Kentik vs SolarWinds Network Device Monitor comparison

Kentik and SolarWinds are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Kentik is ranked #22 with an average rating of 9.0, while SolarWinds is ranked #28 with an average rating of 8.0. Kentik holds a 1.9% mindshare in NMS, compared to SolarWinds’s 0.9% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Kentik users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of SolarWinds users who would recommend it.

Kentik

Read 16 Kentik reviews

5,920 Views
5,269 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

SolarWinds Network Device M...

Read 23 SolarWinds Network Device Monitor reviews

2,818 Views
2,762 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Kentik

SolarWinds Network Device M...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 2024

SolarWinds Network Device Monitor and Kentik compete in network monitoring solutions. SolarWinds appears to have the upper hand regarding value, pricing, and customer service, while Kentik provides superior analytics and data insights.

Features: SolarWinds Network Device Monitor offers robust monitoring with simplified dashboards and effective alerting, ideal for straightforward network management. It provides real-time device status tracking, customizable alerts, and detailed network insights. Kentik focuses on in-depth traffic analysis and anomaly detection, offering comprehensive network visibility and customizable analytics reports. It provides proactive alerting and real-time traffic dashboards for extensive data insights.

Room for Improvement: SolarWinds could enhance its analytics capabilities and integration options, and improve support for larger network environments. SolarWinds may also benefit from expanding its mobile accessibility. Kentik's setup process could be simplified to reduce the complexity of initial deployment. The platform might improve its cost-effectiveness and offer more flexible pricing options. Kentik could also bolster its user-friendly interface for better ease of use.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SolarWinds provides a straightforward deployment process with excellent customer service, making onboarding smooth and fast. Its support team is known for quick and effective problem resolution. Kentik's deployment often involves integrating with existing systems, requiring a more intricate setup. However, its customer service is responsive and helpful in addressing deployment challenges, ensuring support for complex network environments.

Pricing and ROI: SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is generally more budget-friendly with a lower initial setup cost, appealing to organizations with tight budgets. It offers a quicker ROI due to its efficient monitoring capabilities. Kentik, though having a higher setup cost, offers a competitive ROI through its advanced analytics features, making it a suitable choice for larger enterprises that prioritize data-driven decision-making. Kentik's enhanced analytical capabilities justify its higher cost.

To learn more, read our detailed Kentik vs. SolarWinds Network Device Monitor Report (Updated: April 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Kentik vs. SolarWinds Network Device Monitor

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:

Categories and Ranking

Kentik

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

22nd

Average Rating

9.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection (16th)

SolarWinds Network Device M...

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

28th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Kentik is 1.9%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is 0.9%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Kentik	1.9%
SolarWinds Network Device Monitor	0.9%
Other	97.2%

Network Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

Shubham-Saxena

Network Engineer III at Fortanix

Integrating synthetic tests and network monitoring enhances traffic pattern visualization

The Kentik support team is good. If you want me to rate them on a scale, I would give them eight. I had a call with the Kentik support team for fifteen minutes, so I'm going to give them eight for now. The reason for giving them an eight is that they are good and address our issues. They have monthly calls and discuss the product roadmap with us, including what is needed and what is not. However, when we are working on some real issues with Kentik, I sometimes feel there's a delay due to the busyness of their teams. We faced some outages and were not able to get the desired results from Kentik tools, so that took a little time to resolve.

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Sorin Gogean

IT Infrastructure Senior Network Technician at Autoliv

Offers some features but needs better customization and analysis tools

There are solutions that can perform better, but due to pricing for our corporate implementation, we had to stay with this solution. It accomplishes the necessary tasks, but there is room for improvement. The features are not as customizable as we would prefer, but they are workable. If configured properly, you can perform a drill-down analysis. However, I have not used this feature much for our infrastructure on the network side.

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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

"Kentik answers the flow question: what are my flows, where are they are going, and what can I do to better optimize my connectivity."

"In terms of the solution’s real-time visibility across our network infrastructure, I have not been able to find any other monitoring or netflow visualization tool that gives me the kind of information I get from Kentik. If I need to take a deep-dive into something that I see, it's really easy for me to do that. Whereas with most other things, I have to use five or six other tools to get that kind of data, with Kentik, I have it all in one place."

