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ManageEngine ADAudit Plus vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 9, 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

ManageEngine ADAudit Plus
Ranking in Active Directory Management
5th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SolarWinds Server and Appli...
Ranking in Active Directory Management
14th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.9
Number of Reviews
40
Ranking in other categories
Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (22nd), Server Monitoring (10th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2025, in the Active Directory Management category, the mindshare of ManageEngine ADAudit Plus is 10.5%, up from 10.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is 0.9%, down from 2.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Active Directory Management
 

Featured Reviews

Karthik G - PeerSpot reviewer
The user behavior analytics creates a profile of each user and detects any deviation from it
Onboarding is pretty simple. It's all about configuring the Active Directory audit policies. All enterprises have their own Active Directory admins, so the admins simply need to create an audit policy in their Active Directory. It takes about 30 or 45 minutes to set up the software. You will get a report and the user behavior analytics working. One person is enough to deploy the solution. It will usually be the admin who's handling the professional services. We do all the maintenance for our customers. We have a process called Health Check, where we contact the end-users every six months. It involves a set of questions for every product to determine if the solution is fully utilized.
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 ManageEngine ADAudit Plus is its reports."
"The product's initial setup phase is very easy."
"It assists in managing the active directory and modifying the reintegrated GPOs."
"We use the product to track events and monitor logs of servers and workstations. I am impressed with the tool's tracking ability. It is intuitive and easy to use."
"The documentation for this solution is good."
"The Account Lockout Analyzer and the Inactive Users reports are particularly valuable."
"ADAudit Plus's best features are that it's very easy to use with a user-friendly interface, and it gives reports on group policy and object changes that we couldn't find in any other product."
"The most valuable feature is the control of the file server."
"The most valuable feature of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is the network devices' performance monitor is the best."
"SolarWinds is a very stable platform compared to others on the market."
"The solution is great for monitoring. If something is going wrong, we can immediately find the root cause."
"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."
"There are many valuable features, including the network configuration manager, and the network performance manager."
"I'd rate technical support at eight out of ten. They are helpful and fast."
"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."
"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."
 

Cons

"Its configuration can be better. There were 44 pages of documented notes of what I had to do to get the product to work during the installation process."
"The return on investment for ManageEngine ADAudit Plus is very hard to measure."
"ADAudit Plus can be very tricky, especially if we need to do some high-availability configuration or distributed environment installation."
"It assists in managing the active directory and modifying the reintegrated GPOs."
"The initial setup was difficult."
"Sometimes the developers in technical support take time."
"The initial setup was quite complex and required some research beforehand."
"ADAudit could have a more sophisticated interface design. They are using a plain UI, which is decent. However, customers have said that it looks a little flat compared to other vendors. It's not fancy."
"One area that could benefit from improvement is its performance"
"It would be helpful if the solution could integrate more with the security compliances, like this IDSS, etc."
"The product needs to reduce its price."
"SAM's software-defined network monitoring capability is also low and could be improved."
"PerfStack can be made more effective. I am sure SolarWinds already has a plan for the same in coming versions."
"Support for the IBM Mainframe is needed."
"It needs time-based functions for monitoring. Some things need to be polled on a specific schedule or only during a specific window."
"The product does not explain why a problem occurred."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Adding features and other functionality it costs you more. Also, the first installation costs an additional amount."
"ADAudit Plus's pricing is affordable and flexible, with very low prices in the market."
"The solution's pricing is acceptable."
"The tool is affordable, and our company is very happy with it. If ten is the most expensive and one is the least expensive, I rate the tool a three or four."
"It's a medium-priced solution."
"My guess is that it was around $4,000 or $5,000 a year, and we bought a license, and then we have maintenance fees. I'm not 100% sure how that worked out."
"The solution's price is reasonable. Though it's on the higher side, the tool is worth the money."
"The product might cost you $30,000 USD to buy, but scaling this solution requires the purchase of additional polling engines at $20,000 USD each."
"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."
"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 compared to other licensed models in the market, it stands out as one of the more cost-effective options."
"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."
"The tool is available for my company at a good price point."
"Pricing and licensing is fair for what you get. It does have a great bang-for-the-buck appeal."
report
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Government
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Educational Organization
46%
Computer Software Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Government
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about ManageEngine ADAudit Plus?
The most valuable feature of ManageEngine ADAudit Plus is its reports.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ManageEngine ADAudit Plus?
The tool is affordable, and our company is very happy with it. If ten is the most expensive and one is the least expensive, I rate the tool a three or four.
What needs improvement with ManageEngine ADAudit Plus?
The solution does not require improvements to meet our company's needs. In our company, we have figured out everything we need with the tool, and my company's support team has played a valuable rol...
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

No data available
SolarWinds SAM
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Warsaw City Hall, Acument Global Technologies, Inc., Cosma International, Bank of South Pacific, Life Management Center, Central Bank, UncleBob's Self Storage, Leeds Building Society, California Transplant Donor Network, First Response, Blessing Hospital, Northern Land Council, RMK Marine
Andr. L. Riis AS, NetSuite
Find out what your peers are saying about ManageEngine ADAudit Plus vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
831,265 professionals have used our research since 2012.