Centreon vs SolarWinds NPM comparison

Centreon and SolarWinds are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Centreon is ranked #24 with an average rating of 7.3, while SolarWinds is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.5. Centreon holds a 1.4% mindshare in NMS, compared to SolarWinds’s 3.7% mindshare. Additionally, 93% of Centreon users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of SolarWinds users who would recommend it.

Centreon

Read 31 Centreon reviews

7,170 Views
5,879 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

SolarWinds NPM

Read 160 SolarWinds NPM reviews

18,343 Views
14,124 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Centreon

SolarWinds NPM

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Feb 8, 2026

SolarWinds NPM and Centreon compete in the network management sector with each offering unique strengths. SolarWinds has the upper hand in comprehensive network insights and vendor support, making it a strong choice for those seeking modular features and a robust community. Centreon, however, dominates in open-source environments with extensive customization options and integrations.

Features: SolarWinds NPM provides modular pricing, SNMP device monitoring without agents, and a customizable interface. It supports multiple vendors and includes advanced network insights with NetPath and QoE dashboards. Centreon offers extensive customization, robust third-party integrations, and comprehensive monitoring capabilities via plugins. Its straightforward data visualization and flexible configuration are key strengths.

Room for Improvement: SolarWinds NPM users highlight issues with network mapping accuracy, configuration complexity for alerts, and high resource utilization. Centreon users seek better cloud service monitoring, improved auto-discovery, and a streamlined API for enhanced automation capabilities.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SolarWinds NPM is widely used in hybrid cloud environments but may incur high costs in larger setups. Community support through Thwack is robust, though response times in technical support are a concern. Centreon, with its straightforward licensing, primarily serves on-premises settings and could enhance direct customer interaction and support agility.

Pricing and ROI: SolarWinds NPM's higher pricing aligns with its expansive feature suite, with users acknowledging the significant ROI through network optimization. Additional licenses may be necessary for extra features. Centreon's open-source approach offers cost-effective solutions, particularly for smaller businesses or those requiring extensive customization. It stands competitively in the market, providing good value for its flexible offerings.

To learn more, read our detailed Centreon vs. SolarWinds NPM Report (Updated: April 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Centreon vs. SolarWinds NPM

April 2026

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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:

ROI

Sentiment score

8.1

Centreon enhances ROI through efficient monitoring, quick issue resolution, cost savings, and minimal impact during outages.

Sentiment score

7.0

SolarWinds NPM enhances network management and cost efficiency, providing superior monitoring, fast issue resolution, and significant ROI.

Centreon provides timesaving and costsaving benefits as it lets us manage multiple devices on a single platform.

Tinkesh Chaudhary

Network Engineer at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

It significantly saves time by automating monitoring tasks and reduces costs as it requires fewer resources.

Aadinath Tikone

System Administrator at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Centreon report

The return on investment is significant as the solution effectively reduces costs while being worth its expense.

Wahyu Krisnamukti

Network Administrator at PT Bni Life Insurance

For more quotes and insights, download the SolarWinds NPM report

Customer Service

Sentiment score

7.1

Centreon's customer service is responsive and knowledgeable, though availability limitations and support level improvements are needed.

Sentiment score

6.9

SolarWinds NPM support is knowledgeable and helpful but faces criticism for slow responses and aggressive sales tactics.

We do not have direct access to Centreon's technical support.

Tinkesh Chaudhary

Network Engineer at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

If issues arise, like services appearing as down in Centreon, technical support helps check the polar-server communication.

Aadinath Tikone

System Administrator at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

Technical support from Centreon responds within 24 hours and resolves issues quickly.

Sulesh PK

Monitoring and Operations Pilot at Egis S.A.

For more quotes and insights, download the Centreon report

If there is no timely response, getting a resolution is more difficult.

SJ6

Network Security Engineer at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees

We had contact with SolarWinds regarding the implementation, and they were helpful.

Wahyu Krisnamukti

Network Administrator at PT Bni Life Insurance

They have good technical support.

Tochukwu Uzomba

Solutions Architect at Boch Systems Company Limited

For more quotes and insights, download the SolarWinds NPM report

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

7.0

Centreon is valued for flexibility and scalability, though improvements in data management and alert scaling are recommended.

Sentiment score

6.9

SolarWinds NPM offers scalable solutions for various environments, with possible increased costs and challenges on virtual platforms.

