SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor vs Splunk Observability Cloud comparison

Why PeerSpot?

SolarWinds and Splunk are both solutions in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category. SolarWinds is ranked #22 with an average rating of 8.0, while Splunk is ranked #5 with an average rating of 8.2. SolarWinds holds a 1.0% mindshare in APM, compared to Splunk’s 2.6% mindshare. Additionally, 89% of SolarWinds users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 96% of Splunk users who would recommend it.

SolarWinds Server and Appli...

Read 44 SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor reviews

9,577 Views
5,363 Comparison Views

89% willing to recommend

Splunk Observability Cloud

Read 106 Splunk Observability Cloud reviews

32,936 Views
16,797 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

SolarWinds Server and Appli...

Splunk Observability Cloud

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 29, 2026

Splunk Observability Cloud and SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor compete in the monitoring and observability domain. Splunk Observability Cloud has the upper hand in advanced monitoring and data analysis capabilities.

Features: Splunk Observability Cloud enhances operational efficiency with custom metrics, real-time monitoring, and dashboards that facilitate data visualization. Its integration with DevOps tools streamlines processes. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor excels in integration, offering AppInsight tools for deep application insights and monitoring, paired with comprehensive visualization capabilities.

Room for Improvement: Splunk requires improvements in pricing transparency, onboarding, and enhanced log management, along with streamlined integration and navigation. SolarWinds needs to address scaling issues for enterprise environments, enhance app-level monitoring, and improve analytics for better user experience.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Splunk's deployment supports hybrid and cloud environments, with customer service being responsive though premium support costs are high. SolarWinds provides traditional on-premises deployments, benefiting organizations with legacy systems, but further enhancement in support responsiveness is needed.

Pricing and ROI: Splunk is costly due to data volume-based pricing, though its comprehensive capabilities justify returns in operational efficiency. SolarWinds is competitively priced, appealing to mid-sized enterprises with a favorable cost-to-value ratio while providing advanced functionalities to enhance performance insights.

To learn more, read our detailed SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor vs. Splunk Observability Cloud Report (Updated: November 2026).

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor vs. Splunk Observability Cloud

November 2026

Download the complete report

Helped 920,939 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 Server and Appli...

Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

22nd

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

4.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Server Monitoring (7th), Active Directory Management (8th)

Splunk Observability Cloud

Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

5th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

106

Ranking in other categories

Network Monitoring Software (5th), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (2nd), Cloud Monitoring Software (2nd), Container Management (10th), Digital Experience Monitoring (DEM) (3rd)

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category, the mindshare of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is 1.0%, down from 1.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Splunk Observability Cloud is 2.6%, up from 2.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Splunk Observability Cloud	2.6%
SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor	1.0%
Other	96.4%

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

Featured Reviews

NikhilKalwint

Technical Specialist at ServiceIO

Monitoring over a thousand systems has improved decision making and operational visibility

From an advantage perspective, SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is comparatively cheaper from a commercial point of view. It is easy to install and configure, very user-friendly, and quick to get up and running, allowing you to see the early value adds in your organization. It is compatible with most technologies for monitoring with very few chances of incompatibility. Configuration also allows us to monitor all the technical parameters we are looking for, making it a very good experience for us. The alerting feature in SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is a main advantage, as it alerts based on threshold breaches and can raise tickets to the ticketing system, send SMS, and email notifications, allowing engineers to work on those tickets to resolve issues and avoid further impact. The visibility into server health is a beneficial feature that I am utilizing. We widely use various application performance metrics in SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor such as database monitoring and server monitoring, which are quite good enough for any monitoring solution. We utilize the customizable dashboards in SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor.

Read full review

Purnambica Kolavennu

Project Manager at AGRICULTURE SKILL COUNCIL OF INDIA (ASCI)

Unified observability has improved real-time governance and now drives data-led decisions

Log Observer Connect is embedded here, but we are facing some delays in centralized log collection and analysis, which can be further fastened. We are collecting all the data metrics and decision-making insights, but all these data-driven decisions coming from different applications are not connected somewhere. A consolidated form or correlation of these insights is not happening between each other due to which we feel we are missing something significant. Some generalized feedback includes that predictive alerts or alarms which can be integrated with AI-driven alarms and alerting features should be established so that there is AI-driven intelligence and anomaly detection happening with a complete systematic process in service delivery. Application dependencies are huge, and business and operational dashboards should be improved. Right now there are very interactive custom dashboards, and every now and then, the personalization of enhancements keeps happening. KPI monitoring, executive reporting, and analytics have definitely been introduced to a great extent. There are few things in cloud-native monitoring, such as integration with AWS and Azure, where we sometimes do face lags. Those things can definitely be improved upon. I have used Datadog and Dynatrace before using Splunk Observability Cloud. Datadog was definitely recommended by most of our peers because of its very strong comprehensive observability and very strong and unique dashboard systems. Dynatrace was also very good because they have offered a lot of AI-driven analysis methods and processes, which was helping our organization a lot. Since our organization has a very strong IT ecosystem for agriculture, very different kinds of customized things are required.

