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BMC TrueSight vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor comparison

BMC Helix and SolarWinds are both solutions in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category. BMC Helix is ranked #30 with an average rating of 8.5, while SolarWinds is ranked #22 with an average rating of 7.6. BMC Helix holds a 1.0% mindshare in APM, compared to SolarWinds’s 1.3% mindshare. Additionally, 86% of BMC Helix users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 89% of SolarWinds users who would recommend it.
BMC TrueSight
Read 51 BMC TrueSight reviews
  • 3,880 Views
  • 1,940 Comparison Views
86% willing to recommend
SolarWinds Server and Appli...
Read 44 SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor reviews
  • 4,410 Views
  • 2,778 Comparison Views
89% willing to recommend
 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 7, 2025

BMC TrueSight and SolarWinds SAM compete in the infrastructure and application monitoring category. BMC TrueSight holds the upper hand with its comprehensive integration capabilities and holistic views.

Features: BMC TrueSight provides comprehensive infrastructure and application health monitoring, offering a holistic view and broad integration with various technologies, including advanced event management for centralized alert handling. SolarWinds SAM distinguishes itself with ease of installation and immediate insights into server and application performance, focusing on user-friendly monitoring of services and applications.

Room for Improvement: BMC TrueSight could enhance its deployment processes, cloud monitoring capabilities, and intuitive reporting tools, as its complex architecture requires significant resources for management. SolarWinds should improve the integration of its modules and enhance scalability and dashboard flexibility to offer a seamless experience.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: TrueSight's deployment is complex, requiring significant resources and customization, while SolarWinds offers a more straightforward deployment. TrueSight's technical support is generally responsive but variable, and SolarWinds can improve its support response times and resource handling to better assist users.

Pricing and ROI: TrueSight's pricing is relatively high due to its extensive features and integrations, necessitating careful planning to manage licensing costs. SolarWinds offers competitive pricing for mid-sized organizations, making it more accessible. Both solutions provide substantial ROI through operational efficiencies, but SolarWinds is noted for better accessibility due to its pricing structure.

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To learn more, read our detailed BMC TrueSight vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor Report (Updated: February 2026).
Buyer's Guide
BMC TrueSight vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor
February 2026
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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

BMC TrueSight
Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability
30th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
51
Ranking in other categories
Event Monitoring (8th), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (31st), Cloud Monitoring Software (26th), AIOps (8th)
SolarWinds Server and Appli...
Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability
22nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
4.5
Number of Reviews
44
Ranking in other categories
Server Monitoring (8th), Active Directory Management (9th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category, the mindshare of BMC TrueSight is 1.0%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is 1.3%, down from 1.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor1.3%
BMC TrueSight1.0%
Other97.7%
Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability
 

Featured Reviews

NikhilKalwint - PeerSpot reviewer
NikhilKalwint
Technical Specialist at ServiceIO
Has improved monitoring efficiency and supports fast issue resolution through responsive support and reliable automation
I work with BMC TrueSight and have been using it for eight-plus years BMC TrueSight brought a positive impact and benefits to our organization. The customization part is one of the advantages of the product, along with the monitoring capabilities. Automated root cause analysis and predictive…
Read full review
NikhilKalwint - PeerSpot reviewer
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

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The tool is flexible enough to be customized based on customer requirements."
"Signature baselines, which have allowed us to fine tune many of our events and significantly reduce the number of events generated."
"The most valuable features of BMC TrueSight Operations Management are the blackouts and event management."
"Using the TrueSight platform we can monitor server performance and notify the customers using the integrated ticketing for events. We can let them know if there are any issues with a server, or application, or database."
"What I like best about BMC TrueSight Operations Management is that it allows you to do granular monitoring and improves VM load."
"I like the event management part."
"Helix Innovation Studio is a very good feature. It allows us to develop our own enterprise applications and make them available for the customers."
"The solution provides visibility to our infrastructure, how it is, the resources we are monitoring, and quick updates when it has any problems. We have integrated it with ServiceNow to open instances."
More BMC TrueSight pros
"There are many valuable features, including the network configuration manager, and the network performance manager."
"The solution has good alerts. Notifications are sent via email to technicians. You can filter the kinds of alerts you want to receive as well. It's excellent."
"I have found the visibility into server health with SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor very beneficial, which we use on a daily basis."
"SolarWinds SAM has significantly improved our workflow by allowing us to develop a comprehensive knowledge base of known errors and automate responses to specific alerts."
"One of the most valuable features are the reports. They're pretty good. Also, the ease of installation and customization for the client is another feature that we value. SolarWinds has a lot of features but these are the ones I like the most. We also like that the KPIs have the ability to be preset."
"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."
"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."
More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor pros
 

