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 #5 with an average rating of 9.3, while SolarWinds is ranked #9 with an average rating of 7.6. ManageEngine holds a 8.3% mindshare in ADM, compared to SolarWinds’s 1.9% 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 15 ManageEngine ADAudit Plus reviews

1,494 Views
1,255 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

SolarWinds Server and Appli...

Read 44 SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor reviews

4,410 Views
176 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: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

ManageEngine ADAudit Plus vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

December 2025

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Helped 881,757 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

5th

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

SolarWinds Server and Appli...

Ranking in Active Directory Management

9th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

4.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (22nd), Server Monitoring (8th)

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Active Directory Management category, the mindshare of ManageEngine ADAudit Plus is 8.3%, down from 10.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is 1.9%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Active Directory Management Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
ManageEngine ADAudit Plus	8.3%
SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor	1.9%
Other	89.8%

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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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

"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."

"Some of the most valuable features of ADAudit Plus are the granular parts of the reports fetched from Active Directory."

"ADAudit Plus's best features are that it's very easy to use with a user-friendly interface, and it gives reports on group policy and object changes that we couldn't find in any other product."

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

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

"Real-time monitoring of AD changes and logons is valuable."

"I rate this ten out of ten."

"The most valuable feature is the control of the file server."

More ManageEngine ADAudit Plus pros

"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."

"I'd rate technical support at eight out of ten. They are helpful and fast."

"SSL Certificate Monitoring and Expiry Alerting"

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

"Monitoring the components on your devices with out of the box monitors or the ability to create new ones (SAM)"

"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."

"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 solution is end-to-end from the network and the application to the processes. Everything about the enterprise infrastructure is being covered by the solution. It's easy to use and easy to navigate and one of the leaders among monitoring solutions."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor pros

Cons

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

"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."

"Some features require more external integration."

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

"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."

"The initial setup was difficult."

"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."

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

More ManageEngine ADAudit Plus cons

"They should incorporate more artificial intelligence. There should also be more predictive features."

"I would like to see support for non-Windows or non-Microsoft domains, especially Apache and other non-Windows servers."

"The technical support team's response time could be improved."

"The product does not explain why a problem occurred."

"Application-based monitoring, such as monitoring within servers like Apache and IIS, has room for improvement."

"Some custom applications cannot be monitored, and a lot more applications need to be included."

"The tool’s report feature created issues for us. We needed to gain skills to use that feature. The tool’s customization is not easy since you have to reconfigure the whole system."

"The current script monitoring feature has limitations, especially when dealing with custom scripts."

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 solution's pricing is acceptable."

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

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

"It's a medium-priced solution."

"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."

"I like the pricing for this SolarWinds product."

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

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

"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."

"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."

"I would advise potential buyers to wait until the end of the quarter, end of year, or other time to place orders. There are actually great deals to be had at those times if your budget cycle can match up."

"The price is too high."

"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."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Government

Computer Software Company

Healthcare Company

Manufacturing Company

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	8
Midsize Enterprise	7

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

Questions from the Community

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

The price is normal for this type of solution.

See all answers

What needs improvement with ManageEngine ADAudit Plus?

An area of improvement for ManageEngine ADAudit Plus could be in graphical reporting, as currently, it's limited with old school bar charts, and having more interactive reports with a better graphi...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for ManageEngine ADAudit Plus?

The main use case for ManageEngine ADAudit Plus is primarily focused on auditing, so any changes related to Active Directory or Azure Intra ID or even file servers, such as file monitoring, are imm...

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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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

ManageEngine ADAudit Plus

January 2026

Download ManageEngine ADAudit Plus 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

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

December 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: December 2025.

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