"The most valuable features have been anything around traffic engineering: being able to determine the source or destination of a surge of traffic, whether it's DDoS-related, or a customer just happened to have a sudden uptick in traffic. Being able to tell where that's coming from or where it's going to enables us to do things based on that."

"I really love the Data Explorer. I use it all the time to go in and craft exactly what I need to see. I'm able to then take that story and explain it to the executives. I've done that a couple of times and it is helpful."

"Overall, I would give Kentik nine out of ten stars."

"Having the API access allows us to do a great deal of automation around a lot of our reporting and management tools."

"Kentik excels in telemetry within data centers and works well in multi-vendor environments."

"Honestly, it is one of those products that I would suggest to almost any network operator."

More Kentik pros

"You can create an attractive dashboard and create a hierarchy."

"The most valuable features of SolarWinds Network Device Monitor are the reports. We are configuring the reports, and the first reports are only about the devices. We are configuring the thresholds in order to monitor all the devices."

"This product has been quite stable and we are very likely to continue using it in the future."

"In real-time, we know when there's an issue on our network and it helps us to be proactive to solve the situation."

"Link monitoring is the most valuable feature of this solution."

"SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is a straightforward product with valuable functionality."

"This product proactively tells us about issues before the users notice."

"We are doing more with SolarWinds Network Device Monitor than we were doing in the past with WhatsApp Gold; when we moved to SolarWinds Network Device Monitor, the whole observability part started to grow."

More SolarWinds Network Device Monitor pros

Cons

"I've checked out the V4 version of the interface and it's still a little bit clunky for me to use. I still go back to the old interface. That's definitely one that they still need to work on. It doesn't seem like everything that you get in the V3, the older interface, is there. For instance, I was trying to add a user or do the administrative tasks in V4, and I couldn't figure out where I was supposed to do that."

"I believe they're already working on this, but I would love for them to create better integrations from network flow data to application performance — tracing — so that we could overlay that data more readily. With more companies going hybrid, flow logs and flow data, whether it be VPC or on-prem, matched with application performance and trace data, is pretty important."

"The only downside to Kentik, something that I don't like, is that it's great that it shows you where these anomalies lie, but it's not actionable. Kentik is valuable, don't get me wrong, but if it had an actionable piece to it..."

"I would like to see them explore the area of cost analysis."

"I would like to see more granular user and security rights."

"There is room for improvement around the usability of the API. It's a hugely complex task to call it and you need a lot of backing to be able to do it. I should say, as someone who's not in networking, maybe it's easier for people who are in networking, but for me that one part is not very user-friendly."

"I've checked out the V4 version of the interface and it's still a little bit clunky for me to use."

"The only downside to Kentik, something that I don't like, is that it's great that it shows you where these anomalies lie, but it's not actionable."

More Kentik cons

"The security needs improvement, which is why we are moving away from SolarWinds."

"In terms of price, it could be less expensive."

"Integration with different tools, such as ServiceNow and Excel, can be improved."

"Technical support needs to respond to its customers faster. We are not 100% satisfied with the level of support we get."

"Although I haven't explored all of the features available, I wouldn't mind if the software were made to be a bit more customizable."

"The initial setup is a bit complex. It's not for anyone who is a beginner to work in the products to do it."

"The security needs improvement, which is why we are moving away from Solar Winds. We have security concerns."

"When an organization's network grows, the complexity of the dashboard becomes an area of concern where improvements are required."

More SolarWinds Network Device Monitor cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We have an annual contract with Kentik that we renew each year for a set number of licenses. We also have some burstable licenses which we can spin up and spin down, and those are paid as they are used."

"The tool is cheaply priced."

"The price of the SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is good."

"SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is not an expensive solution."

"I rate the product's price as three to three and a half or on a scale of one to ten, where one means low price, and ten means high price."

"When compared with other solutions SolarWinds is more expensive."

"Well, we had a perpetual license and the renewal was $20 to $25,000."

"Thankfully, it doesn't take a lot of manpower to install and deploy."

"The product is expensive."

"I find the cost of SolarWinds Network Device Monitor reasonable for our company. Though, I'm not aware of the exact licensing cost."

More SolarWinds Network Device Monitor pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

12%

Comms Service Provider

12%

Construction Company

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	8

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	14

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Kentik?

I would say Kentik's pricing is not cheap. From my perspective as part of the technical team, I would not categorize it as expensive, but I know it is not cheap.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Kentik?

