Spiceworks vs VMware Aria Operations for Applications comparison

Spiceworks and VMware are both solutions in the IT Infrastructure Monitoring category. Spiceworks is ranked #45 with an average rating of 8.5, while VMware is ranked #30 with an average rating of 9.0. Spiceworks holds a 0.4% mindshare in IM, compared to VMware’s 1.3% mindshare. Additionally, 86% of Spiceworks users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of VMware users who would recommend it.

Spiceworks

Read 47 Spiceworks reviews

845 Views
67 Comparison Views

86% willing to recommend

VMware Aria Operations for ...

Read 12 VMware Aria Operations for Applications reviews

1,327 Views
327 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Spiceworks

VMware Aria Operations for ...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 9, 2024

Spiceworks and VMware Aria Operations for Applications compete in the service desk and monitoring category. VMware Aria Operations for Applications has the upper hand due to its robust monitoring capabilities and integration features.

Features: Spiceworks offers free inventory and helpdesk capabilities, network scanning features, and community support. VMware Aria Operations for Applications provides cloud and hybrid monitoring, Kubernetes integration, and detailed monitoring insights.

Room for Improvement: Spiceworks needs better monitoring tools, reporting capabilities, and scalability for larger enterprises. Improvement in the ticketing system and streamlining the community login process would enhance its offering. VMware Aria Operations for Applications requires easier setup, improved integration with Kubernetes, and more predictable costs.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Spiceworks provides versatile deployment options, being available on-premises or in the cloud, with community-driven support. VMware Aria Operations for Applications offers robust official support across on-premises and hybrid solutions, suitable for enterprises needing structured support.

Pricing and ROI: Spiceworks is free, providing an excellent ROI for small businesses. Its effectiveness relies on user expertise and time investment. VMware Aria Operations for Applications, though more expensive with licensing fees, provides comprehensive features justifying the costs for large organizations seeking detailed application insights.

To learn more, read our detailed Spiceworks vs. VMware Aria Operations for Applications Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Spiceworks vs. VMware Aria Operations for Applications

June 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

Spiceworks

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

45th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Help Desk Software (17th), IT Asset Management (12th)

VMware Aria Operations for ...

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

30th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (27th), Container Monitoring (6th), Cloud Monitoring Software (23rd)

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the IT Infrastructure Monitoring category, the mindshare of Spiceworks is 0.4%, down from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware Aria Operations for Applications is 1.3%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

IT Infrastructure Monitoring

Featured Reviews

Rohit Samel

Account Manager Enterprise Sales at Navdeep Technologies Pvt.Ltd

Cloud storage with no hardware needed and great comprehensive reports

The software is cloud-based, so I do not need to store any data locally. It is a fully software-based solution, eliminating the need for investment in hardware. We have the capability to create reports as needed. It is good software to use, as there were no incidents where I needed to contact technical support. Additionally, it is free software.

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ToniLindberg

senior consultant at Virtual Consultants Sverige AB

Troubleshooting capabilities have improved application monitoring and support engagement

I can see what happens end to end, which is pretty beneficial. The solution has troubleshooting capabilities, providing a direct connection to knowledge base articles from VMware Broadcom. When I encounter an error, I can search directly within the system to see what solutions have been employed by others. It has a familiar interface, which makes it easy to get started.

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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

"It shows the users that are currently logged in, which is not something that Active Directory by default will ever let you know up front."

"The most valuable features are the inventory and personalization."

"It's easy to understand."

"The solution can find all asset details automatically, whether it's a Mac address, computer name, IP address, models, etc. It's very helpful."

"It lets us know whether devices are getting out of date and tracked warranties. Spiceworks also gave me visibility in terms of what software was installed on each device and its status."

"The software is cloud-based, so I do not need to store any data locally."

"If you're in the market for a low-cost service desk system, Spiceworks is a good software solution to start out with, especially when it comes to startups and those organizations that don't currently have any existing service desk software in place."

"Helpdesk and inventory are both equally valuable, and they form the true core of the product."

More Spiceworks pros

"I find VMware Aria Operations for Applications to be very stable, and I would rate it a ten out of ten."

"No issues with stability."

"The features I find most valuable is the querying and alerting capabilities."

"VMware comes with a support team, and if you have trouble, you can easily create a ticket, and VMware will help you. Therefore, the best aspect is the support."

"The most valuable aspects of the solution are its ease of use and its ease of implementation."

"I gladly recommend VMware Aria Operations for Applications because it is cost effective and has commendable AI response capabilities."

"It has a familiar interface, which makes it easy to get started."

"VMware Aria Operations for Applications offers significant features such as real-time statistics, the ability to identify possible issues within the VM environment, and helpful heat maps."

More VMware Aria Operations for Applications pros

Cons

"The GUI must be improved."

"They've also tried to integrate it with social logins, like Twitter and LinkedIn, and that type of login authentication has no place in a corporate application."

