SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor is a product that many consider being the best network monitoring product on the market. However, this doesn’t mean that it is the best at everything. Each tool has its specialty and there are many tools that challenge SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor in a number of key areas. In this article, we’re going to compare SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor, Paessler PRTG, Atera, NinjaOne, SevOne, NetBrain, Splunk, Auvik and Extrahop and more to see which is best.
SolarWinds vs Paessler PRTG
Feature Comparison Table:
Paessler PRTG is a collection of monitors, each of which is called a “sensor.” Each customer buys an allowance of sensors and activates that number. Comparing Paessler PRTG to the SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor is only possible when the right sensors are used in PRTG. The full complement of PRTG sensors covers the monitoring of networks, servers, and applications.
The capabilities of PRTG can be extended by add-ons, plug-ins, and scripts. The PRTG system also includes APIs so users can interact with sensors from custom-built programs. Although automation is possible with PRTG, this has to be accomplished by PowerShell programs, such as ScriptRunner. Paessler built PRTG purely to monitor IT infrastructure. As such, it has few remediation tools and no maintenance capabilities. However, the same limitations apply to the SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor.
General industry opinion ranks PRTG as the main rival to SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor, which is the leader in the field. The two tools have a lot in common. Both install on Windows Server, but, in addition, PRTG is available on the Cloud. Prospective buyers can try both of these tools on a 30-day free trial.
Both SolarWinds NPM and Paessler PRTG are based on SNMP and both have very impressive network topology mapping capabilities. Both can monitor remote sites, cloud-based resources, and wi-fi networks as well as traditional wired networks.
The sensors in PRTG extend to functions that SolarWinds markets separately to the Network Performance Monitor. These include NetFlow monitoring and traffic shaping measures, which SolarWinds makes available in the NetFlow Traffic Analyzer. So, it is possible to turn on a certain number of sensors to equate to NPM or turn on more and get the same functionality as the Network Performance Monitor plus the NetFlow Traffic Analyzer. This strategy would cost you more than the base price for PRTG. SolarWinds makes the Network Performance Monitor and NetFlow Traffic Monitor together in a bundled called the Network Bandwidth Analyzer Pack.
The flexibility of PRTG makes it very appealing. Those who only turn on 100 sensors don’t have to pay anything. However, it would be impossible to replace the Network Performance Monitor with such a limited implementation of PRTG.
Feature Comparison: Alerts
As PRTG is based on SNMP, it processes SNMP Traps into warnings and alerts in exactly the same way as the SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor. This is another area of monitoring that makes NPM and PRTG very difficult to tell apart. Both enable combinations of conditions to create custom alerts and threshold levels can also be adjusted.
Paessler PRTG Network Monitor is available on a 30-day free trial.
Pros:
- Uses behavioral analysis to identify suspicious or malicious activity
- Built-in root cause analysis helps technicians triage issues faster
- Drag and drop editor makes it easy to build custom views and reports
- Supports a free version – great for smaller organizations
Cons:
- Is a very comprehensive platform with many features and moving parts that require time to learn
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SolarWinds vs Atera
Atera is a little different from the other SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor alternatives on this list because it is a support package for managed service providers (MSPs). The platform is a cloud-based service and it includes remote monitoring and management (RMM) functions and professional services automation (PSA) modules. RMM is the software that a technician needs in order to service the client’s network and PSA features assist in the monitoring of the MSP’s own team of technicians.
As a complete remote system monitoring package, Atera is able to monitor servers and applications as well as networks. It includes system management functions, such as patch management and software license management. As such, Atera has much more functionality than the SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor. For the sake of this comparison, we will focus just on the network monitoring functions of the Atera RMM service.
The underlying technology that drives the network monitoring functions of both the SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor and Atera is exactly the same. Both use Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) processes. The SNMP method provides network discovery, live network equipment statuses, and performance alerts.
The main configuration difference between SolarWinds NPM and Atera is that SolarWinds installs on-site but Atera is an online service. There is no need to maintain servers to host the Atera software. As such, Atera is more suitable for small MSPs because the full functionality of a network monitoring suite is available to those companies with small budgets. The Atera service is charged for by subscription on a per technician basis, so companies that use Atera don’t have to pay the full cost of acquiring the software upfront. Customers of Atera can choose to pay monthly or annually. Paying by the year gets a lower rate. However, the service is charged for in advance, so there are budgeting advantages to opting for the monthly payment plan.
