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Quest Foglight for Databases vs SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Quest Foglight for Databases
Ranking in Database Development and Management
3rd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SolarWinds Database Perform...
Ranking in Database Development and Management
2nd
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.9
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2024, in the Database Development and Management category, the mindshare of Quest Foglight for Databases is 7.1%, down from 7.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer is 8.7%, up from 8.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Database Development and Management
 

Featured Reviews

Vadim Kulikov - PeerSpot reviewer
Excels at displaying intensive database queries and enables me to address things before they become real problems
Foglight does have a component that allows you to look at things in real time, but it's not as friendly or as efficient in terms of responsiveness as Quest Spotlight is. Foglight might be lacking in this department. It could be just the nature of the beast, it could be the fact that it's web-based, as opposed to Spotlight being a fat client running on C#. I use both tools in conjunction with each other; they are a part of the toolset. Foglight might not be as helpful. It's also possible that part of the issue is how Foglight is deployed. We always try to save on cost and because it requires a SQL license, you don't necessarily have the luxury of putting it on a super fast server. It could be related to that. But I have noticed that it's not as responsive for determining, in real time, what's going on. The way I have understood things is that there was an attempt to merge Spotlight functionality with Foglight. They have somewhat done that, even though I still feel that they're not going to be able to completely kill Spotlight. That tool is done so well and it's really serving a purpose in terms of a real-time, very fast analysis of multiple metrics. I don't like what they did with Foglight because it's an attempt to merge. It's like a sports car versus a heavy-duty truck. They are both fantastic, but when you try to jack up a truck to work fast, it doesn't work very well.
Fausto Espinosa - PeerSpot reviewer
Powerful monitoring solution with good technical support
I don't remember the exact version of the SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer I'm using, but it's the most recent. Four operators and three administrators currently use the solution in my company, but only administrators see everything, while the rest only see the dashboard. The advice I would give to others who want to implement SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer is that support is needed to successfully implement the solution. I would rate SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer nine out of ten. My company is a customer of SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Foglight's Change Tracking capabilities are another huge feature. It is wonderful to be able to do that. People don't realize the amount of information that Foglight gathers from a given server or instance. It gets down to the version of SQL, the disk array, everything that's there. Any change that's made, any upgrade to SQL, shows up on the dashboard almost immediately. You don't know how much time you save just having a tool in your back pocket that does that for you."
"The most valuable feature is the in-depth capability SQL Performance Investigator provides. It allows you to drill down to the smallest detail that occurs on our platform. It does a highly detailed and atomic follow-up of what one wants to look for in relation to time and our different instances."
"The real-time activity screens are also helpful... if there is something that is running slowly, we can eliminate the database as being an issue and perhaps look at the server, network activity, or something outside of the realm of the database as being the issue."
"We can visualize all the different types of DB servers that we are monitoring in a single pane of glass. It uses a 360-degree overview of the database, for each of those databases that we are monitoring. That includes what kind of resource utilization is happening and what kind of DB parameters are getting monitored, as well as the different types of DB parameters that are being offered for each database type."
"One of the hardest things to do in database management is to evaluate performance deviation across time. The adaptive baseline that Quest is using is by far the most helpful. That doesn't necessarily mean I use it on a daily basis, but it is something that I have not been able to find in any other tool, at the same level."
"Its reporting capabilities are immense."
"The alarms alert proactively if there are any potential or ongoing issues with the databases that we support. That means we can take preventive or corrective action before the issue becomes a big issue. And the SQL PI features enable us to drill down into performance issues in our databases so that we can improve performance, which is important."
"The ability to monitor multiple database platforms streamlines our database operations. The single pane of glass is what we were really after when we picked Foglight. We knew we wanted something that could monitor cross-platform because it does save a lot of time to use the same tool. The one thing that I like with Foglight is that we don't have to install anything locally, like agents, directly on the database servers. That was also a big seller because it simplifies things."
"The most valuable feature of SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer is anomaly detection. It alerts you when things outside the norm are happening, and the feature that analyzes your indexes informs you if you have wide or overlapping indexes. It also helps identify SQL query bottlenecks, letting you know if something is taking longer than usual, if a query plan has changed, and if you need to update statistics. In terms of usage, it is straightforward to use, learn and understand. The patching process is smooth and explains each feature, including links to external resources for further reading."
"The platform solves and prevents delays in receiving answers from databases."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is the support for older databases and the ability to manage them in a centralized dashboard."
"Monitoring is most valuable, and being able to know that there is an issue or problem and I need to go look is also valuable. So, monitoring and learning are the most important features."
"SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer's most valuable features include the notification of consuming the SQL queries, collecting data, and notifying about managing space and tables."
"SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer helped us locate the performance issues quickly."
"The initial setup is pretty straightforward."
"SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer can help us identify issues we cannot see manually."
 

