Dynatrace vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor comparison

Dynatrace and SolarWinds are both solutions in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category. Dynatrace is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.3, while SolarWinds is ranked #24 with an average rating of 7.3. Dynatrace holds a 12.7% mindshare in APM, compared to SolarWinds’s 1.9% mindshare. Additionally, 95% of Dynatrace users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 88% of SolarWinds users who would recommend it.

Dynatrace

Read 344 Dynatrace reviews

36,984 Views
22,428 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

SolarWinds Server and Appli...

Read 40 SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor reviews

4,417 Views
2,907 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

Dynatrace

SolarWinds Server and Appli...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 24, 2024

Dynatrace and SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor are two prominent IT monitoring tools. Dynatrace leads with advanced AI-driven features and automation capabilities, whereas SolarWinds SAM is favored for ease of use and integrations.

What features are offered by Dynatrace in comparison to SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor?

Dynatrace offers automatic discovery and dependency mapping, AI-driven root cause analysis, and full-stack monitoring. SolarWinds SAM provides customizable dashboards, comprehensive server health monitoring, and detailed application performance insights.

What areas of improvement can be found in Dynatrace in comparison to SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor?

Users suggest Dynatrace improve its learning curve, integration with third-party tools, and user interface complexity. SolarWinds SAM needs enhancements in the alerting system, scaling performance in large environments, and customer support.

How is the ease of deployment and customer service of Dynatrace in comparison to SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor?

Dynatrace is noted for its streamlined deployment and responsive customer service, efficiently supporting various environments. SolarWinds SAM offers a simplified deployment but has mixed feedback on customer service responsiveness.

What setup costs and ROI can be seen with Dynatrace in comparison to SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor?

Dynatrace users report higher initial setup costs with significant ROI from reduced downtime and operational efficiencies. SolarWinds SAM reviews reflect competitive pricing and strong ROI through effective monitoring capabilities.

To learn more, read our detailed Dynatrace vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor Report (Updated: October 2024).

Buyer's Guide

Dynatrace vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

October 2024

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Categories and Ranking

Dynatrace

Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

2nd

Average Rating

8.8

Number of Reviews

344

Ranking in other categories

Log Management (4th), Mobile APM (1st), Container Monitoring (2nd), AIOps (2nd)

SolarWinds Server and Appli...

Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

24th

Average Rating

8.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Server Monitoring (11th), Active Directory Management (14th)

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category, the mindshare of Dynatrace is 12.7%, down from 14.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is 1.9%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

Featured Reviews

Sathis-Kumar

Senior Manager at Bank of America

Nov 29, 2022

The single-agent format is easy to use and accurately captures issues

Our company uses the solution to identify performance issues. Our database is in Oracle and our user interface is Maps. The solution helps us to gather required information and manage systems. For example, we just had a big data center issue with cluster settings, voting, and updating. The…

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Subhajit Nag

Senior Process Associate at Tata Consultancy Services

May 19, 2022

The component and cable monitoring features are good, but the interface is slow

SolarWinds' interface is slow, and this is a global concern. Every SolarWinds user complains about the sluggishness. The response is slow. If you browse from one page to another, you have to wait. Our company is a massive user with plenty of licenses, so the performance issues could be due to the load per license. Ten thousand components can be mapped under one license. So SolarWinds needs to take care of the speed problem. It cannot be this slow. That is a huge complaint. Otherwise, the tool is good. It should also be easier to upgrade SolarWinds. AppDynamics is harder to deploy but easier to upgrade. So AppDynamics takes a lot of time and effort to install, but you can upgrade it in minutes. SolarWinds is the opposite. It's easy to deploy, but upgrades take forever. To date, nobody can complete it on time, so the production environment is sitting idle. The upgrade time matters because you only install the solution once, but you'll need to upgrade the solution repeatedly over the life of the product. A complex installation isn't an issue, but I mind if the upgrade takes too long because it's already in production.

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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

"Technical support has always been quick to respond."

"The alerting mechanism where you get millions of dependencies analyzed, in one alert or "problem" as Dynatrace calls it."

"Scalability is outstanding. It won't tax our environment at all as it will scale sideways."

"The Dashboard is very useful, as you can monitor different parameters on the same screen."

"It identifies problem areas and performance issues."

"The ability to take each individual request and dive in to inspect what methods and calls are being made is extremely helpful."

"Logs files for JVM transactions help to debug most of the failures."

"The Recorder for setting up a synthetic monitor is a really great tool for non-technical staff to be able to set up a monitor."