Occasionally, for several hours, we do not receive any alerts, causing a business impact.

Tinkesh Chaudhary

Network Engineer at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

We use other tools for adding and deploying configured devices, but direct access from Centreon would be beneficial.

Sulesh PK

Monitoring and Operations Pilot at Egis S.A.

For more quotes and insights, download the Centreon report

SolarWinds NPM is scalable and effective in handling large network infrastructures.

Tochukwu Uzomba

Solutions Architect at Boch Systems Company Limited

For more quotes and insights, download the SolarWinds NPM report

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

7.5

Centreon is stable and reliable, though stability may vary; support resolves issues swiftly, especially with the latest versions.

Sentiment score

7.5

SolarWinds NPM is stable, with issues arising during upgrades; regular updates and support enhance its performance.

Centreon is a much more straightforward and stable tool compared to Icinga.

Aadinath Tikone

System Administrator at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

Sometimes we do not receive alerts, causing business impact, and users ask why no alerts were received.

Tinkesh Chaudhary

Network Engineer at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Centreon report

The NPM product is stable, particularly when used for simple network monitoring.

SJ6

Network Security Engineer at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the SolarWinds NPM report

Room For Improvement

Centreon users seek improved customization, monitoring, UI, documentation, integration, mobile features, auto-remediation, multilingual support, and notifications.

SolarWinds NPM users seek improvements in network discovery, interface, integration, resource usage, cloud support, security, and pricing adjustments.

Enhancements are needed in identifying configuration issues, providing real-time alerts in case of issues, and improving the HTTP configuration tasks.

Sulesh PK

Monitoring and Operations Pilot at Egis S.A.

While Centreon excels at server-level monitoring, it lacks the ability to track web app availability and latency, unlike Dynatrace, which is efficient in this area.

Aadinath Tikone

System Administrator at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

Reliability is sometimes an issue. Centreon has a developer mode and production mode, but sometimes alerts don't come through in production mode.

Tinkesh Chaudhary

Network Engineer at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Centreon report

Customers have given feedback about the delayed response times from the technical team.

SJ6

Network Security Engineer at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees

SolarWinds needs to upscale on observability and add full-fledged observability features, including security features.

Tochukwu Uzomba

Solutions Architect at Boch Systems Company Limited

I would need a feature in SolarWinds in the future for some kind of malfunctioning detection, such as malware attacks or that type of environment.

Vivek Jaiswal

Manager IT at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the SolarWinds NPM report

Setup Cost

Centreon provides an open-source solution for SMEs but has a complex pricing model for enterprises needing premium features.

SolarWinds NPM pricing is competitive yet complex, appealing to some while being costly for smaller enterprises or multi-module needs.

Centreon's pricing is not very expensive.

Sulesh PK

Monitoring and Operations Pilot at Egis S.A.

For more quotes and insights, download the Centreon report

It is not too pricey and is adequate.

Vivek Jaiswal

Manager IT at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees

PRTG's package offers all features in one bundle, which is cost-effective.

Tochukwu Uzomba

Solutions Architect at Boch Systems Company Limited

The solution is considered expensive.

Wahyu Krisnamukti

Network Administrator at PT Bni Life Insurance

For more quotes and insights, download the SolarWinds NPM report

Valuable Features

Centreon offers unlimited monitoring, enhanced visualization, and customizable features for efficient oversight with extensive device compatibility and anomaly detection.

SolarWinds NPM offers easy deployment, strong monitoring, and seamless integration, enhancing network management with intuitive dashboards and real-time insights.

Centreon's real-time monitoring, despite having some manual aspects, supports us in managing our operations effectively.

Sulesh PK

Monitoring and Operations Pilot at Egis S.A.

Monitoring is a fundamental pillar of technical support, and Centreon streamlines this process, reducing the need for extensive manual checks.

Aadinath Tikone

System Administrator at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

Centreon allows us to monitor all of our devices on one platform.

Tinkesh Chaudhary

Network Engineer at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Centreon report

Whenever any node is down in our network, whether it is a server or any network device, we receive information through email that the device is down.

Vivek Jaiswal

Manager IT at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees

It provides a detailed overview of the network, which is valuable.

SJ6

Network Security Engineer at a comms service provider with 51-200 employees

SolarWinds NPM has specific modules for monitoring different network capabilities, which provides rich features for carrying out specific tasks.

