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 #8 with an average rating of 7.6. Netwrix holds a 9.4% mindshare in ADM, compared to SolarWinds’s 1.8% 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

2,341 Views
1,077 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

SolarWinds Server and Appli...

Read 44 SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor reviews

4,008 Views
120 Comparison Views

89% willing to recommend

Netwrix Auditor

SolarWinds Server and Appli...

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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

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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

Netwrix Auditor

Ranking in Active Directory Management

3rd

Average Rating

9.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

GRC (10th), Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) (27th), Identity and Access Management as a Service (IDaaS) (IAMaaS) (16th)

SolarWinds Server and Appli...

Ranking in Active Directory Management

8th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

4.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (20th), Server Monitoring (9th)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Active Directory Management category, the mindshare of Netwrix Auditor is 9.4%, down from 14.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is 1.8%, 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	9.4%
SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor	1.8%
Other	88.8%

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.

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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

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

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

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

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

"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."

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

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

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

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

"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."

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

"AppInsight for SQL: Enables us to see the relevant error log entries on the same page as performance parameters."

"The initial setup was relatively easy, and we didn't have to install anything. All we had to do was put on the devices we wanted to monitor."

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

"AppInsight. Provides a simple way to get very in-depth monitoring configured for our most popular applications. Exchange, SQL, and SharePoint."

"Identifying the problem statement is easy."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor pros

Cons

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

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

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

"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."

"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 Linux compatibility of this solution could be improved."

"An improvement would be if there was an another way to manage the logs besides email because it's not so practical."

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

More Netwrix Auditor cons

"For each poller, SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor can only monitor up to ten thousand components, which restricts scalability."

"From an integration point of view, if you want to have a manager of manager kind of layer, that is currently lacking in SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor."

"Support for the IBM Mainframe is needed."

"I would like to see support for non-Windows or non-Microsoft domains, especially Apache and other non-Windows servers."

"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."

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

"A lot of times, we have to do a lot of manual cleanups."

"The product does not explain why a problem occurred."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

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

"The tool's price is fair."

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

"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."

"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 like the pricing for this SolarWinds product."

"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."

"The price is too high."

"Price can always be lower. It is neither on the expensive side nor on the cheap side. We have worked with them for a lot of years, so we get a discount due to the size of the installation."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

13%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Educational Organization

10%

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

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Netwrix Auditor

January 2026

Download Netwrix Auditor product report

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

December 2025

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.

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