SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor vs Splunk Observability Cloud comparison

SolarWinds and Splunk are both solutions in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category. SolarWinds is ranked #20 with an average rating of 7.4, while Splunk is ranked #8 with an average rating of 8.7. SolarWinds holds a 1.4% mindshare in APM, compared to Splunk’s 1.9% mindshare. Additionally, 89% of SolarWinds users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of Splunk users who would recommend it.

SolarWinds Server and Appli...

Read 42 SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor reviews

3,776 Views
2,681 Comparison Views

89% willing to recommend

Splunk Observability Cloud

Read 70 Splunk Observability Cloud reviews

5,720 Views
3,432 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

SolarWinds Server and Appli...

Splunk Observability Cloud

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 19, 2025

Splunk Observability Cloud and SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor compete in the IT monitoring solutions category. Splunk seems to have the upper hand due to its integration capabilities and real-time problem-solving features, while SolarWinds stands out with its detailed monitoring potential and competitive pricing.

Features: Splunk Observability Cloud offers log analysis, dashboard creation, real-time monitoring, and integration with various environments. It provides features like service map, AI analytics, and custom metric capabilities. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor use AppInsight, HTTP monitors, and application-specific monitoring, excelling in proactive performance insights and seamless application management.

Room for Improvement: Splunk Observability Cloud could benefit from enhanced integration options, improved documentation, and addressing performance improvement suggestions. It also needs enhancements in usability, real-time scaling, and cost adjustments. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor could improve by providing more robust integration capabilities, addressing interface issues, and enhancing cloud support. Users desire faster response times and efficient automated features.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Splunk Observability Cloud supports both on-premises and cloud environments, with variable technical support responsiveness. It is rated highly for deployment across hybrid and public clouds. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor offers comprehensive on-premises and hybrid cloud support, efficiently accommodating mid-sized to large organizations, with customer service being efficient yet needing faster services.

Pricing and ROI: Splunk Observability Cloud is perceived as expensive, but its comprehensive capabilities often justify the cost. Users note benefits in improved workflow efficiency and time savings, recognizing the solution's ROI despite premium pricing. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor offers competitive pricing, praised for excellent value for the features offered, positioning it as a cost-effective alternative for organizations needing a full suite of monitoring tools, highlighting its ROI in terms of efficient monitoring capabilities.

To learn more, read our detailed SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor vs. Splunk Observability Cloud Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor vs. Splunk Observability Cloud

September 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 Server and Appli...

Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

20th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

5.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Server Monitoring (11th), Active Directory Management (10th)

Splunk Observability Cloud

Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

8th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Monitoring Software (6th), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (7th), Cloud Monitoring Software (7th), Container Management (7th), Digital Experience Monitoring (DEM) (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category, the mindshare of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is 1.4%, down from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Splunk Observability Cloud is 1.9%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Splunk Observability Cloud	1.9%
SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor	1.4%
Other	96.7%

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

Featured Reviews

VIVEK PATHAK

Solutions Architect at Airtel

Offering reasonably good dashboarding features but needs to improve the application performance monitoring

My company uses Riverbed for application performance monitoring. I was doing research so that I could understand if SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor provide APM capabilities similar to Riverbed, which allows our company to get a packet capture of an entire session, and on the basis of it, we look at the application performance monitoring part. With SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor, my company does SNMP polling, so it can drag an entire session, but it focuses more on availability, CPU memory, and server connection status. In Riverbed, my company catches an entire system, so when we deal with two applications, we have end-to-end app visibility. All the application monitoring happens through Riverbed. Our company's main problem is that, as of now, we have two different products in our organization, and we don't want to continue with the multiple products currently. I wanted to understand if SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor already have capabilities like Riverbed, and if they do, then I wanted to figure out why our company should not go with SolarWinds and why we are using products from multiple vendors. My company needs to continue with either Riverbed or SolarWinds. I wanted to see which products are good for the organization and how much I want to continue with Riverbed.

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Taiwo Ige

IT Operations Engineer at ABC Supply Co. Inc.

