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SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor vs Splunk ITSI (IT Service Intelligence) comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 24, 2024

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 Server and Appli...
Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability
18th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.0
Number of Reviews
42
Ranking in other categories
Server Monitoring (12th), Active Directory Management (10th)
Splunk ITSI (IT Service Int...
Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability
12th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
50
Ranking in other categories
IT Alerting and Incident Management (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category, the mindshare of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is 1.6%, down from 1.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Splunk ITSI (IT Service Intelligence) is 0.8%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability
 

Featured Reviews

Carlos Camargo - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides user-friendly API features and has straightforward deployment process
One product area that could benefit from improvement is the synchronization of licensing periods across different modules. The misalignment of licensing terms can present commercial challenges when adding new modules or additional pollers. Additionally, the granularity of polling times for specific components could be enhanced to better meet individual customers' needs without impacting the entire polling pool.
Srinivasulu Soolluru - PeerSpot reviewer
It speeds up incident response by automating alerts and ticket creation
When configuring a dashboard, we can write search criteria. Based on the search criteria, the dashboard shows all the alerts, including the alert time, creation time, and a summary description of the alert. When you add an extra column, such as the user that triggered the alert, the next time he refreshes the dashboard, he wants to know that the alert is acknowledged. We want to improve that comment feature. In the Service Analyzer, we monitor the network infrastructure services and have a KPI for each service. When the value exceeds the threshold value, we can add the colors. For example, we can set it to green when the threshold value is within the limit. If it is red, then the value has passed the threshold. We want more colors in the service analyzer to display all these features.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Features like monitoring and infrastructure dependency mapping are valuable to us."
"The solution has good alerts. Notifications are sent via email to technicians. You can filter the kinds of alerts you want to receive as well. It's excellent."
"One of the most valuable features are the reports. They're pretty good. Also, the ease of installation and customization for the client is another feature that we value. SolarWinds has a lot of features but these are the ones I like the most. We also like that the KPIs have the ability to be preset."
"SolarWinds SAM has provided us with dynamic thresholds based on historical trends and requirements. The threshold gets configured automatically, so it's no longer necessary to configure it manually every time."
"The most valuable feature is application monitoring."
"The most valuable feature of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is the network devices' performance monitor is the best."
"We manage SolarWinds ourselves without outsourcing its services."
"AppInsight. Provides a simple way to get very in-depth monitoring configured for our most popular applications. Exchange, SQL, and SharePoint."
"What I like the most is the event correlations. It's a file structure, and ITSI has a correlation layer where you can normalize the events from different sources. Once these events are normalized, you set up rules to aggregate them into different or the same attributes. After the rules are defined, you can automate the process to solve the issue automatically."
"The solution has been stable."
"ITSI's most valuable feature is that it's easy to integrate DLP."
"ITSI includes a feature called a glass table."
"The KPS used to automate the integration policy is the most valuable feature of Splunk ITSI."
"We liked the built-in calculation of health scores."
"I particularly appreciate two features of Splunk ITSI: data forwarding and the marketplace."
"Splunk ITSI helps us secure our environment by allowing us to create automatons that run when alerts are triggered."
 

Cons

"One product area that could benefit from improvement is the synchronization of licensing periods across different modules"
"One area that could benefit from improvement is its performance"
"There is one feature that is a report writer. And they are currently trying to take it out from being a stand-alone application and integrating to the web. This doesn't give us the flexibility and it doesn't expand what we can get when it comes to reporting. So, putting it on the web is going to make it difficult to get some information. Leaving it where it is now will help us a lot."
"It lacks a user experience for measuring things like the end-to-end time for which a user waits for a specific response in the system. In the application layer, it has some very basic stuff. You have to build your own with manuscripts and things like that."
"The setup was complex. We had local support to assist us."
"The tool’s report feature created issues for us. We needed to gain skills to use that feature. The tool’s customization is not easy since you have to reconfigure the whole system."
"The technical support team's response time could be improved."
"Application-based monitoring, such as monitoring within servers like Apache and IIS, has room for improvement."
"Quality-of-life features have room for improvement."
"We'd like them to show more inputs on the dashboard."
"One thing ITSI could improve on is the maintenance windows. I have a huge case where I had to implement something related to the maintenance window. If you try to look up the issues in ITSI, you have to check the incidents individually, and putting hundreds of hosts in maintenance can be a hindrance."
"We have problems doing upgrades and operating alternate new versions."
"The dashboard function inside the individual episodes, not at the ITSI Notable Event Aggregation Policy level but actually at the correlation search layer, is an area where improvements are required."
"We're getting alerts with delays of maybe five minutes, however, we'd like to see real-time alerting in the future."
"Integration is the most critical area to improve in Splunk IT Service Intelligence (ITSI). It wasn't a great experience because you had to do a little back and forth to integrate the solution."
"It would be good if an interface was included in the next release."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I would rate the pricing for this solution a three out of five."
"The solution is overpriced in terms of application management."
"When compared to other licensed models in the market, it stands out as one of the more cost-effective options."
"Price can always be lower. It is neither on the expensive side nor on the cheap side. We have worked with them for a lot of years, so we get a discount due to the size of the installation."
"We are on an annual license to use the solution. The price of the solution is expensive. The price is based on a bunch of factors, such as the number of engines and elements."
"The product is expensive."
"I like the pricing for this SolarWinds product."
"Pricing and licensing is fair for what you get. It does have a great bang-for-the-buck appeal."
"The licensing is based on data usage."
"The pricing of Splunk is a bit high."
"Splunk is pretty expensive, but it gives you a decent insight into the data. It is easy to learn, and ITSI has a great interface. You can run those queries and pass the data. I"
"I know that it is expensive, but I do not think there is another solution that can do similar things for that price."
"Splunk ITSI is a premium application and comes with a premium price tag."
"Splunk ITSI is expensive compared to other tools."
"The cost of the modules is a bit high for non-global companies, making it difficult for them to afford Splunk ITSI."
"Splunk ITSI is an expensive tool, and we need to purchase the utility license."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
28%
Computer Software Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
8%
Financial Services Firm
20%
Computer Software Company
13%
Government
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor?
There are no specific features or functionality I would like to see improved or enhanced in SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor at this time. I have not encountered any missing features or fu...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Splunk ITSI (IT Service Intelligence)?
Pricing can vary significantly based on the selected modules and deployment choices. Splunk ITSI tends to be more expensive compared to some open-source solutions.
What needs improvement with Splunk ITSI (IT Service Intelligence)?
Splunk ITSI could benefit from including more features that other solutions support, such as vulnerability management modules. This would help manage vulnerabilities effectively, allowing my organi...
 

Also Known As

SolarWinds SAM
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Andr. L. Riis AS, NetSuite
TransUnion, Cox Automotive, Carnival Cruises, Leidos, Econocom, National Ignition Factory, Entrust Datacard, Molina Healthcare, United States Census Bureau
Find out what your peers are saying about SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor vs. Splunk ITSI (IT Service Intelligence) and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
855,347 professionals have used our research since 2012.