SolarWinds NPM vs Zenoss Cloud comparison

SolarWinds and Zenoss are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. SolarWinds is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.5, while Zenoss is ranked #70. SolarWinds holds a 3.7% mindshare in NMS, compared to Zenoss’s 0.8% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of SolarWinds users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Zenoss users who would recommend it.

SolarWinds NPM

Read 160 SolarWinds NPM reviews

18,343 Views
14,124 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Zenoss Cloud

Read 8 Zenoss Cloud reviews

4,409 Views
2,160 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

SolarWinds NPM

Zenoss Cloud

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 9, 2024

Zenoss Cloud and SolarWinds NPM are competing in the network monitoring and management space. SolarWinds NPM seems to have the upper hand due to its extensive network monitoring capabilities that justify its price.

Features: Zenoss Cloud offers advanced monitoring, predictive analytics, and integration with various cloud services. SolarWinds NPM includes comprehensive network performance monitoring, detailed traffic analysis, and scalability options.

Room for Improvement: Zenoss Cloud could enhance its user interface, expand its on-premises solutions, and improve its cost-effectiveness for smaller businesses. SolarWinds NPM could work on reducing deployment complexity, offering more cloud-based solutions, and improving integration with third-party tools.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Zenoss Cloud is cloud-based for easier deployment and management, with responsive customer service focusing on tailored solutions. SolarWinds NPM is known for comprehensive support and a vast knowledge base, though its on-premises nature can extend deployment times.

Pricing and ROI: Zenoss Cloud generally has higher setup costs with a subscription-based model, promising favorable ROI with enhanced insights. SolarWinds NPM offers a more traditional licensing model with flexible pricing, leading to lower initial costs and varying ROI depending on usage.

To learn more, read our detailed SolarWinds NPM vs. Zenoss Cloud Report (Updated: April 2026).

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds NPM vs. Zenoss Cloud

April 2026

Download the complete report

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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 NPM

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

3rd

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

5th

Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software

8th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

160

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Zenoss Cloud

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

70th

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

54th

Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software

42nd

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Infrastructure (21st), Event Monitoring (13th), Server Monitoring (26th), Container Monitoring (8th), AIOps (26th)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of SolarWinds NPM is 3.7%, down from 4.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zenoss Cloud is 0.8%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
SolarWinds NPM	3.7%
Zenoss Cloud	0.8%
Other	95.5%

Network Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

Vivek Jaiswal

Manager IT at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Central monitoring has improved outage alerts and now needs smarter detection and modern dashboards

Regarding the automated network topology and mapping feature in SolarWinds NPM, I am not satisfied with it. For static monitoring, it is acceptable. However, if it is possible, I would need a feature in SolarWinds in the future for some kind of malfunctioning detection, such as malware attacks or that type of environment. We did not have any facility to detect that in SolarWinds. I think it would be better to incorporate those types of features. Regarding customization options in SolarWinds, the ability to customize the dashboard has room for improvement. The dashboard is quite old, and we need some improvement in it. Nowadays, we have multiple tools with AI-based monitoring and web-based dashboards. SolarWinds also has a web-based dashboard, but I think there is scope for improvement in the UI. There may be other areas I would like to improve in SolarWinds NPM.

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ClaudiaChen

Cloud Architect - Senior Technology Architect at Telstra

Generates close to real-time alerts so users can resolve issues, but needs more integration and public cloud monitoring features

As Zenoss Service Dynamics is more for network-centric devices and you want to monitor, for example, a server, its services, IP addresses, and interfaces, if it's a network and you're going to monitor multiple items, you'll be charged multiple times. This is what Zenoss Service Dynamics needs to improve to make sure that customers pay just one fee to monitor the entire server. What I'd like to see in Zenoss Service Dynamics in the future is a public cloud monitoring feature, particularly for the Azure public cloud. Another additional feature I'd like to see in the next release of the solution is integration with the Azure public cloud because I know that there are some services from Azure that Zenoss Service Dynamics is currently unable to monitor.

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

"SolarWinds is user-friendly with a manageable console."

"This solution has improved our organization because it saves time, in that I do not need to visit every workstation in order to update it, as I can do everything remotely, including running PowerShell scripts or performing standard updates, and I can also help customers remotely."

"The most valuable feature is the graphical user interface."

"The ease of deployment is great."

"SolarWinds NPM has a colorful UI and many easy-to-use features. It does not need to be configured as much and is also easy to install."

"Quick to launch. No agents required. Many configuration options."

"With just three modules, I can monitor server performance (whether it’s a VM, in the cloud, or an on-premises server."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is the alerts."

More SolarWinds NPM pros

"The custom built integration is one of the most valuable features because you can see all the especially critical items."

"The most valuable feature is the flexible discovery mechanism."

"Overall, it's a great solution, and I consider it to be one of the best."

