SolarWinds Network Device Monitor vs vRealize Network Insight comparison

SolarWinds and Broadcom are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. SolarWinds is ranked #27 with an average rating of 7.9, while Broadcom is ranked #34 with an average rating of 8.3. SolarWinds holds a 0.8% mindshare in NMS, compared to Broadcom’s 0.7% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of SolarWinds users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 89% of Broadcom users who would recommend it.

SolarWinds Network Device M...

Read 23 SolarWinds Network Device Monitor reviews

1,335 Views
1,295 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

vRealize Network Insight

Read 47 vRealize Network Insight reviews

2,191 Views
1,556 Comparison Views

89% willing to recommend

SolarWinds Network Device M...

vRealize Network Insight

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 2024

SolarWinds Network Device Monitor and vRealize Network Insight compete in the network management domain. vRealize Network Insight offers a more comprehensive feature set, making it preferable for robust network analysis.

Features: SolarWinds Network Device Monitor provides real-time device monitoring, simplified alarms, and SNMP support. vRealize Network Insight includes advanced analytics, historical data analysis, and traffic optimization.

Room for Improvement: SolarWinds Network Device Monitor could improve with enhanced analytics, better scalability, and more comprehensive reporting. vRealize Network Insight might benefit from a simpler deployment process, reduced costs, and increased user-friendliness.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is known for quick setup and ease of use, making it suitable for rapid deployment. vRealize Network Insight requires a more involved deployment process but offers extensive VMware support.

Pricing and ROI: SolarWinds Network Device Monitor has competitive pricing, appealing to smaller networks. vRealize Network Insight justifies its higher cost with extensive features, supporting larger infrastructures for long-term ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed SolarWinds Network Device Monitor vs. vRealize Network Insight Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds Network Device Monitor vs. vRealize Network Insight

December 2025

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Helped 881,176 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 Network Device M...

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

27th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

vRealize Network Insight

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

34th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

IT Infrastructure Monitoring (38th)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is 0.8%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of vRealize Network Insight is 0.7%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
SolarWinds Network Device Monitor	0.8%
vRealize Network Insight	0.7%
Other	98.5%

Network Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

Sorin Gogean

IT Infrastructure Senior Network Technician at Autoliv

Offers some features but needs better customization and analysis tools

There are solutions that can perform better, but due to pricing for our corporate implementation, we had to stay with this solution. It accomplishes the necessary tasks, but there is room for improvement. The features are not as customizable as we would prefer, but they are workable. If configured properly, you can perform a drill-down analysis. However, I have not used this feature much for our infrastructure on the network side.

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Shaijith KB

Senior System Specialist at General Directorate of Residence and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA)

Comprehensive management and detailed reports benefit operations while improvements are needed in support and maintenance

We have Tanzu and OpenShift. We have OpenShift, Canonical, and the Tanzu one. The Tanzu platform from VMware is a Kubernetes platform. We haven't completely installed Tanzu yet; we installed the vROps part. vRealize Network Insight is beneficial because you can control the East-West traffic. vRealize has a component called NSX, which has East-West traffic controlling and micro-segmentation, that is one of the best options, and we have the layer extension, layer 2 extension possible through NSX. If you have anything accountable in any business, even in a candy business, having proper accountability on what you are selling and buying will save a lot. If you don't know what you're selling and buying, you will end up with a loss. My team does not use the flow analytics feature; we have a security and network monitoring team, which is a different SOC team. I am using it as an administrator internally. We perform different tasks including costing analysis, capacity management, and many other things. vRealize Network Insight has a concern about the maintenance part, as it requires a person to monitor it completely. It's not something you install and your report will be generated automatically. You have to work on this properly to get the insights. vRealize Network Automation, vRealize Operations, and vRealize Network Insight are completely related to the network. I cannot say much about these network aspects because I am on the operations side, but overall, the vRealize suite is good for reporting perspective or any ISO-related documentation; this is very helpful. The product is called vRealize Operations Manager, and now it is referred to as Aria or vAria. I am now a Senior System Specialist. We use different metrics because we have multiple departments, and we can monitor utilization and comparisons with the previous year. On a scale of one to ten, I rate this solution a seven.

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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

"Link monitoring is the most valuable feature of this solution."

"The initial setup is straightforward."

"The most valuable feature of SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is it shows you the utilization of devices to allow you to take proactive action before something goes down or reaches the saturation point. You can take proactive action to fix the problem before it occurs."

"The product is useful for switches and IP phones."

"I like the mapping that you could do and the dashboards were very pretty."

"The most valuable feature of SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is monitoring."

"Overall, I rate SolarWinds Network Device Monitor ten out of ten."

"The most valuable feature of SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is it can alert you when a device is not working."

More SolarWinds Network Device Monitor pros

"We're a smaller company so it automates a lot of the tasks and lets us focus in on building out our own solution. It's quicker, there is less building of manual solutions, and less downtime. It allows our developers to quickly develop, get provisioning done, de-provisioning, etc; the stuff that you would expect to be able to make it streamlined."

"The solution helps reduce time to value, increase performance, provide deep visibility, and easily manage networks."

"compare-to-competition; I would recommend the product. I don't think there is any other product like this on the market right now."

"The solution is extremely intuitive and user-friendly. When you log in to the application you are presented with a dashboard that is very reasonable for an initial user, and you can then customize it to your specific needs. But for all the data that we've found, we've only had to go through two or three drill-downs to get into that information."

"I like being able to see the flows coming in and out of the product. In terms of monitoring network flows, we use it to verify whether or not different servers/applications should be communicating with each other."

"It's a very powerful, very manageable product."

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

"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."

