Elastic Observability vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor comparison

Elastic and SolarWinds are both solutions in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category. Elastic is ranked #10 with an average rating of 8.8, while SolarWinds is ranked #22 with an average rating of 7.6. Elastic holds a 2.4% mindshare in APM, compared to SolarWinds’s 1.3% mindshare. Additionally, 88% of Elastic users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 89% of SolarWinds users who would recommend it.

Elastic Observability

Read 29 Elastic Observability reviews

8,483 Views
6,702 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

SolarWinds Server and Appli...

Read 44 SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor reviews

4,410 Views
2,778 Comparison Views

89% willing to recommend

Elastic Observability

SolarWinds Server and Appli...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 24, 2024

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor and Elastic Observability are two leading tools in their respective domains. Based on user feedback, Elastic Observability seems to have the upper hand due to its advanced analytics and versatile features.

Features: SolarWinds offers in-depth performance monitoring, alerting mechanisms, and a user-friendly interface. Elastic Observability provides robust data analysis, visualization tools, and highly customizable dashboards.

Room for Improvement: SolarWinds needs better integration with third-party tools, more frequent updates, and improved scalability. Elastic faces a steep learning curve, requires a more intuitive setup process, and could benefit from enhanced user documentation.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SolarWinds is relatively straightforward to deploy but has mixed customer service feedback. Elastic is slightly more complex to deploy but receives consistent praise for responsive and knowledgeable support staff.

Pricing and ROI: SolarWinds users are satisfied with the initial setup cost but are concerned about long-term ROI due to recurring subscription fees. Elastic’s pricing is higher upfront, but users find the advanced features justify the expense, resulting in a better perceived ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Elastic Observability vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor Report (Updated: February 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Elastic Observability vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

February 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:

Categories and Ranking

Elastic Observability

Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

10th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

IT Infrastructure Monitoring (15th), Log Management (16th), Container Monitoring (5th), Cloud Monitoring Software (10th)

SolarWinds Server and Appli...

Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

22nd

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

4.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Server Monitoring (8th), Active Directory Management (9th)

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category, the mindshare of Elastic Observability is 2.4%, down from 6.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is 1.3%, down from 1.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Elastic Observability	2.4%
SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor	1.3%
Other	96.3%

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

Featured Reviews

Mohammed-Abdelalim

Assistant Vice President at QualityKiosk Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

Has provided powerful customization for unique monitoring needs but needs more out-of-the-box capabilities

In my opinion, the best features of Elastic Observability are their flexibility to integrate with other existing systems and the ability to build a unified monitoring tool that can integrate with existing ones and end-to-end user journeys which require a lot of customizations. The greatest feature in Elastic is the ability to customize. This is similar to my comments about customizable dashboards in Elastic because it's visible to the analyst. However, it's very great. Customizing these dashboards can meet the customer's specific use cases and specific stories that they have in their environment, their special environment that doesn't look like other environments. The dashboarding in Elastic is highly customizable to the level of logos. If the customer wants his company logo in the dashboard, it can be done.

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NikhilKalwint

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.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The price is very less expensive compared to the other solutions."

"The solution is open-source and helps with back-end logging. It is also easy to handle."

"The solution allows us to dig deep into data."

"We can view and connect different sources to the dashboard using it."

"I think Elastic Observability is already in very good shape."

"I have built a mini business intelligence system based on Elastic Observability."

"The tool's most valuable feature is centralized logging. Elastic Common Search helps us to search for the logs across the organization."

"Its diverse set of features available on the cloud is of significant importance."

More Elastic Observability pros

"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."

"The most valuable feature is the Access Rights Manager."

"The graphical interfaces, GUI customizations, and alert configurations are impressive."

"Solarwinds has an open database that allows you to do serious integrations. It doesn't matter which service desk you have, you can implement and integrate it with SolarWinds."

"SolarWinds SAM has significantly improved our workflow by allowing us to develop a comprehensive knowledge base of known errors and automate responses to specific alerts."

"The most beneficial aspect of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is its ability to monitor at the application level."

"The features like trends, capacity planning, recommendations, and diagnostics are the main items I focus on for added value."

"Features like monitoring and infrastructure dependency mapping are valuable to us."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor pros

Cons

"The interface could be improved."

"The tool's scalability involves a more complex implementation process. It requires careful calculations to determine the number of nodes needed, the specifications of each node, and the configuration of hot, warm, and cold zones for data storage. Additionally, managing log retention policies adds further complexity. The solution's pricing also needs to be cheaper."

"One example is the inability to monitor very old databases with the newest version."

"Elastic Observability could improve asset discovery as the current requirement to push the agent is not ideal."

"There could be more low-code features included in the product."

"Elastic Observability is difficult to use. There are only three options for customization but this can be difficult for our use case. We do not have other options to choose the metrics shown, such as CPU or memory usage."

"I would have preferred built-in tools to manage the indexes on deployment for better visual representation, as the initial feedback regarding system performance and data storage was fairly primitive and lacking."

"Elastic Observability is reactive rather than proactive. It should act as an ITSM tool and be able to create tickets and alerts on Jira."