"They have also accommodated many state-of-the-art technologies like Docker and ZooKeeper."

"Its Docker Container concept is mind blowing. It is the first monitoring tool which comes with Docker features."

"Zenoss is more complex than LogicMonitor, but scalable and hugely customizable."

"What I like most about Zenoss Service Dynamics is that it monitors the devices and gives close to real-time alerts. For example, in case the device is not available, Zenoss Service Dynamics generates an alert so my team can resolve the issue."

"The product offers good documentation that helps with initial training."

More Zenoss Cloud pros

Cons

"The integration with the APIs and the web servers deployed can definitely be improved."

"There are still huge concerns about security."

"User Interface needs improvement as it is not very attractive."

"Wireless monitoring needs improvement. We need to get a little bit more information from the thin clients or wireless LAN controllers than we already do."

"The only real caveat that we have or that I have an issue with is when I go on vacation, it's a little hard for me to go and modify alerts so that I don't get alerted about things when I'm on vacation."

"The solution's network discovery and node addition processes need more work."

"We do see issues, but not so many major ones."

"We decided that we were no longer going to trust that their products have not been capitalized."

More SolarWinds NPM cons

"There is room for improvement with the administrative part. The administrative part, since they introduced Docker, etc., has become a little complex."

"The AI aspect needs to improve."

"As Zenoss Service Dynamics is more for network-centric devices and you want to monitor, for example, a server, its services, IP addresses, and interfaces, if it's a network and you're going to monitor multiple items, you'll be charged multiple times. This is what Zenoss Service Dynamics needs to improve to make sure that customers pay just one fee to monitor the entire server. What I'd like to see in Zenoss Service Dynamics in the future is a public cloud monitoring feature, particularly for the Azure public cloud. Another additional feature I'd like to see in the next release of the solution is integration with the Azure public cloud because I know that there are some services from Azure that Zenoss Service Dynamics is currently unable to monitor."

"There is room for improvement with the administrative part. They introduced Control Center to manage things in Zenoss 5. The services that Zenoss provides remained the same, but the administrative part, since they introduced Docker, etc., has become a little complex"

"This solution is complex for beginners so it takes some time to learn."

"The AI aspect needs to improve."

"There was a problem with Zenoss and storage monitoring."

"Now it is stable, but they should design threshold parameters in percentage instead of raw values."

More Zenoss Cloud cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is expensive."

"SolarWinds is expensive. That's why it's primarily banks using the solution. Small businesses can't afford it. Due to its pricing, most smaller enterprises like manufacturing companies are not interested. For example, we have a client who is also interested in traffic monitoring, but they are not purchasing SolarWinds because of the cost."

"We pay approximately $4,000 annually for SolarWinds NPM. There are no additional fees required other than the standard fees."

"We pay approximately $700 per year for renewal of the license."

"We pay a yearly licensing fee."

"The pricing is in the middle. It's not particularly cost-effective, but it's not overly expensive either."

"Most of the licenses are perpetual, and the annual maintenance charges are not high."

"Our customer reports that the solution is somewhat costly and licensing is a bit complicated."

More SolarWinds NPM pricing and cost advice

"There are additional costs you'll have to pay apart from the license fee for Zenoss Service Dynamics. I can't remember exactly how much my company is paying because I don't handle the finance part, but the cost is paid annually. On a scale of one to five, with one being the cheapest and five being the most expensive, I'm rating the solution three out of five."

"The pricing depends on the environment, the number of services, and the size of the data center. It can go from $100,000 to a million dollars."

"It depends on the customer, what he wants."

"It is very cost-effective compared to the tools I worked with in the past. The company is gaining a lot with respect to the cost factor. It provides agentless monitoring and in a very cheap way."

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Comparison Review

it_user174738

IT Developer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

May 31, 2015

Nagios vs. Zabbix vs. PRTG vs. Spiceworks vs. Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor

I have researched a quite a few network monitoring tools which can be used for various monitoring purposes of not only the servers, but the intermediate routers as well. There are majorly three types of these softwares. Ones which are completely open-source, you can do almost anything you want…

Read full review

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Government

Computer Software Company

Comms Service Provider

Construction Company

Manufacturing Company

Transportation Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	59
Midsize Enterprise	33
Large Enterprise	85

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Large Enterprise	5

Questions from the Community

What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?

It actually depends on the exact purpose or kind of devices (network devices, servers, something else). Some tools are better for only network devices while others are better for a cloud monitoring...

See all answers

What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?

From my point of view, SolarWind is the best tool.

See all answers

What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?

We are partners with SolarWinds and we sell a lot of Network management to large enterprises also because of scalability, products like Network Performance Monitor & Netflow Traffic Analyzer ar...

See all answers

What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?