More vRealize Network Insight pros

Cons

"The solution is not user-friendly."

"It should provide user-friendly page"

"The initial setup of the SolarWinds Network Device Monitor could be easier. It took us approximately one month to complete the implementation."

"SolarWinds Network Device Monitor could improve by being more user-friendly. The network has so many features which make it difficult to find how to configure how to use it. It is not simple to customize."

"The solution lacks in performance monitoring."

"It would be beneficial if SolarWinds Network Device Monitor could provide a feature to monitor CRC errors specifically on individual interfaces rather than the entire device. This would help in detecting intermittent issues and packet drops on main links more accurately, especially when there are CRC errors. It's important for us to be aware of these issues to avoid any voice quality problems or interruptions on our MTS links."

"SolarWinds Network Device Monitor could improve the features. We don't have the complete model for the database, and the monitoring for the database is up and down. We expect that we could monitor the blocking items on the database but we don't have that feature."

"Although I haven't explored all of the features available, I wouldn't mind if the software were made to be a bit more customizable."

More SolarWinds Network Device Monitor cons

"There is room for improvement as not all cases are getting resolved, and we often do not get L3 support directly, having to go through L1 and L2, resulting in delays that usually are a headache for us."

"There are some random glitches in the Web UI, but they are usually pretty cosmetic in nature. I don't really seem to use any browser other than Chrome with it. I also get some weird errors from time to time on the hardware NetFlow Collectors, where it doesn't sync data."

"Since Broadcom acquired VMware, it has been experiencing challenges. Many sales processes are not well defined."

"There's enough information there, especially in the visualizations, but I would love to see this in a kiosk mode, where I could have a dashboard for interested stakeholders to see and appreciate what's going on. Then, moving on to a more practical level for our Help Desk, our operations team could benefit by seeing, in real-time, a visual view of the network."

"While it's not exactly a feature, what normally happens when we are trying to look at the VM flow portion is - although Network Insight does have options to integrate a few physical switches into it - we can't really get an end-to-end flow of the network. We might be using a few switches that are not supported by Network Insight. That is where they can improve, in the support for more physical switches and network devices."

"I want to see more in terms of microsegmentation. As of now, I can see the rules, but they are not in a readable format that I can convert to microsegmentation and can fit into NSX Manager."

"There could be some deeper analytics into packet inspection and trace flows. It could use some kind of machine learning to look at Layer 7 traffic for potential malware or corrupt packets."

"The product is slightly complex use, while still being user-friendly. It could use more training modules, as it is not a straightforward product."

More vRealize Network Insight cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is not an expensive solution."

"I rate the product's price as three to three and a half or on a scale of one to ten, where one means low price, and ten means high price."

"When compared with other solutions SolarWinds is more expensive."

"I find the cost of SolarWinds Network Device Monitor reasonable for our company. Though, I'm not aware of the exact licensing cost."

"The enterprise license is good for the SolarWinds Network Device Monitor. However, it is expensive, they should reduce their price."

"Well, we had a perpetual license and the renewal was $20 to $25,000."

"The product is expensive."

"Thankfully, it doesn't take a lot of manpower to install and deploy."

More SolarWinds Network Device Monitor pricing and cost advice

"The solution has helped us to reduce time, increase performance, reduce costs, and even easily manage networks. We are probably seeing 10 to 20 percent labor savings because we are able to be very specific and focused on what we want to do. It ends up saving the customer money and makes us be more efficient on our cost deliveries."

"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."

"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."

"vRealize Network Insight is expensive."

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

"The solution has reduced the time that we spend on other products. For example, with NSX, we were able to quickly find things that we would normally spend days trying to figure out."

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

"It reduces costs. It takes something that may be challenging and makes it more usable and visual by being able to bring in tools, seeing what their impact is, such as microsegmentation and application rationalization, and seeing it quickly."

More vRealize Network Insight pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

15%

Computer Software Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Government

Manufacturing Company

14%

Computer Software Company

12%

Healthcare Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	14

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	11
Midsize Enterprise	9
Large Enterprise	41

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about SolarWinds Network Device Monitor?

I rate the product's initial setup process a nine on a scale of one to ten, where one means it is a difficult phase and ten is an easy process.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SolarWinds Network Device Monitor?

I am not a positive person regarding SolarWinds Network Device Monitor.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SolarWinds Network Device Monitor?

See all answers

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.

See all answers

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

In VMware you have to buy a separate license for it. We have VVF and VCF-type of licenses, and if you want to go with this NSX and sort of higher-end professional services, you need to go with VCF....

See all answers

What needs improvement with vRealize Network Insight?

There is room for improvement as not all cases are getting resolved, and we often do not get L3 support directly, having to go through L1 and L2, resulting in delays that usually are a headache for...

See all answers

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Compared 12% of the time

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Compared 7% of the time

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Compared 6% of the time

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Compared 6% of the time

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Compared 6% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds Network Device Monitor

January 2026

SolarWinds Network Device Monitor report

Download SolarWinds Network Device Monitor product report

Buyer's Guide

vRealize Network Insight

January 2026

Download vRealize Network Insight product report

Also Known As

Network Device Monitor

Arkin

Overview

Network Device Monitor is a free tool that makes it easy to monitor the real-time performance and health of a single device on your network with a desktop dashboard that alerts you when your device is in trouble.

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.

Broadcom

Sample Customers

Air Rarotonga

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

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds Network Device Monitor vs. vRealize Network Insight

December 2025

Free Report: SolarWinds Network Device Monitor vs. vRealize Network Insight

Find out what your peers are saying about SolarWinds Network Device Monitor vs. vRealize Network Insight and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.

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