Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Lenovo XClarity Controller vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 6, 2024

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

Lenovo XClarity Controller
Ranking in Server Monitoring
14th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SolarWinds Server and Appli...
Ranking in Server Monitoring
10th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.9
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (22nd), Active Directory Management (14th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Server Monitoring category, the mindshare of Lenovo XClarity Controller is 3.7%, down from 4.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is 2.8%, down from 3.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Server Monitoring
 

Featured Reviews

Nishant Ambast - PeerSpot reviewer
Good remote management capability and easy to setup and to manage but slow performance
For the betterment of the server, I'm not sure, but it worked very slowly. It was not well on performance. So, that could be improved. There was no issue or problem with the software. In the beginning, there was a lack of knowledge, but it was good and handy because once we understood it, it was easy to manage and take care by ourselves.
Subhajit Nag - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature of Lenovo XClarity is the ease of use because of the interface browser that is highly compatible and it has mobile web management."
"I would rate Lenovo XClarity Controller ten out of ten."
"The remote management capability was also good."
"The product's most valuable feature is its ability to provide insights into server status and alerts."
"The Lenovo configuration tool helps us with the computation of the RAID Controller and the installation of the operating system."
"The most valuable feature of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is the network devices' performance monitor is the best."
"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."
"The features like trends, capacity planning, recommendations, and diagnostics are the main items I focus on for added value."
"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."
"SolarWinds is a very stable platform compared to others on the market."
"I am impressed with the tool's AppStack feature which mainly helps us in the identification process. This feature can give an overview of the fault and help us identify the issues for performance degradation. Instead of looking at multiple places, we can look at a single place to identify the issues."
"Extremely user friendly: Any IT professional can learn how to admin NPM in a short time."
"The solution is great for monitoring. If something is going wrong, we can immediately find the root cause."
 

Cons

"Lenovo XClarity can improve the dashboard integration. For example, graphs could be better. Additionally, more integration with other vendors is needed. For example, VMware has integration with a lot of vendors."
"They could enable notifications on emails and phones regarding control panel information."
"Sometimes we do not receive the complaint from the Controller."
"Sometimes we do not receive the complaint from the Controller. However, software issues are managed and processed with the help of the Lenovo technical team, and they sort them out."
"It worked very slowly. It was not well on performance."
"The technical support team's response time could be improved."
"It lacks a user experience for measuring things like the end-to-end time for which a user waits for a specific response in the system. In the application layer, it has some very basic stuff. You have to build your own with manuscripts and things like that."
"SAM AppInsight for SQL: The ability to ignore fragmentation of specific indexes."
"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."
"An additional feature that would improve this solution is the ability to complete root cause analysis."
"Some custom applications cannot be monitored, and a lot more applications need to be included."
"SAM's software-defined network monitoring capability is also low and could be improved."
"Support for the IBM Mainframe is needed."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The solution is overpriced in terms of application management."
"The product is expensive."
"Understanding the counts of objects to monitor will determine the licensing need. In terms of pricing, it’s not cheap but it’s not expensive as larger vendors whose products don’t have all the features or integrations."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"I think SolarWinds' pricing is very decent compared to other competitors in the market."
"I would rate the pricing for this solution a three out of five."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Server Monitoring solutions are best for your needs.
832,138 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
18%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Retailer
7%
Educational Organization
6%
Educational Organization
46%
Computer Software Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Lenovo XClarity Controller?
The product's most valuable feature is its ability to provide insights into server status and alerts.
What needs improvement with Lenovo XClarity Controller?
For the betterment of the server, I'm not sure, but it worked very slowly. It was not well on performance. So, that could be improved. There was no issue or problem with the software. In the beginn...
What is your primary use case for Lenovo XClarity Controller?
It's used to manage the OS on the servers, which are Windows Server 2016 and 2019. We also use it for storage, with 3 to 6 TB of space, and for software deployment from our business solutions. We p...
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...
 

Also Known As

XClarity Controller, Lenovo XCC
SolarWinds SAM
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Andr. L. Riis AS, NetSuite
Find out what your peers are saying about Lenovo XClarity Controller vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
832,138 professionals have used our research since 2012.