Feature Comparison: Alerts
System alerts are vitally important in any network monitor and both SolarWinds NPM and Atera employ the same methodology for highlighting status problems: the SNMP trap. In both systems, the central monitor software makes periodic requests to device agents for reports on the various statuses of the monitored equipment.
The SNMP trap enables the device agent to send a status report without waiting for a request. Both SolarWinds and Atera recognize the importance of these trap messages and display them prominently as interpreted alerts in the dashboard. In both cases, the alert can be forwarded on to a nominated technician via email. This feature means that you don’t need to allocate a member of staff to sit and watch the network monitoring dashboard in order to catch an alert as soon as it arises. Alerts are categorized by severity and shown in the system dashboard as color-coded events.
The alert events also feed through to system monitoring visualizations, which include graphs and color-coded charts. Both of these systems simplify network administration by logging all statuses and making performance data available for later analysis as well as grabbing the attention of administrators as soon as things start to go wrong.
You can get a free 30-day trial of Atera software.
Lightweight cloud-based tool
Built with MSPs in mind, and includes RMM and PSA tools built-in
Dashboard access from any browser makes Atera extremely flexible
Can scale and support multiple networks in an organized manner
Users who aren’t looking for RMM capabilities might not need all of Atera’s features
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SolarWinds vs NinjaOne
NinjaOne – formerly NinjaRMM – is a package of system monitoring and management tools so the fundamental strategy behind NinjaOne is different from that of SolarWinds, which produces separate modules for each task. While SolarWinds provides all of the functionality contained in NinjaOne, that service is spread out over several units. You would have to buy many SolarWinds products to get the services offered by NinjaOne.
Another fundamental difference between these two systems is that NinjaOne is specifically written for managed service providers (MSPs). SolarWinds has a division that caters to this market, which is marketed under the N-Able brand. MSPs would need to look at the N-Able systems in order to get a closer comparison with NinjaOne. The MSP-first structure of NinjaOne gives it a multi-tenant capability that gives users the ability to keep the data of different clients completely separate. NinjaOne is also set up to enable credential management that prevents the technician from knowing the account passwords for the remote systems.
Despite its structure that is built for MSPs, NinjaOne can also be used by IT Operations departments to support several sites. In this type of implementation, there is a closer comparison between the two systems. NinjaOne is organized to monitor remote sites. This doesn’t prevent it from monitoring the same site that the technician is connected to. However, as NinjaOne is cloud-based, that “local” network is actually remote to the monitoring software.
SolarWinds is an on-premises package and so its great strength is monitoring the local system. The SolarWinds product range is also able to monitor multiple sites and cloud resources. In this configuration, there is a closer implementation comparison with the operations of NinjaOne.
The basis of NinjaOne is its network monitoring service. This is because, as a remote service, this tool needs to be able to navigate around the network and so will map that system first as a matter of course, if only for its own access needs. The Network Performance Monitor (NPM) of SolarWinds is that company’s star product and it is the most widely-sold network monitoring package in the world.
The NPM checks on network device statuses through SNMP and NinjaOne does that, too. NinjaOne also includes network traffic analysis, which SolarWinds offers in the NetFlow Traffic Analyzer. Both systems use NetFlow, J-Flow, and sFlow to communicate with devices. Both are able to implement traffic shaping and both can watch over virtual systems, including VLANs and VMs.
Both of these services will monitor endpoints running Windows, macOS, and Linux. This includes server monitoring. Both also have application monitoring capabilities, although the SolarWinds Server & Applications Monitor is much stronger in this division than the NinjaRMM system.
NinjaOne includes an automated patch manager and a configuration manager. These functions are available from SolarWinds in specialist packages, which have to be bought separately and added to the network and endpoint monitoring packages. The SolarWinds tools are all built on a common platform, called Orion. The tools will all be accessible from a single dashboard, so technicians don’t need to switch between interfaces, even though many of the modules required would have been bought separately.