Alerting improves incident response across teams and enables faster awareness before customer impact

Splunk Observability Cloud could be improved in terms of integrations with more technical add-ons, such as Zoom. Although they have one with Zoom, it's not available in the cloud, so having that feature would be beneficial. Essentially, Splunk should continue expanding to create easier ways to ingest logs from different products. The out-of-the-box customizable dashboards in Splunk Observability Cloud are very effective in showcasing IT performance to business leaders. However, there are aspects that could be improved, such as linking dashboards to one another. While IT leaders may not drill down, it's crucial to create levels of dashboards for technical users to find root causes, making it effective for stakeholders.

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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

"Monitoring the components on your devices with out of the box monitors or the ability to create new ones (SAM)"

"We use the solution as a central monitoring tool. We use it to monitor every transaction that has a relation to the organization’s infrastructure."

"I find it to be a strong product suite, particularly when you need a comprehensive monitoring tool."

"AppInsight for SQL: Enables us to see the relevant error log entries on the same page as performance parameters."

"This product can monitor application environments no matter where they reside and provides capabilities for deep insight into infrastructure."

"The most valuable feature is the Access Rights Manager."

"The features like trends, capacity planning, recommendations, and diagnostics are the main items I focus on for added value."

"It's good at monitoring system-specific things like ports, services."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor pros

"The solution's service map feature allows us to have a holistic overview and to see quickly where the issues are."

"The most valuable feature is the ability to customize dashboards based on my queries or any other customization I may need."

"The feature I find most valuable, is the data integration."

"The solution's basic visibility is one of its most valuable features. So, it is a solution that is easy to use...The solution's initial setup process was straightforward."

"The solution overall is very valuable for me."

"The solution is stable and reliable."

"Initially, before Splunk, we had a long time to resolve issues; now, with Splunk Observability Cloud, we will be able to solve them quickly and know exactly where the issue is."

"We haven't really experienced any glitches or bugs."

More Splunk Observability Cloud pros

Cons

"The technical support team's response time could be improved."

"For each poller, SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor can only monitor up to ten thousand components, which restricts scalability."

"The tool's AppStack needs to improve in the storage monitoring part. It should also include an analytics and recommendation approach. If I have found a fault in a server or application, I would like to know what caused it and how do I recover from it."

"PerfStack can be made more effective. I am sure SolarWinds already has a plan for the same in coming versions."

"Nodes in Azure are able to be monitored with the use of agents, but this does not apply to cloud service offerings that are not node based."

"The product needs to reduce its price."

"They should incorporate more artificial intelligence. There should also be more predictive features."

"Mapping interactions between systems."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor cons

"The solution should have more sensors regarding fiber intelligence for security measures."

"Splunk Infrastructure Monitoring's data analytics can be improved by including suggestions for various types of continuous monitoring."

"It would be useful if they provided some help pages. If you don't know too much about the tool, there should be more documentation readily available. It would be useful if they had a help button embedded in the solution so you could ask questions and get answers."

"There is room for improvement in the alerting system, which is complicated and has less documentation available."

"The initial setup of Splunk Real User Monitoring (RUM) was easy. The solution is deployed on-premises."

"The solution's machine learning deployment is hard and should be made user-friendly."

"There is a lot of room for improvement with the automation."

"The UI enhancements could be a way to improve the solution in the future."

More Splunk Observability Cloud cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"Pricing is inexpensive, starting at 2440 euros. For that, you get the ability to monitor a couple of nodes and one year of maintenance and support."

"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."

"Understanding the counts of objects to monitor will determine the licensing need. In terms of pricing, it’s not cheap but it’s not expensive as larger vendors whose products don’t have all the features or integrations."

"The solution's price is reasonable. Though it's on the higher side, the tool is worth the money."

"I have always said SolarWinds is very “proud” of their products, meaning they are expensive. I cannot afford to purchase all the licenses I need for all the SolarWinds products."

"I would advise potential buyers to wait until the end of the quarter, end of year, or other time to place orders. There are actually great deals to be had at those times if your budget cycle can match up."

"The solution is overpriced in terms of application management."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor pricing and cost advice

"It is expensive."

"Splunk offers a 14-day free trial and after that, we have to pay but the cost is reasonable."

"Splunk has been fairly expensive, but it has been predictable."

"I would rate the price of Splunk Infrastructure Monitoring as an eight out of ten, with ten being the most expensive."

"Splunk APM is a very cost-efficient solution."

"Splunk Observability Cloud is expensive."

"Licensing cost is the biggest argument I get from those divesting from Splunk. There are those within our organization who say we are going to go to other tools since Splunk is too expensive."

