SolarWinds AppOptics vs Splunk Observability Cloud comparison

SolarWinds and Splunk are both solutions in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category. SolarWinds is ranked #48 with an average rating of 8.0, while Splunk is ranked #11 with an average rating of 8.6. SolarWinds holds a 0.3% mindshare in APM, compared to Splunk’s 1.0% mindshare. Additionally, 80% of SolarWinds users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 94% of Splunk users who would recommend it.

SolarWinds AppOptics

Read 9 SolarWinds AppOptics reviews

767 Views
525 Comparison Views

80% willing to recommend

Splunk Observability Cloud

Read 50 Splunk Observability Cloud reviews

1,960 Views
1,160 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

SolarWinds AppOptics

Splunk Observability Cloud

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 6, 2025

Splunk Observability Cloud and SolarWinds AppOptics compete in the monitoring and observability solutions category. Splunk Observability Cloud appears to have an edge with its comprehensive features like real-time monitoring, even though its cost is higher.

Features: Splunk Observability Cloud offers comprehensive monitoring, efficient log searching, and customizable dashboards that provide end-to-end visibility across environments. SolarWinds AppOptics excels in application management, network performance analysis, and topology discovery.

Room for Improvement: Splunk Observability Cloud could improve its integration capabilities and simplify setup processes. SolarWinds AppOptics users seek better integration with other tools and a centralized data view. Both products could benefit from pricing strategies and enhanced documentation.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Splunk Observability Cloud provides flexible deployment options across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments and offers comprehensive customer support, though response times may vary. SolarWinds AppOptics offers fewer deployment options but consistent customer service that is often regarded as responsive and capable. Feedback suggests both platforms could enhance certain aspects of customer support to meet user expectations better.

Pricing and ROI: Splunk Observability Cloud is often seen as costly compared to competitors, yet its extensive features justify the ROI through time savings and operational efficiency. SolarWinds AppOptics provides a more predictable pricing model. While both enhance operational capabilities, Splunk's advanced analytics and customization features provide significant value that balances its higher cost.

To learn more, read our detailed SolarWinds AppOptics vs. Splunk Observability Cloud Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds AppOptics vs. Splunk Observability Cloud

March 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

SolarWinds AppOptics

Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

48th

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

50th

Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software

34th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Splunk Observability Cloud

Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

11th

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

9th

Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software

9th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Container Management (8th)

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category, the mindshare of SolarWinds AppOptics is 0.3%, down from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Splunk Observability Cloud is 1.0%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

Featured Reviews

John Yuko

Assistant Manager ICT - Projects at I&M Bank Ltd

Unique features allow consolidating and combing metrics into a single dashboard, but don't monitor mobile solutions

I would like to see more granular information provided on Unix applications. Also, the integration with Unix services should be a bit more straightforward in terms having an agent to retrieve your credentials rather than having to enter or save them for SSH on SolarWinds. From the outset, we had to set some commands to log into the search console, and they are saved on the solution, which presents a challenge in terms of exposure. The solution is unable to monitor APK solutions completely because we'd then be forced to break down the APK and provide the APIs or go through the source code. They don't have a module that can analyze an application that is maybe under-used.

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Lakshmi Padaga

Java Developer at U.S. Bank

Collaborates performance metrics with log data to pinpoint the exact cause of issues and offers error detection

Splunk APM is a robust tool with many capabilities. There are always areas for potential improvement to enhance its functionality and user experience. For Splunk APM, there could be simplified navigation, like streamlining the user interface to make navigation more intuitive for our users, especially those new to APM, which can enhance usability. We can provide more customization options for dashboards and visualizations to help users tailor the platform to their specific needs. There could be more integration capabilities with a wider range of third-party tools and platforms would also be beneficial. By focusing on these areas, Splunk APM can enhance its value proposition, improve user satisfaction, and better meet the evolving needs of organizations monitoring their application performance.