Key Feature Comparison: Alerts
As you can see from the other comparisons in this guide, just about every system monitoring tool includes an alerting mechanism. This is an industry-standard feature and so, it is no surprise that NinjaRMM has this service and it operates in a very similar way to the alters mechanism in all SolarWinds products.
In both cases, the monitoring service offers a series of thresholds. These usually relate to capacity utilization, but they can also be set for performance issues, such as device response times. Fundamentally, performance problems are caused by resource capacity shortages, which is why both of these systems focus on capacity utilization for their alerting service.
With NinjaOne, as with SolarWinds products, alerts are generated when a capacity limit is crossed. These threshold levels are not at full capacity because they are intended to give the technician enough time to take action. So, for example, a CPU threshold might be set at 75 percent utilization. With both services, thresholds need to be turned on and their levels are pre-set but can be adjusted easily. With both systems, it is also possible to create custom alerts, particularly by combining conditions.
The big difference between the SolarWinds and NinjaOne systems is that NinjaOne includes a ticketing system, which is central to its services. The philosophy of NinjaOne system management is to channel all tasks through the ticketing system for allocation and scheduling. So, this is where NinjaOne alerts go by default, although it is also possible to send alerts out as emails and SMS. SolarWinds doesn’t have that ticketing mechanism and so email and SMS notification – as well as an alert in the dashboard – are the main channel for alerts.
NinjaOne is available on a 14-day free trial. For detailed pricing, you can reach out to them for a free quote.
Can silently install and uninstall applications and patches while the user works
Patch management and other automated maintenance tasks can be easily scheduled
Platform agnostic web-based management
Smaller organizations may not utilize all MSP-related features found in NinjaOne
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SolarWinds vs SevOne
SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor and SevOne are two of the most well-known network monitoring tools in circulation right now. As the needs of network administrators have evolved at an exponential rate, these two products have been adapting as well. SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor is a Windows-based network monitoring solution that can also be run as a virtual machine and offers a monitoring environment that is structured through the dashboard.
Devices are mapped through the use of network autodiscovery tool and can then be viewed in a variety of visual displays. Visual displays available in SolarWinds Network Monitor include network topology maps to charts and graphs. SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor provides you with an intensely-visual experience with which to monitor. This allows the user to easily see what is going on from a top-down perspective.
SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor’s monitoring ability is underpinned by the use of SNMP, ICMP, and WMI. However, if you want to make use of flow monitoring, you will need to purchase a copy of SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer. SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer which costs $1,795 (£1,400) and will allow you to conduct NetFlow, jFlow, sFlow, IPFIX and NetStream.
In comparison, SevOne offers a different approach towards network monitoring to SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor. SevOne is deployed as hardware directly to the datacenter which helps to support the potential for upscaling further down the line. The features of SevOne aren’t segregated by modules like they are in SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor either. For instance, if you want to access NetFlow monitoring you’ll find it’s part of the dashboard and you won’t have to click to another tab.
With SevOne you can monitor SNMP, NetFlow, ICMP, IPFIX, and more. The biggest advantage that SevOne enjoys over SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor is that it offers support for NetFlow. NetFlow is essential for conducting bandwidth analysis and while you can purchase SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer, the lack of this feature makes it a missed opportunity for SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor.
One of the most important areas to look at when considering a new network monitoring tool is alerts. Having the right alerts system helps to keep you in the loop even when you’re not glued to your device. Alerts are an area where both SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor and SevOne perform very well. SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor has an alerts system that lets you know when devices are close to failure (or when they have failed).
This ensures that you are only notified when devices are in serious jeopardy and cuts down the amount of irrelevant notification messages that are a problem with some other network monitoring platforms. You can also customize your experience by configuring network alerts to be triggered by specific criteria. Likewise, there is also the potential to set trigger conditions so that an alert is activated once something specific happens.
Alerts are then sent by email and SMS so that can be acted on. The ability to customize your alerts in this way is extremely handy, and this is something that SevOne does very well. SevOne operates a threshold-based alerts system that notifies the user when pre-configured alerts thresholds are violated. You can view alerts via an email, the dashboard or through the SevOne mobile app.
