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Dameware Remote Support vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

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

Dameware Remote Support
Ranking in Active Directory Management
20th
Average Rating
8.6
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
Remote Access (30th)
SolarWinds Server and Appli...
Ranking in Active Directory Management
8th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
4.5
Number of Reviews
44
Ranking in other categories
Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (19th), Server Monitoring (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Active Directory Management category, the mindshare of Dameware Remote Support is 2.8%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is 3.2%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Active Directory Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor3.2%
Dameware Remote Support2.8%
Other94.0%
Active Directory Management
 

Featured Reviews

it_user323577 - PeerSpot reviewer
Tier1 - IT Support Technician at a comms service provider with 501-1,000 employees
We're able to see issues from the users' perspectives, but there are issues when connecting over VPN.
The ability to see issue from users perspective and installation of software. Worked well for awhile but issues with it connecting over VPN was a major drawback. We've been using it since 2009. We also utilize GoToAssist which has more features and runs smoother. It also allows us to send…
NikhilKalwint - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The ability to control admin rights through AD groups allows the techs to have all of the rights that they would normally without adjustments on the backend of the product."
"Using DameWare has made the troubleshooting process faster."
"It was very easy to install."
"We manage SolarWinds ourselves without outsourcing its services."
"The application dependency feature identifies issues between applications and servers or within the network where the application is hosted. It highlights related problems, whether related to packet processing or other issues, enabling the creation of alerts and reports accordingly."
"From a customers point of view, they get a good return on investment because they are not paying a lot of money when you compare to what they used to pay for IBM and other large vendors."
"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."
"Once we got our IT inventory organized and aligned with the business, we were able to leverage our Orion Platform to provide more than just a reactive-based monitoring service to the business."
"It is scalable."
"SolarWinds is a very stable platform compared to others on the market."
"The features like trends, capacity planning, recommendations, and diagnostics are the main items I focus on for added value."
 

Cons

"SolarWinds has a great KB but many of the articles are lacking updated information and the keyword search is lacking if you don't have previous experience with the product and encounter issues."
"Worked well for awhile but issues with it connecting over VPN was a major drawback."
"As per my view, Solarwinds should come up the same monitoring system for other certificate expiration alert apart from SSL."
"An additional feature that would improve this solution is the ability to complete root cause analysis."
"I believe that some of the trends, environmental maps, and items like those found in Orion would be very beneficial."
"Reporting is the only thing with which we currently have challenges."
"Application-based monitoring, such as monitoring within servers like Apache and IIS, has room for improvement."
"Having two places to build and manage alerts is not efficient and not all alerting tools are available in the trap manager."
"There is one feature that is a report writer. And they are currently trying to take it out from being a stand-alone application and integrating to the web. This doesn't give us the flexibility and it doesn't expand what we can get when it comes to reporting. So, putting it on the web is going to make it difficult to get some information. Leaving it where it is now will help us a lot."
"Support for the IBM Mainframe is needed."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The licenses start from USD 3000.00 and go up to USD 20,000.00 for the year. It's a perpetual license. Nothing is free in SolarWinds, anything that you need is an additional cost."
"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."
"Its licensing is on a yearly basis. It is just the standard price, but it can vary depending on the current rate of the dollar."
"SAM is not per server so the pricing model can be deceiving. If you have an enterprise environment, you will quickly exceed your licensing quickly. You should know this before going in."
"I would rate the pricing for this solution a three out of five."
"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."
"Pricing is inexpensive, starting at 2440 euros. For that, you get the ability to monitor a couple of nodes and one year of maintenance and support."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
Consumer Goods Company
6%
Educational Organization
13%
University
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Healthcare Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business17
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise21
 

Questions from the Community

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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 ...
What is your primary use case for SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor?
I am doing research as we currently have both solutions, and I am looking to see if we need both or can manage with one. Currently, the outcome indicates that we need both. The focus point is diffe...
 

Also Known As

DameWare, SolarWinds DameWare, SolarWinds Dameware Remote Support
SolarWinds SAM
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Illinois School District
Andr. L. Riis AS, NetSuite
Find out what your peers are saying about Dameware Remote Support vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
908,800 professionals have used our research since 2012.