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

"Extremely user friendly: Any IT professional can learn how to admin NPM in a short time."

"SolarWinds SAM is very stable, and we are using it with hundreds or thousands of customers and there are no stability issues."

"This feature from Solarwinds SAM helped us to monitor and alert whenever the SSL cert is going to expire on the server to avoid any downtime of the services running on the server specially on ADFS platform where we have Video conference, Webex, Office 365 and single sign-on services."

"If you are looking for a single pane of glass to monitor Windows products then SolarWinds is your product."

"It is easy to install and configure, very user-friendly, and quick to get up and running, allowing you to see the early value adds in your organization."

"From a customers point of view, they get a good return on investment because they are not paying a lot of money when you compare to what they used to pay for IBM and other large vendors."

"Hardware health: It allows for proactive monitoring of the hardware health and is a game changer."

"The OOTB (Out of the Box) implementation does have very good node specific pages and can provide a wealth of information."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor pros

"Splunk Observability Cloud is extremely reliable and an extremely trusted source, and it has definitely gained public faith and public trust."

"The alerts are the most valuable feature."

"Splunk Observability Cloud has allowed us to consider piping in data from the companies we have acquired as well to get the single pane of glass situation as we continue to build and grow the company."

"My impression of Splunk Observability Cloud's out-of-the-box dashboards and detectors is that the visualization looks excellent, and the implementation is straightforward."

"The features of Splunk Observability Cloud that I prefer the most are its all-encompassing licensing model, which is comparatively better than others in the market."

"My experience with this solution in analyzing machine data is really good."

"Splunk's GUI and dashboard capacity are the most valuable features of Splunk Infrastructure Monitoring."

"During this time, Splunk Observability Cloud was incredibly helpful as we drilled down into root cause analysis to assist those application teams in identifying what could have gone wrong—whether it was API calls, network issues, or pods being down."

More Splunk Observability Cloud pros

Cons

"As per my view, Solarwinds should come up the same monitoring system for other certificate expiration alert apart from SSL."

"Reporting is the only thing with which we currently have challenges."

"The templates could use improvement. Currently, they are quite complex. They should have drag-and-drop functionality instead. It would make it easier to use."

"Currently SolarWinds SAM offers AppInsight for modern versions of: IIS, Exchange, SQL Server. They have shown to be powerful and insightful tools. However, AppInsight needs to be offered for more applications: Citrix, SharePoint, AX, etc."

"I think they need to make reporting easier and more simple & dynamic."

"Some custom applications cannot be monitored, and a lot more applications need to be included."

"From an integration point of view, if you want to have a manager of manager kind of layer, that is currently lacking in SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor."

"Scalability was an issue in the past."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor cons

"The main improvement I would suggest for Splunk Observability Cloud would be offering the ability to implement custom apps, specifically allowing Python scripts that Splunk Cloud could host."

"The cost needs to be re-examined. It's extremely expensive to run. It's also expensive to expand. That's the number one complaint all of my customers have when it comes to Splunk. It's way too expensive compared to other solutions."

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

"The deployment can be quite complex."

"The RUM part of Splunk Observability Cloud can be improved significantly."

"I need a tool that can deal with all the security solutions that will find security monitoring compliance requirements, so I'll stick to BigFix over Splunk because I'm not that big a fan of Splunk, to be honest."

"Regarding how Splunk Observability Cloud can be improved, there are few opportunities for improvement, but perhaps one area of improvement is greater integration with partners and clearer ability to quickly gather the information I need to supercharge my AI workloads using Splunk Observability Cloud."

"The UI of Splunk Observability Cloud is one of the major issues; it's old and has been there for more than 10 years, acquired by other applications from other companies. It's time to reinvent how the UI is going to work with the AI modules and integrations, making it softer and cleaner."

More Splunk Observability Cloud cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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 price is too high."

"When compared to other licensed models in the market, it stands out as one of the more cost-effective options."

"We pay around $ 2,000 to $ 5,000 yearly for the solution."

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

"The tool is available for my company at a good price point."

"The licenses start from USD 3000.00 and go up to USD 20,000.00 for the year. It's a perpetual license. Nothing is free in SolarWinds, anything that you need is an additional cost."

"SAM is not per server so the pricing model can be deceiving. If you have an enterprise environment, you will quickly exceed your licensing quickly. You should know this before going in."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor pricing and cost advice

"I am not in that circle, but we are currently licensing based on our queries. That is working out for us. Previously, it was by volume of data, and now, we can store as much data as we want."

"Splunk's infrastructure monitoring costs can be high because our billing is based on data volume measured in terabytes, rather than the number of devices being monitored."

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

"Splunk Observability Cloud is expensive."

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

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

"Splunk APM is expensive."

