ManageEngine ADAudit Plus vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor comparison

ManageEngine and SolarWinds are both solutions in the Active Directory Management category. ManageEngine is ranked #4 with an average rating of 8.8, while SolarWinds is ranked #11 with an average rating of 7.4. ManageEngine holds a 10.9% mindshare in ADM, compared to SolarWinds’s 1.0% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of ManageEngine users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 89% of SolarWinds users who would recommend it.

ManageEngine ADAudit Plus

Read 13 ManageEngine ADAudit Plus reviews

1,094 Views
703 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

SolarWinds Server and Appli...

Read 42 SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor reviews

148 Views
96 Comparison Views

89% willing to recommend

ManageEngine ADAudit Plus

SolarWinds Server and Appli...

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 9, 2024

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor and ManageEngine ADAudit Plus are leading solutions in their respective fields. While users appreciate the extensive features of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor, many find ManageEngine ADAudit Plus more feature-rich and worth its price.

What features are offered by SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor in comparison to ManageEngine ADAudit Plus?

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor provides comprehensive monitoring capabilities, custom alert settings, and infrastructure management. ManageEngine ADAudit Plus offers detailed audit reports, real-time alerts, and thorough compliance tracking.

What areas of improvement can be found in SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor in comparison to ManageEngine ADAudit Plus?

Users suggest SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor could enhance its reporting functionalities, streamline the setup process, and improve its user interface. ManageEngine ADAudit Plus requires improvement in integration capabilities, reducing occasional system lags, and optimizing its user interface.

How is the ease of deployment and customer service of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor in comparison to ManageEngine ADAudit Plus?

Deployment for SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is straightforward with good customer support. ManageEngine ADAudit Plus is noted for its quick setup process and responsive support team, though it requires more initial configuration than SolarWinds.

What setup costs and ROI can be seen with SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor in comparison to ManageEngine ADAudit Plus?

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is appreciated for its reasonable setup costs and good return on investment. ManageEngine ADAudit Plus, while slightly more expensive upfront, delivers significant ROI due to its extensive feature set.

To learn more, read our detailed ManageEngine ADAudit Plus vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

ManageEngine ADAudit Plus vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

April 2025

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Helped 851,604 peers since 2012

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

ManageEngine ADAudit Plus

Ranking in Active Directory Management

4th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

SolarWinds Server and Appli...

Ranking in Active Directory Management

11th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

5.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (20th), Server Monitoring (10th)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Active Directory Management category, the mindshare of ManageEngine ADAudit Plus is 10.9%, up from 10.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is 1.0%, down from 1.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Active Directory Management

Featured Reviews

Md Abdul Hakim

System Engineer at Corporate Projukti Limited

Advanced monitoring enhances user tracking that's cost-effective

I have been involved with this product for the last three years, participating in service and support within our company. We are currently supporting over 30 companies. This month, we deployed the solution for three companies, including two RMGs and one private bank in Bangladesh. The popularity of this product is due to its active directory monitoring abilities. Engineers can receive reports and log details within one to five seconds, which is essential for monitoring user activity swiftly and effectively. This product is very well-liked in Bangladesh due to user tracking, failed logins, and Jar reports for any Barna activity or execution. This solution's popularity extends through comprehensive auditing capabilities.

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Subhajit Nag

Senior Process Associate at Tata Consultancy Services

The component and cable monitoring features are good, but the interface is slow

SolarWinds' interface is slow, and this is a global concern. Every SolarWinds user complains about the sluggishness. The response is slow. If you browse from one page to another, you have to wait. Our company is a massive user with plenty of licenses, so the performance issues could be due to the load per license. Ten thousand components can be mapped under one license. So SolarWinds needs to take care of the speed problem. It cannot be this slow. That is a huge complaint. Otherwise, the tool is good. It should also be easier to upgrade SolarWinds. AppDynamics is harder to deploy but easier to upgrade. So AppDynamics takes a lot of time and effort to install, but you can upgrade it in minutes. SolarWinds is the opposite. It's easy to deploy, but upgrades take forever. To date, nobody can complete it on time, so the production environment is sitting idle. The upgrade time matters because you only install the solution once, but you'll need to upgrade the solution repeatedly over the life of the product. A complex installation isn't an issue, but I mind if the upgrade takes too long because it's already in production.

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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

"It assists in managing the active directory and modifying the reintegrated GPOs."

"The most valuable feature of ManageEngine ADAudit Plus is its reports."

"This solution's popularity extends through comprehensive auditing capabilities."

"I rate this ten out of ten."

"The monitoring and reporting are extensive and we get all the information we need while they continue to enhance the capabilities of the product."

"The documentation for this solution is good."

"We use the product to track events and monitor logs of servers and workstations. I am impressed with the tool's tracking ability. It is intuitive and easy to use."