More Dynatrace pros

"SolarWinds SAM has provided us with dynamic thresholds based on historical trends and requirements. The threshold gets configured automatically, so it's no longer necessary to configure it manually every time."

"I find it to be a strong product suite, particularly when you need a comprehensive monitoring tool."

"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."

"The component and cable monitoring are good. SolarWinds is more intuitive and user-friendly than AppDynamics. The AppDynamics console is more complex because it's a more feature-rich solution, so it's not easy for somebody to pick it up."

"The solution is end-to-end from the network and the application to the processes. Everything about the enterprise infrastructure is being covered by the solution. It's easy to use and easy to navigate and one of the leaders among monitoring solutions."

"The more valuable feature of this solution is the Exchange feature."

"Monitoring of processes and services is the most valuable feature. It is not necessarily just the server alone in terms of the CPU or the memory. We can go in-depth into services and processes."

"SolarWinds is a very stable platform compared to others on the market."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor pros

Cons

"The configuration of the alerts, that's been a challenge in AppMon for me, right now. Some of the alerts are too noisy, but that might be my lack of some configuration."

"Getting the EM data, we have to open a browser. Generally, one of the asks from our clients or our engineering team is to change this."

"The installation process had quite a few moving parts, so it was a little tricky getting everything to work in first go."

"Monitoring asynchronous code requires manual instrumentation (most of the time)."

"I would love to see Dynatrace get more involved in the security realm. I get badgered by so many endpoint protection companies. It seems like a natural fit to me, that Dynatrace should be playing in that space."

"Custom reporting capabilities should be extended, because it now has basic charting capabilities."

"We sometimes have to run plugins on docker containers."

"I would say that this solution's reports are lacking a little bit, and because of this, you have to rely on API to fetch and pull data. I think they could have done a bit of a better job by providing a more user-friendly search from a reporting perspective."

More Dynatrace cons

"An additional feature that would improve this solution is the ability to complete root cause analysis."

"The current script monitoring feature has limitations, especially when dealing with custom scripts."

"This product has no real downside unless they fail to continue development of its capabilities."

"Reporting is the only thing with which we currently have challenges. They have this in two ways. There is the report writer, which is the backend, and we also have web reports, which are on the console. So, they have removed the report writer for the backend reports, and we are making use of the web console, but most of the users are not finding it very interesting to use the frontend reports. I would like them to bring back the report writer. That's the key area within it to improve on the reporting. If they can bring back the report writer, then most users will actually be comfortable. I have some customers who are trying to export their report to an Excel format, but it is not possible because they said any report that has been done from the web console cannot be exported to Excel, but most of the customers need to export their reports to Excel. That's one area they need to work on."

"One area that could benefit from improvement is its performance"

"The stability, flexibility, and ease of use could be improved."

"SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor could improve the server monitoring and the web application monitoring features are not good. Microsoft SCOM has better server monitoring."

"It needs time-based functions for monitoring. Some things need to be polled on a specific schedule or only during a specific window."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Dynatrace is the most expensive APM that we sell, compared to competitors' products. The license pricing could be improved. My customers pay for licensing yearly."

"There is a license issue where if we increase the memory we have to up the licenses. I was unaware of that going in. I thought it was scalable without all the paperwork behind the scenes. "

"The pricing and licensing are very expensive."

"Pricing is based on the number of servers monitored, so for big applications, it is a bit expensive."

"Consider volume because that is where you will get the most benefit. Doing a point solution is not cost-effective."

"We found a tool that can be utilized by testing, DevOps, marketing, software engineering, and monitoring. Before, we always had everybody doing their own thing. Now, everybody's utilizing one tool, which is huge. That is a huge savings."

"As compared to New Relic and other providers, it is more expensive, which is its biggest disadvantage. Its biggest advantage is its capability. It is more feature-rich."

"Pricing can be high, especially for Portuguese standards. But as one says, you get what you pay for."

More Dynatrace pricing and cost advice

"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."

"Pricing and licensing is fair for what you get. It does have a great bang-for-the-buck appeal."

"Its licensing is on a yearly basis. It is just the standard price, but it can vary depending on the current rate of the dollar."

"We are on an annual license to use the solution. The price of the solution is expensive. The price is based on a bunch of factors, such as the number of engines and elements."

"The product is expensive."

"When planning for the number of licenses to purchase, make sure you understand all of the elements within an application required to really understand performance well. In our case, we quickly came to the conclusion that an unlimited license for SAM was the way to go."

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

"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

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.

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815,854 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

33%

Financial Services Firm

17%

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

45%

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

Any advice about APM solutions?

