communicating on, say, port 80 to a separate VLAN. There might be 200 machines in that other VLAN. You don't want to open port 80 at all of them. So we need a lot more granularity in those suggested firewall rules."

"If it had some kind of plugins with vSphere, more effective plugins with Horizon View or other VMWare products, if it had interconnectivity, I think it would be more effective than it is today."

"I would like to see more interoperability on the firewall and low balancer sides."

"If it were more application-aware, more descriptive; if it were able to determine the application that is actually doing the communication, that would be easier. More application information: which user or account it's accessing, is it accessing this application, doing these calls, if it is accessing a script, what script is it accessing. Things like that would provide deeper analytics so I can track what's going on. It would not just be, "These people shouldn't be talking," but who is actually doing these calls."

More vRealize Network Insight cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of SolarWinds Network Automation Manager is fair. However, it is more expensive than ConnectWise."

"It's a little expensive, but for what you're getting out of the product, you often see the trade-off. It depends on the type of licensing you have. It might be a little too pricey for some."

"They should include the product in NSX because it's important to have it for deployment."

"vRealize Network Insight is expensive."

"Cost always has room for improvement, you could always make it cheaper. But I think it's a good value for what you pay for it."

"I rate vRealize Network Insight's pricing a seven point five out of ten."

"It's an expensive product because we have a lot of nodes."

"It has brought more money into our company."

"We have spent less time investigating network flows, so it is absolutely cost-effective."

More vRealize Network Insight pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

33%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

15%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

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What do you like most about vRealize Network Insight?

The tool's ease of configuration and use and the availability of information and artifacts through professional services and the web are key factors that customers find valuable.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for vRealize Network Insight?

Broadcom is known for increasing product prices, making them expensive compared to what people used to pay. I liken the subscription model to not truly owning what you pay for.

See all answers

What needs improvement with vRealize Network Insight?

Right now, I do not see a specific area for improvement. My main concern is understanding the intentions of Broadcom, which has acquired VMware. Broadcom should improve by going back to what was wo...

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Also Known As

SolarWinds NAM

Arkin

Overview

Scale environments from 1,000 to tens of thousands of nodes with comprehensive performance, traffic, WAN, and switch port monitoring, automated change and configuration management, and IP address management in an integrated network automation software solution.

SolarWinds

VMware vRealize Network Insight delivers intelligent operations for software-defined networking and security. It helps customers build an optimized, highly-available and secure network infrastructure across multi-cloud environments. It accelerates micro-segmentation planning and deployment, enables visibility across virtual and physical networks and provides operational views to manage and scale VMware NSX deployments.

VMware

Sample Customers

Maalem Financing Company, School City of Hammond

NTTi3, VCIX-NV, VMware Networking and Security Business Unit, Illumio, CompuNet

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds Network Automation Manager vs. vRealize Network Insight

June 2025

Free Report: SolarWinds Network Automation Manager vs. vRealize Network Insight

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