Netwrix Auditor vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor comparison

Netwrix and SolarWinds are both solutions in the Active Directory Management category. Netwrix is ranked #3 with an average rating of 9.5, while SolarWinds is ranked #9 with an average rating of 7.6. Netwrix holds a 9.7% mindshare in ADM, compared to SolarWinds’s 1.9% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Netwrix users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 89% of SolarWinds users who would recommend it.

Netwrix Auditor

Read 8 Netwrix Auditor reviews

2,725 Views
1,172 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

SolarWinds Server and Appli...

Read 44 SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor reviews

4,410 Views
176 Comparison Views

89% willing to recommend

Netwrix Auditor

SolarWinds Server and Appli...

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 9, 2024

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor and Netwrix Auditor compete in the monitoring and auditing category. Netwrix Auditor shows stronger features and comprehensive auditing functions, while SolarWinds is noted for its affordability and customer support.

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

SolarWinds provides extensive monitoring capabilities, real-time alerts, and user-friendly dashboards. Netwrix Auditor offers detailed auditing, compliance reporting, and broader auditing functions with deeper insights.

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

SolarWinds could improve its reporting functionality, user navigation, and integration capabilities. Netwrix Auditor needs enhanced integration features, a more intuitive user experience, and simpler navigation.

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

SolarWinds provides a straightforward deployment process and strong customer service. Netwrix Auditor requires a more extensive setup but offers thorough guidance and support during deployment.

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

SolarWinds is praised for its cost-effectiveness and perceived strong ROI. Netwrix Auditor, though more expensive, is noted for delivering better value for its comprehensive features.

To learn more, read our detailed Netwrix Auditor vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Netwrix Auditor vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

December 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 881,384 peers since 2012

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

Netwrix Auditor

Ranking in Active Directory Management

3rd

Average Rating

9.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

GRC (11th), Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) (28th), Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) (15th)

SolarWinds Server and Appli...

Ranking in Active Directory Management

9th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

4.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (22nd), Server Monitoring (8th)

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Active Directory Management category, the mindshare of Netwrix Auditor is 9.7%, down from 14.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is 1.9%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Active Directory Management Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Netwrix Auditor	9.7%
SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor	1.9%
Other	88.4%

Active Directory Management

Featured Reviews

RishiPandit

Lead - Technical Services at Impetus

Optimizing time and effort through comprehensive auditing features

Netwrix Auditor doesn't have many competitors at the level in which it is placed. All other companies provide auditing solutions but not up to the feature list; it is very broad and robust. The best features include flexibility to interact directly with MS-SQL. Real-time alerts help identify potential security threats. The ability to streamline audits with insights into configuration states is helpful, as the access reviews and audit reports are really insightful. This is a good tool. The search functionality is available, but comparative to other vendors, this is a bit slower. Reports are effective; the compliance reports and all the reports are very insightful. That is good.

Read full review

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

"I am impressed with the tool's reporting feature and notifications."

"I have found user behavior analysis and the ability to run risk assessments important features. Additionally, the interface and online documentation are very good."

"It maintains audit logs for the duration of time that you wish, as long as you have the storage capacity to do so."

"The most valuable feature is the real-time monitoring."

"Netwrix Auditor doesn't have many competitors at the level in which it is placed; all other companies provide auditing solutions but not up to the feature list—it is very broad and robust."

"The most valuable features of Netwrix Auditor are its affordability compared to similar products and its comprehensive monitoring of admin activities."

"Netwrix provides features that no other solution on the market does."

"What I find the most valuable about Netwrix Auditor is the way it shows risk. The reports are very clear."

"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 solution is great for monitoring. If something is going wrong, we can immediately find the root cause."

"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."

"I adore the NTA module that provides deep details on ingress/egress traffic for any interface. With a few clicks, you can correlate who is accessing what and when, beside the bandwidth consuming applications/users."

"Features like monitoring and infrastructure dependency mapping are valuable to us."

"Hardware health: It allows for proactive monitoring of the hardware health and is a game changer."

