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SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor vs VMware vCenter comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 6, 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 Server Monitoring
11th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.0
Number of Reviews
42
Ranking in other categories
Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (20th), Active Directory Management (10th)
VMware vCenter
Ranking in Server Monitoring
3rd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
36
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Server Monitoring category, the mindshare of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is 2.5%, down from 3.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware vCenter is 0.9%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Server Monitoring
 

Featured Reviews

VIVEK PATHAK - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Muhammad Fahad - PeerSpot reviewer
Great for live migration and storage management with simple deployments
I am using vMotion for live migration and storage migrations. I can use vCenter for both now. In vCenter, I can easily manage storage and move it from one server to another, which is beneficial for the environment. If any server is down, I can utilize the storage for different servers. I can easily manage from anywhere. Deployments are simple, and optimization can improve security management. Troubleshooting is easy, and it is possible to detect noncompliance configurations, minimizing costs. The deployment does not require high-cost human resources. I use a single dual machine for multiple VMs. This offers many benefits compared to physical servers or machines.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Manage Groups: The capability to group appropriate devices gives better visibility of sites, categories, or critical regions. The same can be used to represent a dashboard for higher management."
"I find it to be a strong product suite, particularly when you need a comprehensive monitoring tool."
"The product integrates with Remedy."
"The solution can be deployed quickly."
"Management Console - Managing service to each server enrolled in the Solarwinds is much easier. Using a web base console, you can control your service much convenient way. There is no need to login remotely. It save a lot of time and effort."
"The initial setup was relatively easy, and we didn't have to install anything. All we had to do was put on the devices we wanted to monitor."
"There are many valuable features, including the network configuration manager, and the network performance manager."
"This product can monitor application environments no matter where they reside and provides capabilities for deep insight into infrastructure."
"The most valuable features of the solution are virtualization and ease of backing up the virtual and on-premises servers."
"We typically manage VMs after the OS is installed. vCenter simplifies VM management by allowing for the configuration and operation of VMs once an OS, like Windows, is installed."
"We must create a VIN on each node. You want to make the VIN ten times if you have a thin host. We mostly create VMs, and the vCenter publishes the template on all hosts."
"The product is scalable."
"The DRS, high availability and manageable switches are the most valuable features of VMware vCenter"
"It is easier to manage a larger number of nodes per cluster. Currently, if we are managing a minimum of 64 nodes in a single cluster, that capacity can be increased."
"I usually use the DRS, distributed resource scheduling, to balance resources between mini ESXi and CPU."
"The most valuable features of VMware vCenter for our organization include its centralized management capabilities and the ability to handle virtual machines across multiple ESXi hosts efficiently."
 

Cons

"I believe that some of the trends, environmental maps, and items like those found in Orion would be very beneficial."
"For each poller, SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor can only monitor up to ten thousand components, which restricts scalability."
"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."
"The technical support team's response time could be improved."
"It would be helpful if the solution could integrate more with the security compliances, like this IDSS, etc."
"The setup was complex. We had local support to assist us."
"Application-based monitoring, such as monitoring within servers like Apache and IIS, has room for improvement."
"When you implement SolarWinds on a larger scale my customers complain about the speed."
"Consolidating these plugins into a unified environment with customizable options to enable or disable features would be highly beneficial."
"There needs to be improvement in the pricing model, as the host license is already very high, and customers should have more open options for creating automation scenarios out of the box."
"If VMware integrates some features of their other solution into VMware vCenter, operational managers might find it beneficial. Many organizations prefer to maintain separate solution sets based on specific needs and data requirements."
"Sometimes, vCenter management can be difficult if you forget the password. You can't change or recover the password easily. We then have to reinstall vCenter, which means reconfiguring everything. That's a challenge we've encountered."
"VMware vCenter is an expensive product. Its price needs improvement."
"There have been some ongoing conflicts since VMware was taken over by Broadcom."
"Efficiency and redundancy can be increased, minimizing or mitigating downtime."
"The solution’s pricing could be improved."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I would rate the pricing for this solution a three out of five."
"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."
"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."
"Nagios XI, WhatsUpGold, Uptime Software, PRTG, Manage Engine, and SpiceWorks are the other tools that have lower pricing and licensing costs. However, they can't compete with SolarWinds when it comes to the features and functionality that SolarWinds can provide."
"The price is too high."
"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 think SolarWinds' pricing is very decent compared to other competitors in the market."
"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."
"For the healthcare industry, the price is considerably higher than the education industry."
"The platform is expensive."
"The solution is expensive."
"The tool used to be worth the money, but after Broadcom acquired it and changed the pricing structure to subscription-only, it became too expensive for us to continue using. Unfortunately, we haven't found any alternative solutions that meet our needs, so this is a significant drawback for us as we explore other options."
"We utilize the basic licenses of the product."
"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a seven out of ten."
"The pricing is significantly high."
"The platform is highly-priced."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
12%
Government
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
17%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Performing Arts
8%
Government
8%
 

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 do you like most about VMware vCenter?
The filtering capabilities also enhance scalability by optimizing resource allocation.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VMware vCenter?
The initial package for VMware vCenter is not less than $10,000, which can be prohibitive for smaller organizations. The licensing model now requires purchasing 96-core solutions, even if fewer cor...
What needs improvement with VMware vCenter?
The main issue with VMware vCenter is its pricing and licensing model. The licensing model has shifted, leading to higher costs, particularly for smaller organizations. Additionally, the transition...
 

Also Known As

SolarWinds SAM
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Andr. L. Riis AS, NetSuite
1. Amazon 2. Apple 3. ATT 4. Bank of America 5. Cisco Systems 6. CocaCola 7. Dell 8. ebay 9. Facebook 10. Google 11. HP 12. IBM 13. Intel 14. JPMorgan Chase 15. LinkedIn 16. Microsoft 17. Netflix 18. Oracle 19. PayPal 20. SAP 21. Siemens 22. Tesla 23. Toyota 24. Twitter 25. Visa 26. Walmart 27. WeWork 28. World Bank
Find out what your peers are saying about SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor vs. VMware vCenter and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.