More Elastic Observability cons

"It needs time-based functions for monitoring. Some things need to be polled on a specific schedule or only during a specific window."

"From an integration point of view, if you want to have a manager of manager kind of layer, that is currently lacking in SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor."

"SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor could improve by having a cloud version. They have an observability platform but it still needs to be maintained by us."

"SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor could improve the server monitoring and the web application monitoring features are not good. Microsoft SCOM has better server monitoring."

"They are complex to operate; users need to know what they want during setup."

"Mapping interactions between systems."

"When you implement SolarWinds on a larger scale my customers complain about the speed."

"I believe that some of the trends, environmental maps, and items like those found in Orion would be very beneficial."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Elastic Observability's pricing could be better for small-scale users."

"We will buy a premium license after POC."

"The product’s pricing needs improvement."

"Pricing is one of those situations where the more you use it, the more you pay."

"One needs to pay for the licenses, and it is an annual subscription model right now."

"Users have to pay for some features, like the alerts on different channels, because they are unavailable in different source versions."

"The product is not that cheap."

"So far, there are just the standard licensing fees. Several of the components are embedded in the license or are even open source. They're even free depending on what you use, which makes it even more appealing to someone that is discussing pricing of the solution."

More Elastic Observability pricing and cost advice

"Price can always be lower. It is neither on the expensive side nor on the cheap side. We have worked with them for a lot of years, so we get a discount due to the size of the installation."

"We pay around $ 2,000 to $ 5,000 yearly for the solution."

"The product might cost you $30,000 USD to buy, but scaling this solution requires the purchase of additional polling engines at $20,000 USD each."

"The price is too high."

"When compared to other licensed models in the market, it stands out as one of the more cost-effective options."

"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."

"The tool is available for my company at a good price point."

"Pricing and licensing is fair for what you get. It does have a great bang-for-the-buck appeal."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

16%

Computer Software Company

14%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Educational Organization

11%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	16

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	17
Midsize Enterprise	8
Large Enterprise	21

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Elastic Observability?

Elastic Observability significantly improves incident response time by providing quick access to logs and data across various sources. For instance, searching for specific keywords in logs spanning...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Elastic Observability?

The problem is their licensing model, which is a bit confusing. Many customers struggle to understand their total cost of ownership because Elastic licensing is not dependent on easy, quantifiable ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Elastic Observability?

After careful consideration about areas for improvement in Elastic Observability, aspects such as pricing, customization, implementation, and scalability could be improved. As a user of the system,...

See all answers

What do you like most about SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor?

Identifying the problem statement is easy.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor?

The initial cost is quite high, but the renewal cost is reasonable.

See all answers

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 ...

See all answers

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Compared 6% of the time

Icinga vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Compared 5% of the time

Symantec Server Management Suite vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Compared 2% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Elastic Observability

February 2026

Download Elastic Observability product report

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

January 2026

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor report

Download SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor product report

Also Known As

No data available

SolarWinds SAM

Overview

Elastic Observability offers a comprehensive suite for log analytics, application performance monitoring, and machine learning. It integrates seamlessly with platforms like Teams and Slack, enhancing data visualization and scalability for real-time insights.

Elastic Observability is designed to support production environments with features like logging, data collection, and infrastructure tracking. Centralized logging and powerful search functionalities make incident response and performance tracking efficient. Elastic APM and Kibana facilitate detailed data visualization, promoting rapid troubleshooting and effective system performance analysis. Integrated services and extensive connectivity options enhance its role in business and technical decision-making by providing actionable data insights.

What are the most important features of Elastic Observability?

Centralized Logging: Streamlines the collection, analysis, and storage of log data.
Powerful Search: Provides robust search capabilities for quick access to relevant information.
Scalability: Supports growing data needs across diverse environments.
Real-time Telemetry: Ensures up-to-date insights and monitoring.
Platform Integration: Seamlessly connects with services like Teams and Slack.
Data Visualization: Enhances visibility with Elastic APM and Kibana.

What benefits and ROI should users explore in reviews?

Cost-effectiveness: Offers significant savings through efficient data management.
Rapid Incident Response: Minimizes downtime with quick troubleshooting tools.
Comprehensive Insights: Supports better business decisions with detailed data analysis.
Performance Tracking: Enables assessment of system effectiveness and improvements.

Elastic Observability is employed across industries for critical operations, such as in finance for transaction monitoring, in healthcare for secure data management, and in technology for optimizing application performance. Its data-driven approach aids efficient event tracing, supporting diverse industry requirements.

Elastic

SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor (SAM) delivers powerful application and server monitoring capabilities for IT pros, enabling them to diagnose and troubleshoot performance issues faster. Do not let slow applications and downtime impact your end-users and business services. Pinpoint the root cause of application issues across various layers of the IT stack. SolarWinds SAM is affordable and easy to deploy, use, and customize. You can automatically discover your system's environment and start monitoring in about an hour. No professional services or consultation needed.

SolarWinds

Sample Customers

PSCU, Entel, VITAS, Mimecast, Barrett Steel, Butterfield Bank

Andr. L. Riis AS, NetSuite

Buyer's Guide

Elastic Observability vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

February 2026

Free Report: Elastic Observability vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

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