Having custom alert triggers ensures you keep in touch with what is going on and don’t overlook anything that could cause you unexpected downtime. Based on the usability and simplicity it has to be said that SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor has the better alerts system. It is easier to use and provides a monitoring experience that allows you to take a step back thus preventing endless notifications.
SolarWinds vs NetBrain
Clean and informative dashboard with simple widget-based customizations
Can track multiple ACI clusters with performance baselines
Alerting is simple to implement
Must contact sales for pricing
While NetBrain isn’t as well-known as SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor, it is still one of the most highly-functioning network monitoring products on the market. One of the features that makes NetBrain stand out is its network discovery. NetBrain has its own autodiscovery feature but instead of doing the SNMP polling that SolarWinds is well-known for, NetBrain builds a mathematical model from live data and collects CLI data from connected devices.
The main advantage this method of autodiscovery has over SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor’s SNMP polling is that it can collect data from all devices. In contrast, SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor can only poll SNMP-enabled devices. In this sense, NetBrain provides you with more visibility because it allows you to view all of those devices.
NetBrain also has compelling visualization. You can use NetBrain to create on-demand network topology maps to see how your network is working from a topological perspective. These are built from live data to ensure that everything you view is completely correct. In the event that your network changes, the NetBrain platform will update your network topology map so that you do not need to update it manually.
SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor has a similar setup in that you can also create network topology maps with the NetPath critical visualization. This feature allows you to view your network from a hop-to-hop perspective. While this is similar to NetBrain’s it has a much higher production value that makes the monitoring experience more satisfying on the whole.
NetBrain also offers an alerting experience in line with SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor’s. With NetBrain you can not only receive alerts, but also configure a ticketing system that automatically triggers NetBrain analysis once an alert has been raised. This helps the user to run informed troubleshooting and helps to pinpoint the cause of the problem. On NetBrain the user is provided with a Dynamic Network Map displaying the area in question
You can also configure escalation through the use of APIs. This ensures that you don’t need to email log files in order to receive a prompt response. In threat response this is instrumental in helping you to respond before any damage takes hold. In terms of automation, NetBrain has a distinct edge over SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor.
SolarWinds vs Splunk
Simple graphics get the job done without cluttering the dashboard
Autodiscovery can automatically identify Cisco ACI and other devices
Provides insights through automatic diagnostic scans
Great for mapping out complicated environments
Must contact sales for a quote
Splunk is one of the biggest SolarWinds alternatives on this list. Splunk is a highly-regarded provider of network monitoring solutions. With Splunk, you can monitor your network in real time. Splunk uses machine data from your connected devices to measure how well your environment is performing. You can even use Splunk’s Search Processing Language (SPL) to search through this data in real time.
However, what makes Splunk a particularly interesting network monitoring tool is its automatic detection capabilities. For instance, it can detect abnormal data patterns across your network. You can even recognize the patterns of common cyber attacks that could damage your network. Splunk’s automatic detection abilities help to identify security and performance concerns that could cause you significant problems further down the line.
In terms of visual design, Splunk is very similar to SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor. There are graphs and charts to help you see what is going on, as well as a clear dashboard design. Though these two bear a resemblance, SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor’s simple layout and the rapid flow from dashboard to individual views makes for a much smoother user experience.
Feature Comparison: Alerts
As one of the best network monitoring tools on this list, it is no surprise that Splunk also has its own alerting capabilities. You can create real time alerts to notify you of events as they happen. You can also schedule alerts if you want to keep the impact on your computer as minimal as possible. This allows you to minimize the effects on your performance as you keep up-to-date with changes on your network.
You can also create alert conditions to specify when you want to be notified. The advantage of doing this is that you can set up the behavior that you want to monitor for. The end result is a monitoring environment where you only need to step in if the system monitors you that something problematic has happened.
The one limitation of Splunk that stands out is that the alerts system feels one dimensional when compared to the approach of SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor and the other tools on this list. The simplicity offered by SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor’s alerts system is one of the things that makes it standout from the crowd.