In my experience, I worked with many monitoring software, but the one that gave me the most functionalities of a large-scale company is Zenoss, due to its ability to monitor completely hybrid and a...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 4% of the time

Nagios XI vs SolarWinds NPM

Compared 3% of the time

DX Spectrum vs SolarWinds NPM

Compared 3% of the time

Zabbix vs SolarWinds NPM

Compared 3% of the time

Entuity vs SolarWinds NPM

Compared 2% of the time

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Zabbix vs Zenoss Cloud

Compared 6% of the time

Nagios XI vs Zenoss Cloud

Compared 4% of the time

Microsoft System Center vs Zenoss Cloud

Compared 3% of the time

Dynatrace vs Zenoss Cloud

Compared 3% of the time

PRTG Network Monitor vs Zenoss Cloud

Compared 2% of the time

More Zenoss Cloud Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds NPM

April 2026

Download SolarWinds NPM product report

Buyer's Guide

Zenoss Cloud

April 2026

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Also Known As

Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor, SolarWinds Network Bandwidth Analyzer

Cloud Monitoring, Zenoss Service Dynamics

Overview

SolarWinds NPM is a network performance monitoring tool offering a user-friendly interface with customizable dashboards. It provides real-time tracking of device health, latency, and bandwidth utilization, supporting diverse integration and scalability needs.

SolarWinds NPM's robust features include real-time monitoring of network performance and efficient tracking of device health, latency, and bandwidth utilization. The tool is appreciated for its ease of deployment, scalability, and support for integration with other tools. Features like SNMP monitoring, NetPath, and comprehensive reporting enhance its diagnostic capabilities and network visibility. However, users identify areas for improvement such as real-time analytics, advanced customization options, and enhanced scalability for larger enterprises. Better customer support, improved integrations, and security measures are also desired.

What are the key features of SolarWinds NPM?

User-Friendly Interface: Simplifies navigation and operation.
Customizable Dashboards: Allows personalized data views.
Real-Time Monitoring: Provides instant updates on network performance.
Strong Alerting Capabilities: Offers immediate notifications for issues.
Scalability: Supports growth with ease.
Integration: Works smoothly with other tools for comprehensive monitoring.
SNMP Monitoring: Tracks device stats effectively.
NetPath: Helps visualize network paths and performance.

What benefits and ROI can users expect?

Improved Network Visibility: Enables proactive issue resolution.
Enhanced Diagnostics: Facilitates quicker troubleshooting.
Real-Time Performance Data: Supports informed decision-making.
Ease of Deployment: Reduces setup time and complexity.
Infrastructure Monitoring: Ensures network stability and reliability.
Custom Integration: Adapts to existing IT environments.

In enterprise environments, SolarWinds NPM is deployed to monitor network health and device status, sending alerts for any issues. It provides visibility into network performance, tracking bandwidth utilization and server metrics efficiently. Its applications span from monitoring routers, switches, and firewalls to supporting infrastructure monitoring across industries.

SolarWinds

Zenoss Cloud provides a comprehensive overview of IT environments, supporting cross-cloud functionality, scalability, and robust integrations. It offers dynamic monitoring through its intuitive dashboard and supports hybrid deployments across cloud and on-premises infrastructures.

Zenoss Cloud enables users to monitor network infrastructure and operator platforms efficiently. With features like agentless monitoring and real-time alerts, Zenoss Cloud integrates seamlessly with external systems such as ITSM tools. Its flexible functionality allows for the management of both on-premises and cloud infrastructures like AWS and Azure. Users benefit from easy setup and strong technical support, although they seek enhancements in AI capabilities and simpler installation. The pricing model and complexity for beginners and storage monitoring are areas for improvement.

What are the key features of Zenoss Cloud?

Dynamic Monitoring: Enhances user experience with real-time insights.
Cross-Cloud Functionality: Supports hybrid deployments across AWS and Azure.
Agentless Monitoring: Simplifies deployment with minimal overhead.
Scalability: Grows with your network's demands.
Custom Integration: Supports notifications and alerts tailored to user requirements.

What benefits should users expect from Zenoss Cloud?

Time Efficiency: Quick setup and operation save resources.
Comprehensive Support: Extensive documentation streamlines troubleshooting.
Cost-effective Monitoring: Prevents multiple charges in server monitoring.
Enhanced User Experience: Offers seamless integration with existing IT infrastructures.

Zenoss Cloud is widely used in monitoring solutions for industries including technology and data centers. It supports direct monitoring of systems like vSphere and NetApp, making it ideal for IT operations and managed services. Integration with tools such as ServiceNow and SolarWinds aligns it with diverse IT environments.

Zenoss

Sample Customers

Microsoft, Federal Express, Hewlett-Packard, and MasterCard

2degrees, Rackspace, State of North Dakota, El Paso Independent School District, NWN Corporation

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds NPM vs. Zenoss Cloud

April 2026

Free Report: SolarWinds NPM vs. Zenoss Cloud

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