The key is to have a holistic view over the complete infrastructure, the ones you have listed are great for APM if you need to monitor applications end to end. I have tested them all and have not f...

See all answers

What cloud monitoring software did you choose and why?

While the environment does matter in the selection of an APM tool, I prefer to use Dynatrace to manage the entire stack. Both production and Dev/Test. I find it to be quite superior to anything els...

See all answers

Any advice about APM solutions?

There are many factors and we know little about your requirements (size of org, technology stack, management systems, the scope of implementation). Our goal was to consolidate APM and infra monitor...

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 product is expensive.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor?

One product area that could benefit from improvement is the synchronization of licensing periods across different modules. The misalignment of licensing terms can present commercial challenges when...

See all answers

Comparisons

Datadog vs Dynatrace

Compared 13% of the time

New Relic vs Dynatrace

Compared 8% of the time

Azure Monitor vs Dynatrace

Compared 8% of the time

AppDynamics vs Dynatrace

Compared 7% of the time

ITRS Geneos vs Dynatrace

Compared 2% of the time

More Dynatrace Competitors

Azure Monitor vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Compared 19% of the time

AppDynamics vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Compared 14% of the time

Prometheus vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Compared 6% of the time

Nagios XI vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Compared 4% of the time

PRTG Network Monitor vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Compared 4% of the time

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Dynatrace

November 2024

Download Dynatrace product report

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

October 2024

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor report

Download SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor product report

Also Known As

No data available

SolarWinds SAM

Learn More

Dynatrace

SolarWinds

Overview

Dynatrace is an AI-powered software intelligence monitoring platform that accelerates digital transformation and simplifies cloud complexities. Dynatrace is an entirely automated full-stack solution that provides data and answers about the performance of your applications and deep insight into every transaction throughout every application, including the end-user experience. By modernizing and automating enterprise cloud operations, users can deliver an optimal digital experience with higher quality software to customers faster.

Dynatrace offers an all-in-one automated artificial intelligence solution that brings together application performance, cloud and infrastructure, and digital experience monitoring. Dynatrace accelerates performance-driven results through operations, development, and business teams with a shared metrics platform. In addition, users are provided a full-stack monitoring experience with three patented technologies:

Smartscape - visualization mechanism that maps the totality of everything working in your environment and detects any casual dependencies between your applications, processes, websites, services, hosts, cloud infrastructure, and networks.
OneAgent - a technology that analyzes, gathers ,and unifies all business performance metrics throughout every layer of your technology stack.
PurePath Technology - code-level context and timings are captured from the mainframe to the cloud for all end-to-end transactions.

What does Dynatrace offer?

Dynatrace redefines how organizations monitor their digital ecosystems. The solution offers:

Cloud Automation: With AI engine Davis®, users can see the exact reason for problems and facilitate quick auto-remediation and intelligent cloud orchestration.
Application Security: With automated application vulnerability management, users can deliver applications faster and more securely.
Infrastructure Monitoring: Convenient broad visibility across your environments is provided with streamlined, automated infrastructure monitoring.
Digital Experience Monitoring (DEM): Optimize your applications, provide better support, and improve user experience with a combination of Real User Monitoring (RUM), Session Replay, and synthetic monitoring throughout your environment.
Applications and Microservices: For complex cloud environments, Dynatrace can automatically provide visibility and root-cause answers. It can also monitor microservices.
Digital Business Analytics: Get AI-powered, real-time answers to analytical business queries with KPIs and metrics that are already flowing through applications.

Reviews from Real Users

Dynatrace is the only solution that provides answers to organizations based on deep insight into each user, transaction, and organization's environment.

Barry P., a managing performance engineer at Medica Health Plans, writes, "With Dynatrace, we have synthetic checks and real-user monitoring of all of our websites, places where members and providers can interact with us over the web. We monitor the response times of those with Dynatrace, and it's all integrated into one place."

A consultant at a tech service company notes, "A feature that's one of the highlights of Dynatrace is the AI. The second most valuable feature is OneAgent. Between infrastructures, applications, operating systems, you can deploy with just a single agent and can practically install and forget about it."

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.

Sample Customers

Audi, Best Buy, LinkedIn, CISCO, Intuit, KRONOS, Scottrade, Wells Fargo, ULTA Beauty, Lenovo, Swarovsk, Nike, Whirlpool, American Express

Andr. L. Riis AS, NetSuite

Buyer's Guide

Dynatrace vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

October 2024

Free Report: Dynatrace vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

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