Tochukwu Uzomba

Solutions Architect at Boch Systems Company Limited

For more quotes and insights, download the SolarWinds NPM report

Categories and Ranking

Centreon

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

24th

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

29th

Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software

18th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

SolarWinds NPM

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

3rd

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

5th

Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software

8th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

160

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Centreon is 1.4%, down from 2.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds NPM is 3.7%, down from 4.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
SolarWinds NPM	3.7%
Centreon	1.4%
Other	94.9%

Network Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

Sulesh PK

Monitoring and Operations Pilot at Egis S.A.

Experience enhanced monitoring with real-time alerts and efficient support

I would like to see automation in the poller features, as currently, the poller is not automated. If we could automate the addition or removal of hosts in the poller, it would improve efficiency. Sometimes, Centreon does not show the status of services as updated, which should be addressed. Additionally, enhancements are needed in identifying configuration issues, providing real-time alerts in case of issues, and improving the HTTP configuration tasks, as Centreon does not currently display issues with HTTP links, requiring manual investigation.

Read full review

Vivek Jaiswal

Manager IT at a manufacturing company with 1,001-5,000 employees

Central monitoring has improved outage alerts and now needs smarter detection and modern dashboards

Regarding the automated network topology and mapping feature in SolarWinds NPM, I am not satisfied with it. For static monitoring, it is acceptable. However, if it is possible, I would need a feature in SolarWinds in the future for some kind of malfunctioning detection, such as malware attacks or that type of environment. We did not have any facility to detect that in SolarWinds. I think it would be better to incorporate those types of features. Regarding customization options in SolarWinds, the ability to customize the dashboard has room for improvement. The dashboard is quite old, and we need some improvement in it. Nowadays, we have multiple tools with AI-based monitoring and web-based dashboards. SolarWinds also has a web-based dashboard, but I think there is scope for improvement in the UI. There may be other areas I would like to improve in SolarWinds NPM.

Read full review

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Comparison Review

it_user174738

IT Developer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

May 31, 2015

Nagios vs. Zabbix vs. PRTG vs. Spiceworks vs. Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor

I have researched a quite a few network monitoring tools which can be used for various monitoring purposes of not only the servers, but the intermediate routers as well. There are majorly three types of these softwares. Ones which are completely open-source, you can do almost anything you want…

Read full review

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

13%

Comms Service Provider

Government

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Government

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	11
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	14

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	59
Midsize Enterprise	33
Large Enterprise	85

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Centreon?

Centreon's pricing is not very expensive. Initially, I rated it seven, but corrected to five out of ten.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Centreon?

I have certain concerns with Centreon, such as being unable to set downtime for multiple devices at once due to the limitation of adding only 50 devices in a single go. Increasing this limit would ...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Centreon?

We are using Centreon for monitoring devices, both LAN and WAN devices. There are subsidiaries for my company, so if any devices go down or there are any service alerts, we receive alerts through C...

See all answers

What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?

It actually depends on the exact purpose or kind of devices (network devices, servers, something else). Some tools are better for only network devices while others are better for a cloud monitoring...

See all answers

What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?

From my point of view, SolarWind is the best tool.

See all answers

What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?

We are partners with SolarWinds and we sell a lot of Network management to large enterprises also because of scalability, products like Network Performance Monitor & Netflow Traffic Analyzer ar...

See all answers

Comparisons

Zabbix vs Centreon

Compared 11% of the time

PRTG Network Monitor vs Centreon

Compared 10% of the time

Datadog vs Centreon

Compared 8% of the time

WhatsUp Gold vs Centreon

Compared 6% of the time

Nagios Core vs Centreon

Compared 5% of the time

More Centreon Competitors

ManageEngine OpManager vs SolarWinds NPM

Compared 4% of the time

Nagios XI vs SolarWinds NPM

Compared 3% of the time

DX Spectrum vs SolarWinds NPM

Compared 3% of the time

Zabbix vs SolarWinds NPM

Compared 3% of the time

Kentik vs SolarWinds NPM

Compared 2% of the time

More SolarWinds NPM Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Centreon

May 2026

Download Centreon product report

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds NPM

April 2026

Download SolarWinds NPM product report

Also Known As

No data available

Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor, SolarWinds Network Bandwidth Analyzer

Overview

Centreon offers a robust IT infrastructure monitoring platform, featuring user-friendly dashboards and real-time monitoring. It excels in scalability and integration, making it suitable for monitoring diverse network environments.

