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ExtraHop Reveal(x) for IT Operations vs SolarWinds NPM comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 2024

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

ExtraHop Reveal(x) for IT O...
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
71st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
Network Diagnostics (11th), IT Operations Analytics (14th), Network Packet Capture (6th)
SolarWinds NPM
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
160
Ranking in other categories
IT Infrastructure Monitoring (5th), Cloud Monitoring Software (8th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of ExtraHop Reveal(x) for IT Operations is 0.7%, up from 0.5% 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
ProductMindshare (%)
SolarWinds NPM3.7%
ExtraHop Reveal(x) for IT Operations0.7%
Other95.6%
Network Monitoring Software
 

Featured Reviews

Out West - PeerSpot reviewer
Project Manager and IT Management Consultant at a integrator with 1,001-5,000 employees
Great for identifying application interdependencies with helpful support but needs better visualizations
We're just trying to identify the application interdependencies, which normally reside on different servers, including web servers, database servers, enterprise service bus, et cetera, up to your presentation layer before we start moving stuff around. Normally, the reason why we use these tools is to understand what assets we have, where they're deployed, and how they enter and operate before we decide to go move something from point A to point B. The solution is going to allow me to establish a wave or migration plan where you have different waves of migration and then you actually have move groups to try and get your application moved from A to B seamlessly. A to B could be on-premise to on-premise. It could be on-premise to cloud. Et cetera. The solution can tell me what components can I deploy, for example, into a cloud space, without having to refactor my applications since that can be quite time-consuming and costly.
Vivek Jaiswal - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"ExtraHop came out with the best price, and I think that it gives us a broader view of our network."
"ExtraHop is far ahead of anything comparable in the industry."
"This is a must-try product."
"The most valuable feature is the way it handles data, from Layer 2 up to Layer 7. We can see everything that happens in the network."
"It's a must-have solution for large IT Operations, providing the ability to analyze infrastructure and application-related performance and data from the wire perspective."
"You cannot hide from the wire; all truth lives in the packets, and ExtraHop gets them to talk!"
"Not only can you look at the protocol import level. It also has a live PCAP analysis."
"The most valuable features are security detections, perimeter detection, dashboards, and alerts."
"I love the GUI. Almost everything is accessible through the web interface. It is very user-friendly. It is easy to drag and drop resources wherever you want them."
"We moved from nGenius to Orion NPM about 3 years ago and are very happy with the performance, features, and pricing, the company is very pro-active, as in adding additional features and being responsive to customer requests."
"It is very extensible with 'SWQL' and APIs to where we are beginning to integrate it with network automation."
"We are frequently able to attend to issues before our user community and customers are aware that a problem exists."
"The most valuable feature is the vital states of the devices as it provides overall CPU and device health information."
"I have been able to catch network/server issues before they became critical."
"It paid for itself within six months, when compared to our previous solution."
"The most valuable features in SolarWinds NPM are the network search and diagnostic tools."
 

Cons

"We'd like to see a local presence within the region in order to have seamless service whether it's the support, the implementation, or professional services."
"Additional out-of-the-box solutions and use cases would be nice."
"The improvement that would make the most impact would be expanding on the new EXA big data back end."
"They either have to go broad or decide what their bread and butter is and get really good at that."
"They have a new solution, ExtraHop Reveal(x), and I think it needs improvement."
"This solution would be improved if it had the ability to retain data longer."
"The solution could get more aggressive in the discounting of the overall cost."
"We've had some struggles getting it to see everything that we want to see. Network visibility is something that needs to be improved."
"SolarWinds NPM could improve by adding the deepest inspection, performance networking, and IP address discovery."
"The interface could be made more user-friendly."
"We'd like to see a bit more automation in the future."
"There have been some versions that have had stability issues, but the current version seems pretty stable."
"Technical support and releases are not particularly reliable."
"The improvement would be that SolarWinds NPM thoroughly checks its patches before releasing them to the market. Better testing, alpha testing, and then releasing it to the market."
"I have not had a good experience with technical support because most of the time when I contact them, they first want to know whether you have a license."
"They should increase its accuracy rate as SolarWinds's monitoring accuracy is not good if you compare it with other tools, like NNM/ScienceLogic/Zenoss."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The pricing is fair considering the value provided."
"The price of this solution for our environment is about £650,000 ($855,000 USD) for three years."
"The pricing is higher than other solutions, but with such good features, I think it's worth it."
"SolarWinds is expensive. That's why it's primarily banks using the solution. Small businesses can't afford it. Due to its pricing, most smaller enterprises like manufacturing companies are not interested. For example, we have a client who is also interested in traffic monitoring, but they are not purchasing SolarWinds because of the cost."
"I believe the original setup cost was around $3500 with an annual cost of around $1200-$1500 to renew the support license. This would bring the average day-to-day cost of around $5-$6 over three years."
"Most of the licenses are perpetual, and the annual maintenance charges are not high."
"We pay approximately $4,000 annually for SolarWinds NPM. There are no additional fees required other than the standard fees."
"SolarWinds NPM has different pricing models available. The cost of the solution is less than some competitors."
"There are a lot of sub-products and it just continued to increase the price."
"I think that the cost has risen, but the functionality and versatility is way above other products."
"Quite highly priced"
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Comparison Review

it_user174738 - PeerSpot reviewer
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…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
19%
Construction Company
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
Educational Organization
7%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise3
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business59
Midsize Enterprise33
Large Enterprise86
 

Questions from the Community

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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...
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...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor, SolarWinds Network Bandwidth Analyzer
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Alaska Airlines, bet365, Concur, McKesson, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, Practice Fusion, Seattle Children's Hospital, Steward Health Care System
Microsoft, Federal Express, Hewlett-Packard, and MasterCard
Find out what your peers are saying about ExtraHop Reveal(x) for IT Operations vs. SolarWinds NPM and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
893,311 professionals have used our research since 2012.