IBM Tivoli NetCool vs SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager comparison

The compared IBM and SolarWinds solutions aren't in the same category. IBM is ranked #14 in NMA , with an average rating of 7.7, and holds a 2.7% mindshare in the category. SolarWinds is ranked #15 in CM , with an average rating of 7.7, and holds a 1.7% mindshare. Additionally, 83% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of SolarWinds users who would recommend it.

IBM Tivoli NetCool

Read 13 IBM Tivoli NetCool reviews

1,022 Views
797 Comparison Views

83% willing to recommend

SolarWinds Network Configur...

Read 27 SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager reviews

2,080 Views
499 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

IBM Tivoli NetCool

SolarWinds Network Configur...

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between IBM Tivoli NetCool and SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Network Management Applications solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM Tivoli NetCool vs. SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager Report (Updated: April 2023).

Buyer's Guide

IBM Tivoli NetCool vs. SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager

April 2023

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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

IBM Tivoli NetCool

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Management Applications (14th)

SolarWinds Network Configur...

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Configuration Management (15th), Network Automation (4th)

Mindshare comparison

While both are Network Management solutions, they serve different purposes. IBM Tivoli NetCool is designed for Network Management Applications and holds a mindshare of 2.7%, up 1.7% compared to last year.
SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager, on the other hand, focuses on Configuration Management, holds 1.7% mindshare, up 1.4% since last year.

Network Management Applications Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
IBM Tivoli NetCool	2.7%
Cisco DNA Center	14.4%
Cisco Catalyst Center	7.9%
Other	75.0%

Network Management Applications

Configuration Management Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager	1.7%
Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform	13.5%
Microsoft Configuration Manager	10.4%
Other	74.4%

Configuration Management

Featured Reviews

Petar Ganev

Senior Enterprise Monitoring Engineer at Commerzbank

Reliable for enterprise monitoring but no longer actively developed

There are problems with the latest security requirements because many things have changed in recent years, and now the security audits are very strict. And we need to switch to something else. We need to patch it constantly. Moreover, it is a very old tool and a little bit difficult to support. Otherwise, they work okay.

Read full review

Yashokanth Partkunan

Managed Services Engineer at Loop1 Systems

Configuration changes become more manageable with potential for enhanced automation

I work with SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager as a significant part of our operations. Our primary use case involves handling configuration changes, especially within Cisco-related products Configuration pushing, upgrade capabilities, job backup, configuration backup, and real-time…

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

"Anything is possible with Tivoli. It's quite a robust system."

"The tool is much easier to manage than running scripts and figuring out how many endpoints have been exceeded."

"The feature I have found most valuable with NetCool is how it collaborates all the alarms, and then it does a predictive analysis, providing a consolidated alarm view and management."

"NetCool has a huge database that can collect and process about one million alarms a day."

"The solution has very good integration capabilities."

"It's very easy to use."

"Support is one of the best aspects of this solution. NetCool is a good product that has good flexibility. There are a lot of documents available online which is one of the best features of IBM Tivoli Suite. Whenever an issue happens, rather than going to technical support, if you find the exact issue in Google, you can get tech notes for that particular issue."

"The tool had many built-in automation capabilities."

More IBM Tivoli NetCool pros

"The most valuable features the solution offers are compliance, reliability, and information about reliability."

"The most valuable Real-time fault detection is beneficial as it enables the identification of changes made to a device's configuration through the SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager. This makes it easy to pinpoint which configurations were added or removed, potentially causing network issues. Such changes are saved in logs for future reference."

"Its main functionality is highly beneficial as it centralizes the management of configuration items across the network."

"The solution's view is very nice, and they have a great customized dashboard."

"What's nice with NCM is you can set up policies that you can then check against the configs to ensure that your device configs adhere to a baseline or standard that you've set in place."

"The feature that I really enjoy is the ability to script changes across all of your devices."

"The scanning features have proven to be highly valuable, particularly due to the comprehensive information they provide."

"SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager improves the mean time to repair significantly, bringing measurable benefits to customers."

More SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager pros

Cons

"The installation could be simplified, and technical support could be faster."

"The solution is not user-friendly."

"In terms of improvement, I would like to see more AIOps, Artificial Intelligent Operations in the next release. IBM develops new features for Power BI or Cognos Analytics, which is good. As of now, we use Cognos Analytics, we are not using Power BI. They have the Insight concept but we don't like that."

"The installation could be simplified, and technical support could be faster."

"The solution does not have any AI capabilities."

"The solution is too expensive."

"Customization and integration that you need to do to make the product fit your needs is very complex. It is not a product that somebody could easily pick up without any prior training or experience."

"Tivoli NetCool's has medium scalability - there are some problems with its replications not being mature."

More IBM Tivoli NetCool cons

"We want to be able to store it in a data warehouse format and integrate it with Google single sign-on."