"The solution's pricing is competitive. I rate the solution's pricing a seven out of ten. The price of the solution could be cheaper."

More Splunk Observability Cloud pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Government

11%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

16%

Computer Software Company

13%

Manufacturing Company

Retailer

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	16
Midsize Enterprise	8
Large Enterprise	20

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	19
Midsize Enterprise	10
Large Enterprise	44

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor?

Identifying the problem statement is easy.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor?

The initial cost is quite high, but the renewal cost is reasonable.

See all answers

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...

See all answers

What do you like most about SignalFx?

The most valuable feature is dashboard creation.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SignalFx?

Regarding dashboard customization, while Splunk has many dashboard building options, customers sometimes need to create specific dashboards, particularly for applicative metrics such as Java and pr...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for SignalFx?

The solution involves observability in general, such as Application Performance Monitoring, and generally addresses digital applications, web applications, sites, and mobile applications. I worked ...

See all answers

Comparisons

Dynatrace vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Compared 17% of the time

Azure Monitor vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Compared 16% of the time

Splunk AppDynamics vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Compared 9% of the time

Prometheus Group vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Compared 6% of the time

Zabbix vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Compared 5% of the time

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor Competitors

Sentry vs Splunk Observability Cloud

Compared 7% of the time

Observe vs Splunk Observability Cloud

Compared 6% of the time

Cribl vs Splunk Observability Cloud

Compared 5% of the time

SigNoz vs Splunk Observability Cloud

Compared 5% of the time

Dynatrace vs Splunk Observability Cloud

Compared 4% of the time

More Splunk Observability Cloud Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

August 2025

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor report

Download SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor product report

Buyer's Guide

Splunk Observability Cloud

August 2025

Download Splunk Observability Cloud product report

Also Known As

SolarWinds SAM

Splunk Infrastructure Monitoring, Splunk Real User Monitoring (RUM), Splunk Synthetic Monitoring

Overview

SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor (SAM) delivers powerful application and server monitoring capabilities for IT pros, enabling them to diagnose and troubleshoot performance issues faster. Do not let slow applications and downtime impact your end-users and business services. Pinpoint the root cause of application issues across various layers of the IT stack. SolarWinds SAM is affordable and easy to deploy, use, and customize. You can automatically discover your system's environment and start monitoring in about an hour. No professional services or consultation needed.

SolarWinds

Splunk Observability Cloud offers sophisticated log searching, data integration, and customizable dashboards. With rapid deployment and ease of use, this cloud service enhances monitoring capabilities across IT infrastructures for comprehensive end-to-end visibility.

Focused on enhancing performance management and security, Splunk Observability Cloud supports environments through its data visualization and analysis tools. Users appreciate its robust application performance monitoring and troubleshooting insights. However, improvements in integrations, interface customization, scalability, and automation are needed. Users find value in its capabilities for infrastructure and network monitoring, as well as log analytics, albeit cost considerations and better documentation are desired. Enhancements in real-time monitoring and network protection are also noted as areas for development.

What are the key features?

Log Searching: Efficiently search and analyze logs from various sources.
Data Integration: Seamlessly integrate with multiple environments.
Dashboard Customization: Tailor dashboards to specific monitoring needs.
Monitoring Capabilities: Provides comprehensive insights into application performance.
Security Features: Analyze and address security threats across systems.
Visualization Tools: Enhance data analysis and system performance optimization.

Why consider this for ROI?

Comprehensive Visibility: Gain complete insights into IT infrastructure.
Performance Optimization: Improve overall system performance and efficiency.
Rapid Deployment: Quick setup to meet organization demands swiftly.
Enhanced Security: Strengthen security measures through detailed analytics.

In industries, Splunk Observability Cloud is implemented for security management by analyzing logs from detection systems, offering real-time alerts and troubleshooting for cloud-native applications. It is leveraged for machine data analysis, improving infrastructure visibility and supporting network and application performance management efforts.

Splunk

Sample Customers

Andr. L. Riis AS, NetSuite

Sunrun, Yelp, Onshape, Tapjoy, Symphony Commerce, Chairish, Clever, Grovo, Bazaar Voice, Zenefits, Avalara

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor vs. Splunk Observability Cloud

September 2025

Free Report: SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor vs. Splunk Observability Cloud

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