More Splunk Observability Cloud pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

920,939 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

13%

University

Outsourcing Company

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Outsourcing Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	17
Midsize Enterprise	8
Large Enterprise	21

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	38
Midsize Enterprise	9
Large Enterprise	70

Questions from the Community

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 is definitely room for improvement besides simplifying its setup. As a non-technical person, I believe the dashboards could be improved. Everything we use appears on video walls, and we need ...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor?

I am doing research as we currently have both solutions, and I am looking to see if we need both or can manage with one. Currently, the outcome indicates that we need both. The focus point is diffe...

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

What advice do you have for others considering SignalFx?

We're a customer and end-user. Currently, in France, we cannot use the artificial intelligence option. While this option is enabled for the United States and many countries, it's not yet available ...

See all answers

Comparisons

Splunk AppDynamics vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Compared 6% of the time

Dynatrace vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Compared 5% of the time

Azure Monitor vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Compared 5% of the time

Icinga vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Compared 3% of the time

eG Enterprise vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Compared 2% of the time

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor Competitors

Datadog vs Splunk Observability Cloud

Compared 3% of the time

Grafana vs Splunk Observability Cloud

Compared 2% of the time

PRTG Network Monitor vs Splunk Observability Cloud

Compared 2% of the time

Avantra vs Splunk Observability Cloud

Compared 2% of the time

Dynatrace vs Splunk Observability Cloud

Compared 2% of the time

More Splunk Observability Cloud Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

October 2026

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor report

Download SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor product report

Buyer's Guide

Splunk Observability Cloud

October 2026

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 and Application Monitor provides comprehensive server, application, and infrastructure monitoring, focusing on integration, application dependency, and network insights through user-friendly interfaces and detailed dashboards.

With AppStack and AppInsight support, SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor offers service management, detailed resource dashboards, and integration capabilities. It monitors hardware metrics and performance parameters, facilitating database and network insights for cloud and virtual environments. Robust alerting, predictive analytics, and capacity planning ensure efficient management of server health and application performance.

What are the key features?

Integration: Seamlessly connects with existing tools.
AppStack: Provides a holistic view of applications.
AppInsight: Supports widely-used applications.
SNMP Polling: Efficient network data collection.
Diagnostics: Real-time troubleshooting.
Customizable Dashboards: Tailored monitoring views.

What benefits should users expect?

Comprehensive Monitoring: Extends from servers to databases.
Transparent Control: Enhances visibility into performance metrics.
User-Friendly: Simplifies proactive monitoring with alerts.
Predictive Features: Supports capacity and trend planning.

Industries implement SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor to enhance server utilization reporting, network configuration, and AV equipment performance tracking. They benefit from monitoring critical services across diverse deployment models, improving management efficiency and decision-making.

SolarWinds

Splunk Observability Cloud provides advanced real-time monitoring and AI-powered insights, streamlining operations and reducing downtime across diverse computing environments.

Offering powerful tools for real-time monitoring, Splunk Observability Cloud enhances performance visibility and operational resilience through AI insights and comprehensive dashboards. With No-Sample Tracing and customizable alerts, it allows quick issue detection and resolution. Its user-friendly interface and seamless integration facilitate troubleshooting and decision-making. The platform's unified infrastructure is equipped for environments like Kubernetes, ensuring stability and efficiency. Users report reduced downtime and increased transparency.

What are the key features of Splunk Observability Cloud?

Real-Time Monitoring: Provides continuous visibility into infrastructure and applications.
AI-Powered Insights: Enhances decision-making with intelligent data analysis.
Comprehensive Dashboards: Offers customizable views for deep data insights.
No-Sample Tracing: Ensures accurate monitoring without missing critical data.
Customizable Alerts: Allows setting specific parameters for immediate issue detection.
Seamless Integration: Connects easily with systems to support diverse environments.

What benefits can users expect?

Reduced MTTR: Quicker mean time to resolution through effective monitoring tools.
Enhanced Performance Transparency: Improved visibility into system performance metrics.
Operational Resilience: Strengthens system stability through proactive monitoring.
Improved Troubleshooting: Streamlined process leads to faster problem-solving.
Increased Stability: Helps maintain consistent performance across environments.
Boosted Efficiency: Optimizes operational processes with sophisticated tools.

Splunk Observability Cloud is widely used for monitoring cloud infrastructures and microservices, optimizing AI applications, and enhancing application performance. It's integral in environments requiring real-time alerts, anomaly detection, and multi-cloud management, supporting use cases like infrastructure and application performance monitoring. Users leverage its capabilities for end-to-end visibility, focusing on metrics, logs, and traces for rapid problem-solving and performance assessment.

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

November 2026

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

Find out what your peers are saying about SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor vs. Splunk Observability Cloud and other solutions. Updated: November 2026.

DOWNLOAD NOW

920,939 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor vs. Splunk Observability Cloud report.

See our list of best Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability vendors.

We monitor all Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.