Centreon stands out with its unified monitoring capabilities, providing businesses with user-friendly dashboards and extensive plugins for customization. Its scalability ensures companies can expand monitoring tasks without incurring additional costs. Integration capabilities allow seamless interaction with ticketing systems and automation tools. Centreon offers customizable reporting and effectively manages downtimes, providing real-time feedback and proactive maintenance through Business Activity and Anomaly Detection features. Despite its strengths, users find areas for improvement including downtime scheduling, API functionalities, UI enhancements, end-to-end monitoring, and documentation. Businesses are increasingly demanding better automation, network discovery, cloud monitoring, and notification options.

What are Centreon's standout features?

Unified Monitoring: Delivers a comprehensive monitoring platform for IT infrastructure.
User-Friendly Dashboards: Offers intuitive and customizable dashboards for efficient monitoring.
Extensive Plugins: Enables flexibility and customization through numerous plugins.
Scalability: Allows expansion of monitoring duties without additional costs.
Integration Capabilities: Seamlessly integrates with ticketing systems and other tools.

What benefits should users look for in reviews?

Cost Efficiency: Minimized resolution time through proactive maintenance features.
Ease of Use: Simplifies monitoring with its user-friendly interface.
Proactive Issue Resolution: Real-time monitoring and alerts help prevent service outages.
Customizable Reporting: Adapts reports to meet specific organizational requirements.
Diverse Network Management: Capable of handling diverse IT environments efficiently.

Centreon is implemented across industries to monitor IT infrastructures, including networks, servers, and applications. Companies leverage it to track server performance, manage network devices, and receive timely alerts on device status. Its ability to integrate with ticketing systems and automation tools streamlines operations, enhancing global IT infrastructure monitoring and customer service management with real-time feedback and issue resolution.

Centreon

SolarWinds NPM is a network performance monitoring tool offering a user-friendly interface with customizable dashboards. It provides real-time tracking of device health, latency, and bandwidth utilization, supporting diverse integration and scalability needs.

SolarWinds NPM's robust features include real-time monitoring of network performance and efficient tracking of device health, latency, and bandwidth utilization. The tool is appreciated for its ease of deployment, scalability, and support for integration with other tools. Features like SNMP monitoring, NetPath, and comprehensive reporting enhance its diagnostic capabilities and network visibility. However, users identify areas for improvement such as real-time analytics, advanced customization options, and enhanced scalability for larger enterprises. Better customer support, improved integrations, and security measures are also desired.

What are the key features of SolarWinds NPM?

User-Friendly Interface: Simplifies navigation and operation.
Customizable Dashboards: Allows personalized data views.
Real-Time Monitoring: Provides instant updates on network performance.
Strong Alerting Capabilities: Offers immediate notifications for issues.
Scalability: Supports growth with ease.
Integration: Works smoothly with other tools for comprehensive monitoring.
SNMP Monitoring: Tracks device stats effectively.
NetPath: Helps visualize network paths and performance.

What benefits and ROI can users expect?

Improved Network Visibility: Enables proactive issue resolution.
Enhanced Diagnostics: Facilitates quicker troubleshooting.
Real-Time Performance Data: Supports informed decision-making.
Ease of Deployment: Reduces setup time and complexity.
Infrastructure Monitoring: Ensures network stability and reliability.
Custom Integration: Adapts to existing IT environments.

In enterprise environments, SolarWinds NPM is deployed to monitor network health and device status, sending alerts for any issues. It provides visibility into network performance, tracking bandwidth utilization and server metrics efficiently. Its applications span from monitoring routers, switches, and firewalls to supporting infrastructure monitoring across industries.

SolarWinds

Sample Customers

Airbus, Bollore, BT, Canal Plus, Kuehne Nagel, Limagrain, LVMH, Oberthur Technologies, Orange, Darty, Addax Petroleum, Plastic Omnium, Auchan, Valeo, Saint Gobin, Clarins, Hugo Boss, JC Decaux, French Government (Defense, Justice, Environment, Agriculture), OptiComm, Thales, Zeiss.

Microsoft, Federal Express, Hewlett-Packard, and MasterCard

Buyer's Guide

Centreon vs. SolarWinds NPM

April 2026

Free Report: Centreon vs. SolarWinds NPM

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