"Having an integrated asset management tool, where I can plug in things that are offline, would be good."

"The network mapping could be improved. Putting together an actual bonafide network map would be really nice."

"Since Spiceworks is a free tool, it's not very scriptable or customizable."

"I am unable to provide suggestions for improvement at this moment."

"There are a lot of disadvantages to Spiceworks because it's not an agent-based solution."

"Sometimes, it can be difficult to integrate what you need."

More Spiceworks cons

"I find that there could be improvements in the support service response time, as the urgency varies unless specified as Priority 2 or 1 cases."

"The implementation is a long process that should be improved."

"I would like to see integration with Kubernetes cluster and APIs so that you can manage the entire stack."

"The documentation and integration with Kubernetes could be improved."

"The return on investment is best suited for organizations that do not have the resources for a dedicated VM environment team. However, the cost of the product doesn't show significant benefits."

"The initial setup should be easier and more seamless."

"In the new version, I would love to see more prediction capabilities. It would be great if one could see the alerts get a little more enriched with information and become more human-friendly instead of the technical stuff that they put in there. I think those would be really awesome outcomes to get."

"The solution could be expensive, which might be a limiting factor."

More VMware Aria Operations for Applications cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It might be about $300 annually for a bigger company. If you pay annually, it's better and cheaper."

"The product is free! Get it now."

"The tool is cheap."

"It's free."

"Seeing that it is a low-cost solution, I would advise you to go ahead with Spiceworks and experiment with it to see if you can get things working properly, especially if you currently don't have any existing service desk software in place."

"I don't have the details. In our case, there is a mixture in place. We have production usage, and we are also doing training for VMware. So, we also have a training instance. It is worth the money you would spend on it. That's because if you were to build all of this yourself by using some of the open source tools, then you would need a lot of time."

"The licensing costs are very high, particularly when you consider that we have to purchase a level 1 license for every integration, such as the load balancer, HAProxy, and the MSSP. And if you want to use vSAN, that's another license. Then, of course, Tanzu Observability has its own separate license."

"Different locations require different setups. In your terms, around 300 to around 400K USD."

"I would rate the pricing as three out of five."

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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

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

12%

University

11%

Real Estate/Law Firm

Financial Services Firm

15%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Retailer

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Spiceworks?

The solution is easy to use and easy to manage.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Spiceworks?

The tool is cheap.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Spiceworks?

I am unable to provide suggestions for improvement at this moment, however, I can provide feedback later. Currently, there do not seem to be any issues.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VMware Tanzu Observability by Wavefront?

The cost of VMware Aria Operations for Applications is fair and reasonable compared to what we receive in support and packages from VMware.

See all answers

What needs improvement with VMware Tanzu Observability by Wavefront?

I find that there could be improvements in the support service response time, as the urgency varies unless specified as Priority 2 or 1 cases.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for VMware Tanzu Observability by Wavefront?

Our primary use case for VMware Aria Operations for Applications is to enhance application monitoring tasks, allowing us to set up alerts for different components and send them via SMTP to a team d...

See all answers

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Spiceworks

May 2025

Download Spiceworks product report

Buyer's Guide

VMware Aria Operations for Applications

May 2025

VMware Aria Operations for Applications report

Download VMware Aria Operations for Applications product report

Also Known As

No data available

Tanzu Observability, Wavefront, Wavefront by VMware, VMware Tanzu Observability

Overview

From network inventory and network monitoring to help desk software, and mobile device management (MDM) to cloud services detection, Spiceworks helps you manage everything about your IT workday from one easy place.

Spiceworks

VMware Tanzu Observability by Wavefront is a powerful tool for monitoring and analyzing the performance and availability of applications and infrastructure in real-time.

With its comprehensive monitoring capabilities, visualizing and analyzing data becomes effortless. The real-time alerting system ensures timely issue resolution, while scalability and a user-friendly interface provide a seamless experience for smooth operations.

VMware

Sample Customers

Broward Center for the Performing Arts, Symantec, Webroot, EMC, Pertino

1. Atlassian 2. Cisco 3. Databricks 4. DigitalOcean 5. Equinix 6. Fidelity Investments 7. Google 8. Hewlett Packard Enterprise 9. Honeywell 10. IBM 11. Intel 12. JetBlue Airways 13. LinkedIn 14. Lyft 15. Mastercard 16. Microsoft 17. MongoDB 18. Netflix 19. Nvidia 20. Oracle 21. PayPal 22. Pinterest 23. Qualcomm 24. Red Hat 25. Salesforce 26. SAP 27. Spotify 28. Square 29. TMobile 30. Twitter 31. Uber 32. VMware

Buyer's Guide

Spiceworks vs. VMware Aria Operations for Applications

June 2025

Free Report: Spiceworks vs. VMware Aria Operations for Applications

Find out what your peers are saying about Spiceworks vs. VMware Aria Operations for Applications and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.

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