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SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer pros and cons

Vendor: SolarWinds

3.8 out of 5

40 reviews
82% willing to recommend

1,767 followers

Pros & Cons summary

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer offers valuable traffic analysis, allowing users to monitor network performance and identify bandwidth-heavy protocols. The alert system enhances network management, but users report limited training materials and high pricing. The system needs better application visibility and flexible licensing options. Despite these issues, its stability and customization of reports make it suitable for enterprise use. However, sectors outside banking may struggle with affordability and require enhanced security communication.

Buyer's Guide

Get pricing advice, tips, use cases and valuable features from real users of this product.

Prominent pros & cons

PROS

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer provides critical bandwidth analysis, allowing users to identify bandwidth hogs and plan before issues become critical.

It integrates seamlessly with other SolarWinds tools, enhancing monitoring capabilities and providing real-time and historical data analysis.

It offers robust traffic visibility and monitoring, which aids in troubleshooting and understanding traffic flow across networks.

Users benefit from customizable reporting and alerts based on bandwidth utilization and traffic conditions.

The scalability and vendor-agnostic monitoring capability make SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer suitable for enterprise use.

CONS

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer requires more training videos and learning material.

Customer support and technical assistance need improvement with quicker response times and more knowledgeable staff.

Licensing is not flexible, necessitating more realistic options for node adjustments.

Stability issues arise from frequent feature additions, affecting product reliability.

The pricing of SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is high, limiting its accessibility to a broader market.

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer Pros review quotes

MS

IT Analyst at Hawkbridge Consultants

Sep 23, 2019

In terms of the implementation, we've actually used SAM, the server and application monitoring tools. The network configuration tools are very useful in terms of bulk upgrading switches and infrastructure. Also, the Network Traffic Analyzer was extremely useful to track down errant users soaking up bandwidth.

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reviewer2511027

Software Engineer at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees

Jul 12, 2024

I can point out the exact root cause 'why.' If there is a slowness, I can point out what was before the issue or before the slowness, what it is, and what is now.

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Consaltant at a consultancy with self employed

Nov 16, 2022

The bandwidth monitoring functionality is one of the most important features for our customers. When the customer notices that their bandwidth usage is too high for some reason, they will use the traffic analysis within SolarWinds NTA to identify which protocols (e.g. HTTPS) or applications are using up the bandwidth.

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SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

Free Report: SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer Reviews and More

Learn what your peers think about SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2025.

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reviewer1183797

Senior Network Specialist at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees

Jan 12, 2020

SolarWinds has improved our organization because whenever a device is down, we get an alert.

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AA

IT Director at NEDCO

Sep 23, 2019

With SolarWinds, we are now able to accurately gauge bandwidth consumption.

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Rajasekhar Maturi

Technical Lead at Wipro Limited

May 25, 2022

What the network team found most valuable in SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is that it helps them to troubleshoot or analyze the issue. For example, traffic that comes from our location: India, goes to the US, so for the network team to analyze where the traffic comes from and where it is directed, and whether the packets are being dropped, they use SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer. The network team also likes that through the solution, they can analyze the complete traffic utilization and how they're going to use it. SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is user-friendly. The team finds it comfortable to use.

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Dr. SureshHungenahally

Chief Executive Officer at a consultancy with 1-10 employees

Aug 30, 2024

We conduct network traffic analysis for a couple of key reasons. First, we look for traffic anomalies, such as unexpected increases or decreases in network traffic within specific segments. This helps us determine if the network needs to be re-architected.

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Diego Del Pozo Saiz

Communications Technician at Grupo Antolin

Oct 25, 2022

What my organization likes best about SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is its easy deployment. It's also well-integrated in terms of monitoring because my organization also uses a SolarWinds solution for monitoring. You can connect SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer directly to that monitoring tool to get information. My organization also finds the default graphs that appear before the configuration in SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer very useful.

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reviewer1427196

Network Services Manager at a government with 5,001-10,000 employees

Sep 28, 2020

The most valuable feature is the ability to look for any increases in bandwidth over time so that we can plan before it becomes critical.

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SO

Information and Communication Manager at Heineken

May 8, 2023

It helps us know when a branch is down because it has a graphic presentation of all the locations a node represents.

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Show 10 more reviews (out of 38)

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer Cons review quotes

MS

IT Analyst at Hawkbridge Consultants

Sep 23, 2019

The problem is that SolarWinds is trying to bolt in too much and that can leave bugs, which you have to then sort out, leaving the product unstable. SolarWinds needs to try and slow down and improve the stability of the product, as opposed to bringing out more and more features.

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reviewer2511027

Software Engineer at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees

Jul 12, 2024

There is a lack of documentation ......as well as a lack of dashboards.

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Consaltant at a consultancy with self employed

Nov 16, 2022

One area that we struggle with is the price. Because the price of this solution is so high, we are largely unable to introduce it into the local market, and only the banking sector has the means to afford it.

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SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

Free Report: SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer Reviews and More

Learn what your peers think about SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2025.

842,296 professionals have used our research since 2012.

reviewer1183797

Senior Network Specialist at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees

Jan 12, 2020

It does not flow. It cannot do our metric performance monitoring. So it is very limited. They can do it but in a very limited fashion. It is only good for SNMP-based alerts.

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AA

IT Director at NEDCO

Sep 23, 2019

The licensing should be more realistic so that we can adjust the number of nodes according to my needs, rather than in fixed increments.

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Rajasekhar Maturi

Technical Lead at Wipro Limited

May 25, 2022

There are some areas for improvement in SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer. There are some challenges with the solution when compared to other monitoring tools such as difficulty in operations and difficulty with backup installation. My team is currently trying out different solutions but would need to see how it goes.

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Dr. SureshHungenahally

Chief Executive Officer at a consultancy with 1-10 employees

Aug 30, 2024

The analysis can utilize algorithms like K-means clustering or associative neural networks for predictions rather than relying on generative AI, which is more suited for text.

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Diego Del Pozo Saiz

Communications Technician at Grupo Antolin

Oct 25, 2022

What needs improvement in SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is performance because sometimes, my team struggles too much for the solution to perform correctly for a specific deployment in my organization. Having a more detailed view in SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is another area for improvement, but that's more part of the protocol than the actual solution.

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reviewer1427196

Network Services Manager at a government with 5,001-10,000 employees

Sep 28, 2020

It's not a cheap product, so the pricing could be improved.

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SO

Information and Communication Manager at Heineken

May 8, 2023

There is room for improvement when it comes to the traffic generated by the analyzer and the analysis of that traffic.

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Show 10 more reviews (out of 38)

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Product Categories

Product Categories

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Popular Comparisons

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Darktrace vs SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

Cisco Secure Network Analytics vs SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

Auvik Network Management (ANM) vs SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

ExtraHop Reveal(x) vs SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

Arista NDR vs SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

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