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

"Some of the most valuable features of SolarWinds are the topology discovery and network performance analysis."

"The product has a great dashboard."

"The sum solution, NTA, and DPA."

"Technical support is always live and they're supportive."

"I have found the most valuable feature is application performance management."

"The reporting of the solution is very good."

"Once configured correctly, the analysis reporting the Splunk APM provides is better than that of the other APM tools."

"It is a good tool. It allows you to set alerts for application and infrastructure monitoring, and it allows you to create dashboards."

"I have primarily used it to go back into the past and understand why something happened. It provides enough information to do research and figure things out."

"The solution's basic visibility is one of its most valuable features. So, it is a solution that is easy to use...The solution's initial setup process was straightforward."

"It is very easy to monitor multiple cloud environments. It's like a single pane of glass for us. We can use it to monitor our on-prem and both of our cloud environments as opposed to having different tools for each environment. It makes it all come together in one tool."

"The most valuable features are troubleshooting and optimizing application performance."

"The most beneficial aspect of Splunk APM is the ATM, which is the map displaying the inbound and outbound relationships of the microservices, as well as the traffic between these dependencies. This feature provides us with valuable insights and helps us understand the interactions between different microservices."

"The product retains a lot of log data for subsequent analysis."

More Splunk Observability Cloud pros

Cons

"The integration with Unix services should be a bit more straightforward."

"The implementation needs improvement. It needs to get modernized with the newer cloud scenario in both public and private deployment models."

"AppOptics would benefit from having a much more centralized view."

"In terms of the technology, I think they need to put some more advanced troubleshooting into SolarWinds, in terms of AI capabilities. That's the next generation, especially in the cases of APIs which have already adopted AI capabilities into their products."

"I would like to see more integration with other tools that are available on the market."

"The solution should be more user-friendly."

"The security could be better."

"The UI enhancements could be a way to improve the solution in the future."

"The deployment can be quite complex."

"The cardinality is pretty low."

"We currently lack log analysis capabilities in Splunk APM."

"Splunk APM's performance could be improved - at the moment, it's very slow and takes forever to give me what I want."

"They can improve the flow system and the keyword language. It has predefined keywords, but they can be improved."

"The clustering part of indexes can be more refined."

More Splunk Observability Cloud cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Mostly, it's a perpetual license. We don't have any customers using the subscription right now—it's mostly a perpetual license that the customers purchase. The licensing is based on the number of elements, whereas other solutions are node-based."

"I believe the current licensing cost is reasonable."

"Since it's a negotiable rate, I would rate the pricing as a five out of five."

"Licensing cost is the biggest argument I get from those divesting from Splunk. There are those within our organization who say we are going to go to other tools since Splunk is too expensive."

"I am not in that circle, but we are currently licensing based on our queries. That is working out for us. Previously, it was by volume of data, and now, we can store as much data as we want."

"Splunk offers a 14-day free trial and after that, we have to pay but the cost is reasonable."

"It is expensive."

"This is an expensive solution."

"Splunk APM is expensive."

"I would rate the price of Splunk Infrastructure Monitoring as an eight out of ten, with ten being the most expensive."

"It appears to be expensive compared to competitors."

More Splunk Observability Cloud pricing and cost advice

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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability solutions are best for your needs.

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

57%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

18%

Computer Software Company

15%

Retailer

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about SolarWinds AppOptics?

The product has a great dashboard.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SolarWinds AppOptics?

The solution should be more user-friendly.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for SolarWinds AppOptics?

I used the solution for monitoring servers and network equipment.

See all answers

What do you like most about SignalFx?

The most valuable feature is dashboard creation.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SignalFx?

There is room for improvement in the alerting system, which is complicated and has less documentation available. We sometimes encountered issues in setting up alerts. The custom detector could be m...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for SignalFx?

The main purpose of using Splunk APM is to optimize our application. We use Splunk APM primarily to understand how the application works, how it uses resources, and its response time in connection ...