Cons

"I would like to see a little more out-of-the-box event correlation and expanded AIOps type capabilities. Where you can train your artificial intelligence operations to be able to memorize an issue once you encounter one scenario, so if you encounter that same problem, you can get to the root cause very quickly."
"I would really like to see out-of-the-box support for monitoring uninterruptible power supplies."
"There are some small limitations with this tool in terms of reporting dashboards that fit all of the requirements of the individual customer."
"The product must provide more AI capabilities."
"One of the things that the TrueSight environment is missing is some of the HA abilities. The data collection server called the ISM doesn't really have the HA functionality or workload balancing. It was missing from the previous product as well. It's missing redundancy."
"BMC TrueSight Operations Management could improve the reporting."
"Application performance management (APM) is an area with certain shortcomings in the solution that needs improvement. I"
"The solution could improve its price."
More BMC TrueSight cons
"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."
"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."
"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."
"The current script monitoring feature has limitations, especially when dealing with custom scripts."
"SAM AppInsight for SQL: The ability to ignore fragmentation of specific indexes."
"It needs time-based functions for monitoring. Some things need to be polled on a specific schedule or only during a specific window."
"It would be helpful if the solution could integrate more with the security compliances, like this IDSS, etc."
"I believe that some of the trends, environmental maps, and items like those found in Orion would be very beneficial."
More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor cons
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Use conservative figures. In terms of hardware, monitored servers and also effort. The product is not cheap. But as with other products, you get what you pay for."
"Consider scalability very carefully: how much you want to monitor and what components are very important. Then, depending on these two things, filter out unwanted metrics or attributes. If you do a good job at filtering the data, then your licensing costs will be manageable."
"The price of BMC TrueSight Operations Management is very high. If there was more flexibility with the sizing of the licensing it would be helpful, especially during the pandemic. We have wanted to expend but the licensing cost is too high."
"The solutions are not the cheapest but are robust and stable. License model is rather complex and BMC do often change the model."
"There is a big upfront cost when you buy the license, then there is annual maintenance. We look at, if I bought a license and paid for maintenance for five years, then average it out, what would be my monthly cost. We have had some of the competing tools come in around four dollars. This is coming in as a premium, which is why I don't have it deployed as I would like it. Therefore, we're in negotiations right now. If I can get it down to the four dollar range, I will triple my deployment in a year and a half."
"We pay license fees of between $150 and $200 per asset. There is an enterprise software license fee, and then you pay a percentage for your maintenance, and then Premier Support. For example, if you buy a two-year license for the product, then the maintenance fee is added to that for two years at X percent a year. Then there's a small fee on top of that for Premier Support..."
"BMC TrueSight Operations Management is not on the cheaper side, but its pricing is on a case by case basis. Its licensing model is simple and based on the number of devices."
"Pricing is all volume-driven. I think we were paying between $80 and $85 per license. That's per unit, for a perpetual license. You pay it one time and then, every year, you pay 20 percent of that for annual maintenance and support. But now that we've grown, we've purchased tens of thousands of licenses and the cost per license has gone down to something like less than $30..."
More BMC TrueSight pricing and cost advice
"Pricing and licensing is fair for what you get. It does have a great bang-for-the-buck appeal."
"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."
"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."
"I think SolarWinds' pricing is very decent compared to other competitors in the market."
"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."
"I would rate the pricing for this solution a three out of five."
"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."
More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor pricing and cost advice
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
20%
Computer Software Company
9%
Outsourcing Company
7%
Government
7%
Educational Organization
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Government
9%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business24
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise24
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business17
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise21
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about BMC TrueSight Operations Management?
The solution provides visibility to our infrastructure, how it is, the resources we are monitoring, and quick updates when it has any problems. We have integrated it with ServiceNow to open instances.
See all answers
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for BMC TrueSight Operations Management?
BMC TrueSight licensing costs are on the more expensive side.
See all answers
What needs improvement with BMC TrueSight Operations Management?
There are some complexities with deployment that could be improved in BMC TrueSight.
See all answers
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 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
 

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide
BMC TrueSight
January 2026
BMC TrueSight reportDownload BMC TrueSight product report
Buyer's Guide
SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor
January 2026
SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor reportDownload SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor product report
 

Also Known As

ProactiveNet, TrueSight Operations Management
SolarWinds SAM
 

Overview

BMC TrueSight offers extensive event management and seamless integration, providing comprehensive monitoring across varied infrastructures through its centralized console and Knowledge Modules.

BMC TrueSight delivers robust event management capabilities with seamless integration and comprehensive monitoring of diverse infrastructures. Its single console simplifies management, offering automated triage for standardized alerts, enhancing efficiency. Knowledge Modules support services from hardware to cloud, while proactive monitoring and capacity optimization enhance customization. It efficiently supports mixed environments by providing detailed insights and intelligently routing alerts to reduce noise. While improvements are needed in deployment, integration, AI, automation, reporting, and complexity reduction, it still meets diverse operational needs effectively.

What are BMC TrueSight's key features?

  • Robust Event Management: Offers efficient handling of events.
  • Seamless Integration: Integrates easily with existing systems.
  • Comprehensive Monitoring: Supports hardware to cloud infrastructure.
  • Centralized Console: Simplifies management processes.
  • Automated Triage: Standardizes alerts for better efficiency.
  • Proactive Monitoring: Improves forecasting and issue prevention.
  • Capacity Optimization: Efficiently manages resources.
  • Customizability: Tailors to specific service needs.

What benefits and ROI should users seek in BMC TrueSight?

  • Enhanced Proactive Management: Reduces downtime through efficient monitoring.
  • Improved Troubleshooting: Provides visibility into systems for quick issue resolution.
  • Effective Integration: Blends well with other tools and platforms.
  • Resource Efficiency: Optimizes use of infrastructure and servers.
  • Global Support: Facilitates operations across sectors worldwide.

BMC TrueSight is widely used in performance and availability monitoring for infrastructure and applications, supporting the monitoring of servers, databases, networks, and IT environments. It is implemented to improve management and reduce downtime, serving needs in data centers and cloud services. Organizations leverage it for event management, comprehensive data center monitoring, and cloud services, using its capabilities for alerting, ticket creation, troubleshooting, and compliance, enhancing operational efficiency globally.

BMC Helix

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
 

Sample Customers

Ensono, Transamerica, Boston Scientific, Park Place Technologies, inContact, TD Ameritrade, PNC Bank
Andr. L. Riis AS, NetSuite
Buyer's Guide
BMC TrueSight vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor
February 2026
Free Report: BMC TrueSight vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor
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