"I like the user behavior analytics (UBA). It's a machine learning feature that creates a standard profile for each user when you install it. It creates a baseline for every user, so it can detect when anyone deviates from that standard baseline profile. For example, if a user typically logs in at 9:30 am and logs out at 6 pm, ADAudit will flag it as an anomaly when that same logs in after normal hours and alert the admins."

More ManageEngine ADAudit Plus pros

"It's good at monitoring system-specific things like ports, services."

"The component and cable monitoring are good. SolarWinds is more intuitive and user-friendly than AppDynamics. The AppDynamics console is more complex because it's a more feature-rich solution, so it's not easy for somebody to pick it up."

"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."

"The solution has good alerts. Notifications are sent via email to technicians. You can filter the kinds of alerts you want to receive as well. It's excellent."

"Identifying the problem statement is easy."

"The most valuable feature of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is the network devices' performance monitor is the best."

"The solution is great for monitoring. If something is going wrong, we can immediately find the root cause."

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

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor pros

Cons

"The initial setup was quite complex and required some research beforehand."

"The solution's managing file server activity could be improved."

"The solution should include more details on file creation and modification. It also needs to have a quick message for troubleshooting problems which needs to be detailed and generic."

"The interface could be improved, and the log collecting feature should have additional functionalities."

"ADAudit could have a more sophisticated interface design. They are using a plain UI, which is decent. However, customers have said that it looks a little flat compared to other vendors. It's not fancy."

"The return on investment for ManageEngine ADAudit Plus is very hard to measure."

"Some features require more external integration."

"Its configuration can be better. There were 44 pages of documented notes of what I had to do to get the product to work during the installation process."

More ManageEngine ADAudit Plus cons

"The major concern in the product revolves around application performance monitoring since end-to-end application monitoring is not possible with the tool."

"The stability, flexibility, and ease of use could be improved."

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

"Downside of the tools is the web console are hung or crash. It need to improve the performance."

"Mapping interactions between systems."

"For each poller, SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor can only monitor up to ten thousand components, which restricts scalability."

"The templates could use improvement. Currently, they are quite complex. They should have drag-and-drop functionality instead. It would make it easier to use."

"SAM's software-defined network monitoring capability is also low and could be improved."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"My guess is that it was around $4,000 or $5,000 a year, and we bought a license, and then we have maintenance fees. I'm not 100% sure how that worked out."

"The tool is affordable, and our company is very happy with it. If ten is the most expensive and one is the least expensive, I rate the tool a three or four."

"The solution's pricing is acceptable."

"Adding features and other functionality it costs you more. Also, the first installation costs an additional amount."

"ADAudit Plus's pricing is affordable and flexible, with very low prices in the market."

"It's a medium-priced solution."

"I have always said SolarWinds is very “proud” of their products, meaning they are expensive. I cannot afford to purchase all the licenses I need for all the SolarWinds products."

"The product is expensive."

"Nagios XI, WhatsUpGold, Uptime Software, PRTG, Manage Engine, and SpiceWorks are the other tools that have lower pricing and licensing costs. However, they can't compete with SolarWinds when it comes to the features and functionality that SolarWinds can provide."

"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 solution's price is reasonable. Though it's on the higher side, the tool is worth the money."

"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."

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

"I think SolarWinds' pricing is very decent compared to other competitors in the market."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

13%

Government

10%

Manufacturing Company

Retailer

Educational Organization

35%

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about ManageEngine ADAudit Plus?

The most valuable feature of ManageEngine ADAudit Plus is its reports.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ManageEngine ADAudit Plus?

I consider the pricing for ADAudit Plus a bit high compared to other software solutions, so I would rate it around two or three on the pricing scale.

See all answers

What needs improvement with ManageEngine ADAudit Plus?

The interface could be improved, and the log collecting feature should have additional functionalities. For example, I would like to generate reports on users who have not logged into the Active Di...

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 are no specific features or functionality I would like to see improved or enhanced in SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor at this time. I have not encountered any missing features or fu...

See all answers

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

ManageEngine ADAudit Plus

May 2025

Download ManageEngine ADAudit Plus product report

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

April 2025

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor report

Download SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor product report

Also Known As

No data available

SolarWinds SAM

Overview

In real-time, ensure critical resources in the network like the Domain Controllers are audited, monitored and reported with the entire information on AD objects - Users, Groups, GPO, Computer, OU, DNS, AD Schema and Configuration changes with 200+ detailed event specific GUI reports and email alerts.

ManageEngine

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

Warsaw City Hall, Acument Global Technologies, Inc., Cosma International, Bank of South Pacific, Life Management Center, Central Bank, UncleBob's Self Storage, Leeds Building Society, California Transplant Donor Network, First Response, Blessing Hospital, Northern Land Council, RMK Marine

Andr. L. Riis AS, NetSuite

Buyer's Guide

ManageEngine ADAudit Plus vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

April 2025

Free Report: ManageEngine ADAudit Plus vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Find out what your peers are saying about ManageEngine ADAudit Plus vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.

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