SolarWinds vs Auvik
Can utilize behavior analysis to detect threats that aren’t discovered through logs
An excellent user interface, highly visual with easy customization options
Enterprise focused
Available cross platform for Linux and Windows
Caters more to enterprise networks than small to medium-sized organizations
There are few network monitoring tools as well-designed as Auvik. Auvik has one of the most fresh-faced network monitoring experiences on the market that meshed well with its wide-ranging support for integration with other platforms. Auvik can integrate with other well-known platforms such as ConnectWise Automate and Continuum to provide complete network management.
Auvik is a high-performance network monitor in many ways, but nowhere is this more clearly displayed than in its real time network inventory and mapping features. It can register when new devices are connected to your device and add them to a topology map for further analysis. On the topology map, you can click on individual devices to view more information. For instance, you can click on a PC to view its device bandwidth.
The compelling user experience doesn’t stop there either. Auvik also offers the user automated device configuration backups and restorations. This means that you’re not at risk of losing everything in the event that a device goes down. This adds a level of security that rivals the limited approach to security that can be seen by SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor.
Extra Features: IPAM and Password Management
The features that really makes Auvik standout from SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor are its IPAM and its password management. With IPAM, Auvik enables the user to view which devices are using which subnets on your network. This is great because it allows you to see which IP’s have been defined to what. There is no equivalent function on SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor, and SolarWinds users have to purchase SolarWinds IP Address Manager in order to make use of this feature.
Auvik’s password manager is another area where Auvik really stands out as well. Auvik allows you to encrypt and store passwords within your monitoring environment so they are always within reach. In effect, you only need to remember one password to monitor your entire network (your Auvik password). Again there is no such feature on SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor which helps Auvik to really stand out.
SolarWinds vs Extrahop
Simple interface, easy to learn over time
Leverages autodiscovery to accurately reflect live device inventories
Can easily monitor CPU and set threshold-based alerts
The open-source version lacks the level of support found in paid products
Extrahop is a network monitoring provider which has its sights firmly fixed on threat prevention. Extrahop offers a cutting-edge network monitoring experience that aids the user to cut out the unnecessary data and see the crucial information about what is going on. The dashboard is the heart and soul of where you conduct your monitoring activity with Extrahop.
However, Extrahop’s approach to network monitoring is very different to the modus operandi of most providers. ExtraHop is much more focused on data analytics. That being said, you can still view your past usage data in a variety of time windows whether you want to check daily events or a week’s worth.
The machine learning system operated by Extrahop is called ExtraHop Addy. ExtraHop Addy is a cloud-based machine learning service for wire data. In a nutshell this product scans for patterns in your usage data to help detect abnormalities and performance issues. The biggest perk of this setup is that it reduces the amount of manual troubleshooting the user needs to do to resolve network faults.
Extrahop also has the ability to autodiscover devices throughout the network. This means that if a new device is connected it is added to your monitoring environment. Once it’s connected there is support for over 50 protocols and almost all TCP, and UDP systems. It is also high performance in the sense that it can run up to 100 Gbps of traffic.
While Extrahop offers a compelling package in terms of machine learning, its traditional network monitoring abilities are not as complete as SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor. Though SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor doesn’t have the machine learning ability of Extrahop, it makes up for this by providing a tried and tested network monitoring formula that has maintained countless organizations over the years.
King of the Hill: SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor
All in all, SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor performs well consistently across the board. While tools like Extrahop offer better features in terms of machine learning, SolarWinds Network Monitoring offers the most complete classic network monitoring experience on the market.
Designed for enterprise use to assist system administrators
Leverages machine learning to assist in remediation
Automatically detects network issues and provides correlation assistance
Is a robust platform that requires time to explore all features
It is fair to say that tools like SevOne have the advantage when it comes to NetFlow analysis, and the lack of a NetFlow analysis ability on SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor is a considerable limitation (particularly given that you have to pay extra for this program!). Yet SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor remains one of the most appealing network monitoring platforms based on how it puts its network monitoring experience together.
If you’re looking for a network monitoring platform that’s easy to set up, with autodiscovery, topology maps, alerts, and reports, then SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor is as good as it gets. Whether you’re in an SME or a multinational organization this product has the bandwidth to be able to cope with your usage requirements.
SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor Download FREE Trial at solarwinds.com
See Also: Best Network Monitoring Tools and Software