There's always room for improvements and better relations when using any kind of product. We faced some issues with Kentik UI and alerting, which we asked them to fix, and they succeeded. They have...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Kentik?

We are using Kentik mostly for synthetic tests, and from one last year, network monitoring as well. We are using it for inter DC BGP tests and server monitoring as well.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SolarWinds Network Device Monitor?

I am not a positive person regarding SolarWinds Network Device Monitor.

See all answers

What needs improvement with SolarWinds Network Device Monitor?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for SolarWinds Network Device Monitor?

I have experience regarding the AD part, but my focus for the last 15 years has been oriented to the network side. My experience with identity tools comes more from a network perspective. We used N...

See all answers

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Kentik

May 2026

Download Kentik product report

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds Network Device Monitor

April 2026

SolarWinds Network Device Monitor report

Download SolarWinds Network Device Monitor product report

Also Known As

No data available

Network Device Monitor

Overview

Kentik provides real-time visibility into network infrastructure, focusing on monitoring, data visualization, and flow analysis to manage traffic patterns efficiently.

With robust analytics capabilities, Kentik offers insights into BGP peering status, aids in DDoS detection, and allows for detailed telemetry through its intuitive interface. The platform's SaaS nature simplifies operations by eliminating server maintenance concerns. Multi-vendor support and synthetic testing enhance network security and performance by simulating customer scenarios, while its API offers automation for querying and reporting tasks.

What are the key features of Kentik?

Real-Time Visibility: Monitors network infrastructure effectively.
Data Visualization: Offers powerful tools for viewing complex data.
Flow Analysis: Analyzes traffic flow for optimal management.
BGP Peering Insights: Provides in-depth peering status checks.
DDoS Alerting: Notifies about potential DDoS threats.
Data Explorer: Aids in understanding traffic patterns.
Synthetic Testing: Simulates scenarios to enhance security and performance.

What benefits can be found in user reviews?

Automation: Users value the flexibility of its API for automating tasks.
Ease of Use: SaaS model streamlines user engagement, eliminating server maintenance.
Flexibility: Report customization and query settings are highly appreciated.
Enhanced Observability: Telemetry and multi-vendor support increase oversight.

Industries implement Kentik for network monitoring, traffic management, and flow data analysis across both on-prem and cloud setups. It proves valuable for detecting DDoS events, managing peering relationships, and optimizing costs, besides managing CDN configurations and performing synthetic tests in diverse environments.

Kentik

SolarWinds Network Device Monitor offers comprehensive real-time network monitoring capabilities with seamless integration across multiple vendor devices, ensuring efficient network operations.

Offering features like cloud workload monitoring, quick deployment, and a user-friendly interface, SolarWinds Network Device Monitor supports real-time alert thresholds, accurate link readings, historical utilization metrics, and customizable dashboards. Its ability to integrate with multiple vendor devices and perform network discovery enhances operational efficiency. Comprehensive bandwidth and fault management features provide stable network monitoring, benefiting devices such as switches and IP phones. However, there is room for improvement in integration with tools like ServiceNow and Excel, support response times, and enhanced security. Users highlight the need for a mobile version, improved reporting, and better customization options, alongside concerns about setup complexity and licensing costs.

What are the key features?

Cloud Workload Monitoring: Monitors workloads hosted in the cloud.
User-Friendly Interface: Offers an intuitive experience for users.
Quick Deployment: Simplifies installation and setup processes.
Real-Time Monitoring: Provides immediate alerts for network statuses.
Customizable Dashboards: Enhances network visibility with tailored displays.

What benefits can users expect?

Proactive Problem Solving: Real-time alerts facilitate quick issue resolution.
Efficiency: Automated network monitoring streamlines operational workflows.
Insightful Analytics: Provides valuable data on memory and CPU usage.
Cost-Effective: Monitors bandwidth and fault management to reduce outages.

SolarWinds Network Device Monitor is implemented prominently in industries needing robust network infrastructure monitoring, like tech and manufacturing. Companies rely on its capabilities for IP address management, cloud workload monitoring, and remote equipment monitoring, gaining insights into system performance and ensuring compliance checks are met effectively.

SolarWinds

Sample Customers

Pandora, Yelp, Neustar, Box, University of Washington, Zoom, Tata, and Cogent.

Air Rarotonga

Buyer's Guide

Kentik vs. SolarWinds Network Device Monitor

April 2026

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