"The most valuable feature is the Access Rights Manager."

"It's good at monitoring system-specific things like ports, services."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor pros

Cons

"There is room for improvements when it comes to the licensing."

"The Linux compatibility of this solution could be improved."

"If you buy direct, there is a minimum of 150 licenses that must be procured. The price point and barrier of entry is a little bit higher than it would be if you purchased the solution from an authorized reseller partner, rather than buying it and managing yourself."

"The solution lacks self-service on password reset. It also needs to improve its scalability."

"I expect usability features to become more refined over time. I'm interested to see how it evolves and continues to improve."

"When there are issues I would like remediation to be in one place."

"There is room for improvement with the introduction of AI functionality."

"In the UI, we have to adjust and resize our console many times, and sometimes it appears, sometimes you have to close and open it, and sometimes it does not give a scroll bar to navigate."

More Netwrix Auditor cons

"Mapping interactions between systems."

"Nodes in Azure are able to be monitored with the use of agents, but this does not apply to cloud service offerings that are not node based."

"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."

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

"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."

"They are complex to operate; users need to know what they want during setup."

"The setup was complex. We had local support to assist us."

"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."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The tool's price is fair."

"There is a license for this solution and we are on an annual license. The price is reasonable."

"This solution is reasonably priced. I would rate it a nine out of ten."

"The product is expensive."

"When compared to other licensed models in the market, it stands out as one of the more cost-effective options."

"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."

"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."

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

"I have always said SolarWinds is very “proud” of their products, meaning they are expensive. I cannot afford to purchase all the licenses I need for all the SolarWinds products."

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

"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."

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 Active Directory Management solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

881,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

13%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Educational Organization

11%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	3
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	4

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	17
Midsize Enterprise	8
Large Enterprise	21

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Netwrix Auditor?

The most valuable features of Netwrix Auditor are its affordability compared to similar products and its comprehensive monitoring of admin activities.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Netwrix Auditor?

I don't know about the pricing of this, but it is good at this price point because our organization has purchased it, which means it was in budget. We usually do not buy expensive solutions, so the...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Netwrix Auditor?

The areas of improvement include the front end, as the UI should be more intuitive and there should be fewer bugs. In the UI, we have to adjust and resize our console many times, and sometimes it a...

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

Comparisons

Wazuh vs Netwrix Auditor

Compared 12% of the time

Microsoft Entra ID Governance vs Netwrix Auditor

Compared 12% of the time

One Identity Active Roles vs Netwrix Auditor

Compared 9% of the time

Microsoft Entra ID vs Netwrix Auditor

Compared 9% of the time

SolarWinds Access Rights Manager vs Netwrix Auditor

Compared 2% of the time

More Netwrix Auditor Competitors

Dynatrace vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Compared 10% of the time

Azure Monitor vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Compared 9% of the time

Splunk AppDynamics vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Compared 6% of the time

Icinga vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Compared 5% of the time

Prometheus-AI Platform vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Compared 4% of the time

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Netwrix Auditor

January 2026

Download Netwrix Auditor product report

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

January 2026

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor report

Download SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor product report

Also Known As

No data available

SolarWinds SAM

Overview

Netwrix Auditor is a security-focused solution that monitors IT environments by tracking changes, ensuring compliance, and enhancing visibility into user activities. It offers detailed auditing, real-time alerts, and robust reporting tools. Its intuitive interface and comprehensive features boost efficiency, productivity, and organizational growth.

Netwrix

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

AT&T, SanDisk, Siemens, Verizon, Electrolux, Allianz, Societe Generale

Andr. L. Riis AS, NetSuite

Buyer's Guide

Netwrix Auditor vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

December 2025

Free Report: Netwrix Auditor vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Find out what your peers are saying about Netwrix Auditor vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.

DOWNLOAD NOW

881,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.

See our Netwrix Auditor vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor report.

See our list of best Active Directory Management vendors.

We monitor all Active Directory Management reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.