"The third-party plugins available in the solution could improve. I have received some issues with the templates."

"Its look and feel can be improved. They can also put in more effort into building the THWACK community and use the information about various customer issues and requests to build the new releases."

"Releasing a product compatible with operating systems other than Windows would be advantageous."

"I'd like to see additional features like support for devices that don't use CLI for configuration backups, expanded inventory support for other vendors beyond Cisco, and compatibility with newer SD WAN devices. These enhancements would further improve the product's versatility and utility for users. we hope for future enhancements, especially in supporting security devices that lack CLI backup options."

"It would be great if they include a network service manager, network performance manager, or a privileged assessment in the next release."

"The Network Configuration Manager needs to improve the access control list compliance."

"When we run the SolarWinds NCM jobs at the cellular line, it runs in the morning. They're just not finishing. We're getting false processing."

More SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Licensing fees are paid on a yearly basis."

"Customers are required to pay a licensing fee."

"The price of the product is too expensive."

"It costs around 100k for every ten servers, which is lower than similar products from other vendors."

"Available at a moderate price"

"We have to pay additionally for its support and maintenance."

"Pricing is reasonable and competitive."

"You have a base license for 50 devices, and then you can add more licenses as you go."

"The price of the solution is high compared to other solutions."

"There is a license needed to use SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager."

"I have a yearly subscription."

"With a minimal bundle, we pay about $3000 a year in licensing costs. If you have multiple devices in your network, you must buy the bundle, which is 100% identical for your infrastructure. If you have 15 devices, you need 15 licenses, for example. That's one bundle. You don't pay for anything over and above that."

More SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

29%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Educational Organization

Government

13%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Computer Software Company

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	5

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	15
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	8

Questions from the Community

What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?

I have worked from 1973 with all kind of systems in large enterprises across the world. And have experience with all kind of software in monitoring from infra to end to end, it depends on the funct...

See all answers

What do you like most about IBM Tivoli NetCool?

The tool had many built-in automation capabilities.

See all answers

What needs improvement with IBM Tivoli NetCool?

The main challenge is its licensing model, which is very complicated.

See all answers

What do you like most about SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager?

The configuration compliance aspect of SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager allows for easy comparison of configuration settings across branches, ensuring adherence to security guidelines and b...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager?

The licensing costs of SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager are expensive, but considering its reliability, feature enhancements, and support, it is worthwhile.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager?

NCM could benefit from enhanced automation capabilities — for instance, enabling workflow-based configuration automation tasks. While regex and command-line scripting are available, they require sp...

See all answers

Comparisons

OpenText Network Node Manager vs IBM Tivoli NetCool

Compared 17% of the time

DataMiner vs IBM Tivoli NetCool

Compared 14% of the time

Fortinet FortiManager vs IBM Tivoli NetCool

Compared 12% of the time

DX Spectrum vs IBM Tivoli NetCool

Compared 10% of the time

Cisco DNA Center vs IBM Tivoli NetCool

Compared 10% of the time

More IBM Tivoli NetCool Competitors

Cisco DNA Center vs SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager

Compared 15% of the time

Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform vs SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager

Compared 8% of the time

Huawei eSight vs SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager

Compared 6% of the time

OpenText Network Node Manager vs SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager

Compared 5% of the time

NetScaler vs SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager

Compared 4% of the time

More SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM Tivoli NetCool

January 2026

Download IBM Tivoli NetCool product report

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager

December 2025

SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager report

Download SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager product report

Also Known As

Tivoli NetCool

SolarWinds NCM

Overview

IBM Tivoli Netcool delivers near real-time, consolidated event management across business infrastructure, data centers, complex networks and IT domains. The software provides full management and automation to help you deliver continuous uptime of business services and applications.

IBM

Before you monitor your network, configure it! A reliable and secure network starts with carefully planned, executed, and monitored network configuration and change management. SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM) saves time and improves network reliability and security by managing configurations, changes, and compliance for routers, switches, and other network devices from Cisco, Juniper, HP, Dell, Brocade, Aruba, Rukus, and more.

SolarWinds

Sample Customers

Claranet, Consolidated Communications, Telus, €sterreichische Bundesbahnen (€BB), Telekom Srbija, Bendigo Community Telco, Capgemini, Schweizerische Bundesbahnen (SBB)

United Lincolnshire Hospitals, Air Rarotonga, NetSuite, Thai AirAsia, REA Group, 335th Signal Command, Agilisys, Marine Expeditionary Force

Buyer's Guide

IBM Tivoli NetCool vs. SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager

April 2023

Free Report: IBM Tivoli NetCool vs. SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager

Find out what your peers are saying about IBM Tivoli NetCool vs. SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager and other solutions. Updated: April 2023.

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