See all answers

Comparisons

Dynatrace vs SolarWinds AppOptics

Compared 30% of the time

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor vs SolarWinds AppOptics

Compared 21% of the time

Zabbix vs SolarWinds AppOptics

Compared 13% of the time

New Relic vs SolarWinds AppOptics

Compared 13% of the time

Zenoss Cloud vs SolarWinds AppOptics

Compared 11% of the time

More SolarWinds AppOptics Competitors

Observe vs Splunk Observability Cloud

Compared 20% of the time

Splunk ITSI (IT Service Intelligence) vs Splunk Observability Cloud

Compared 7% of the time

Dynatrace vs Splunk Observability Cloud

Compared 6% of the time

Rancher Labs vs Splunk Observability Cloud

Compared 4% of the time

ServiceNow IT Operations Management vs Splunk Observability Cloud

Compared 4% of the time

More Splunk Observability Cloud Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

April 2025

Download SolarWinds AppOptics product report

Buyer's Guide

Splunk Observability Cloud

March 2025

Download Splunk Observability Cloud product report

Also Known As

AppOptics, SolarWinds TraceView, Librato

Splunk Infrastructure Monitoring

Overview

AppOptics is a SaaS-based simple, powerful and affordable Infrastructure & Application monitoring for custom on-premises, cloud, and hybrid systems.

Your business runs on applications, and when they go down or run slowly, it can impact the business in lost productivity, customers, or revenue. To add to the complexity, your IT environment is changing, and workloads can be spread across data centers, and cloud resources. You need to monitor the availability and performance of applications and infrastructure, regardless of where they are, so you can identify potential issues early and address them before they impact users

SolarWinds

Splunk Observability Cloud combines log search, data integration, and dashboards for seamless monitoring, enhancing infrastructure visibility and security. Its cloud integration and scalability support diverse environments, improving operational efficiency.

Splunk Observability Cloud offers comprehensive monitoring tools with user-friendly interfaces, enabling end-to-end infrastructure visibility. Its real-time alerting and predictive capabilities enhance security monitoring, while centralized dashboards provide cross-platform visibility. Users benefit from fast data integration and extensive insights into application performance. Despite its advantages, improvements could be made in integration with other tools, data reliability, scalability, and cost management. Users face challenges in configuration complexity and require better automation and endpoint protection features. Enhancing AI integration, alerts, and adaptation for high-throughput services could further improve usability.

What are the key features of Splunk Observability Cloud?

Log Search: Efficiently search and analyze log data for enhanced insights.
Data Integration: Fast integration across platforms for comprehensive visibility.
Custom Dashboards: Powerful and adaptable dashboards for real-time monitoring.
Cloud Integration: Seamless integration with cloud services for scalable solutions.
Application Performance Monitoring: Advanced tools for improving application performance.

What benefits and ROI should be expected?

Infrastructure Monitoring: Improved visibility and monitoring across infrastructure components.
Operational Efficiency: Enhancements in data analysis lead to efficient operations.
Business Resilience: Supports adaptability and swift responses to changing needs.
Security Management: Enhances threat identification and response through real-time alerts.
Compliance Support: Aids in meeting compliance and auditing requirements effectively.

In industries like finance and healthcare, Splunk Observability Cloud is implemented for application performance monitoring and infrastructure metrics. Its ability to track incidents and analyze machine data benefits network infrastructure, while distributed tracing and log analysis aid in tackling security threats. Organizations often integrate it for compliance and auditing purposes, enhancing visibility into network traffic and optimizing performance.

Splunk

Sample Customers

TraxoCovea Insurance BTE TechnologyDatarista

Sunrun, Yelp, Onshape, Tapjoy, Symphony Commerce, Chairish, Clever, Grovo, Bazaar Voice, Zenefits, Avalara

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds AppOptics vs. Splunk Observability Cloud

March 2025

Free Report: SolarWinds AppOptics vs. Splunk Observability Cloud

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