Cons

"Foglight does have a component that allows you to look at things in real time, but it's not as friendly or as efficient in terms of responsiveness as Quest Spotlight is. Foglight might be lacking in this department."
"I get a lot of alerts that, while important, are not critical. Then I have to dig in and figure out how to turn alerts off, but not the logging. I want to be able to go back, once we get the other big issues out of the way, and start fine-tuning some of those other areas, but I don't necessarily want to receive an email for all of them."
"I would like the rule development code to be made available so we don't always have to be referred to professional services for custom solutions. For example, if we want to exclude certain databases from a particular rule, we shouldn't have to go to support and to professional services for that solution. If the code and syntax were available, we have resources that could quickly turn something like that around."
"Quest must release a Spanish version. That's critical because not everyone speaks English in Latin America. It's an excellent product, so it's super important that they offer the application and customer service in Spanish."
"When holding data for two years for 20 SQL Servers, the reporting becomes sluggish and unresponsive."
"One thing that I would like, and it's probably something that I could set up internally, is something other than a dashboard which I have to look at to know that a server is down. I'd like bells and whistles to go off... If I look at the dashboard I know there's a server down. But if I'm not looking at it, if I'm looking at some other problem, I want to know about it. You can do that, you can use SMSs and alerts to your phone, and I could set it up to handle that, but it would be nice if, out-of-the-box, Foglight did that."
"The system is not that stable. We have been facing a lot of issues. We built a new store environment of Foglight, an environment for monitoring the Lowe's store servers, which are all Db2 servers. The objective is to monitor 800 Db2 servers in each Foglight instance. Up to 150 Db2 servers, the environment was working fine. The moment it crossed 150 or 160, we started having a lot of stability issues."
"When we decided to go with Foglight, a lot of people stopped using the diagnostics part because it was very intimidating... They still won't use it because they feel it's too intimidating. They will open something up and not know what to do. It's not very user-friendly. You have to click on a lot of stuff to find the information."
"The solution should add little details on the server so that an independent team could easily do the implementation."
"One area where the tool could improve is by adding support for additional databases. For instance, supporting newer databases like Couchbase or MongoDB would be beneficial."
"SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer should provide customization options allowing users to add different columns."
"The areas where it currently lags are in reporting and dashboarding. The reports and dashboards are somewhat static, and we cannot create custom dashboards for specific customer needs."
"There is room for improvement with the pricing of the platform."
"It is capable, but I don't believe it has the right value matrix. It also depends on the budget of the company."
"Technical support for this solution needs to be improved."
"SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer should be easy to implement and it should have more facilities to make it better."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price is worth it, if you have the time to go through the information."
"The price of Foglight could be a little more competitive in Chile, and it should be lowered for long-time customers— at least by 20 percent. Sometimes the price is a limitation. We have seven instances and nearly 5 million users. If Quest Foglight could reduce its prices for the clients that have been with it for a long time, we would be able to have more instances."
"It is cost-effective. With our EA, it is really based on the scale of our database environment. We found the Quest team to be reasonable and flexible when it comes to pricing and scaling of licenses."
"Compared to the other tools on the market, Foglight is okay in terms of pricing and licensing."
"This is like the "Cadillac" of performance monitoring software. It's not cheap... I am currently with a company that I was able to convince that the product is worth the cost."
"I don't remember the exact licensing cost for SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer, but it's within the range of $2,000 to $3,000 a year."
"There are no extra costs for maintenance or using the solution's support."
"It could be less expensive."
"Customers need to pay for the subscription-based license annually."
"The pricing is fairly reasonable, and it becomes more cost-effective with larger volumes of instances."
"The pricing of the solution is average."
"SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer is a little bit expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
19%
Insurance Company
9%
Healthcare Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Quest Foglight for Databases?
One of the hardest things to do in database management is to evaluate performance deviation across time. The adaptive baseline that Quest is using is by far the most helpful. That doesn't necessari...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Quest Foglight for Databases?
The price of Foglight could be a little more competitive in Chile, and it should be lowered for long-time customers— at least by 20 percent. Sometimes the price is a limitation. We have seven insta...
What needs improvement with Quest Foglight for Databases?
Quest must release a Spanish version. That's critical because not everyone speaks English in Latin America. It's an excellent product, so it's super important that they offer the application and cu...
What do you like most about SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer?
In IT, problems often occur in areas such as applications, web interfaces, or databases. The tool allows users to easily determine the root cause of these issues, whether they stem from the network...
What needs improvement with SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer?
One area where the tool could improve is by adding support for additional databases. For instance, supporting newer databases like Couchbase or MongoDB would be beneficial.
What is your primary use case for SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer?
We use SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer for performance monitoring, tuning, and troubleshooting performance issues. It's mainly related to performance and the database community. Database a...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Confio, SolarWinds DPA, Ignite8
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

CommitDBA
GSI Commerce, Liquid Digital Media, ProLogis, Indiana University
Find out what your peers are saying about Quest Foglight for Databases vs. SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer and other solutions. Updated: October 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.