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OpenText Diagnostics vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 24, 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

OpenText Diagnostics
Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability
66th
Average Rating
7.8
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SolarWinds Server and Appli...
Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability
22nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
4.5
Number of Reviews
44
Ranking in other categories
Server Monitoring (7th), Active Directory Management (8th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of November 2026, in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category, the mindshare of OpenText Diagnostics is 0.7%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is 1.0%, down from 1.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor1.0%
OpenText Diagnostics0.7%
Other98.3%
Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability
 

Featured Reviews

RS
Performance and Fault-tolerance Architect with 1,001-5,000 employees
Very good for transaction level monitoring, but expensive and HP needs better support and training
HP Diagnostics is a very good monitoring tool especially for transaction level monitoring -- it shows hot spots which can be drilled down to DB level, table, query, SP's, record and field level and also at Object level, Classes level,method or Augment levels instead of pinpointing bottlenecks at layer level it goes deep inside for information. It has very good tracing capabilities despite being an agent based tool compared to other agent less monitoring tools. Overall a very good tool for monitoring application diagnostics for quick and easy resolution with help of thread information. Drills down from slow, end-user transactions to the bottle necked component, method, or SQL statement, helping to solve memory, exception, and other common problems Key features and benefits • Automatically detects all components touched by a business process and traces them with no user intervention • Provides complete application visibility across the application lifecycle, enabling higher application quality when applications go live • Reduces mean time to resolution (MTTR) in your J2EE, .NET, ERP, or CRM (SAP, Oracle®, PeopleSoft) environment • Integrates fully with HP Business Availability Center software, HP LoadRunner, and HP Performance Center.
NikhilKalwint - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The diagnostics and configuration are the solution's most valuable aspects."
"The information from the diagnostics is detailed."
"For banking and telecom solutions, it's been quite useful."
"HP Diagnostics is a very good monitoring tool especially for transaction level monitoring -- it shows hot spots which can be drilled down to DB level, table, query, SP's, record and field level and also at Object level, Classes level, method or Augment levels instead of pinpointing bottlenecks at layer level it goes deep inside for information."
"The most valuable feature of Micro Focus Diagnostics is the information reported from an application that has timed out. For example, when you're Googling, or you're booking a ticket for Burj Khalifa here, the longest tower in the world, there are situations where the system can time out. There are times when you might not receive a response on the payment gateway or you are not able to find the reservation. The customer only receives the information that the session has timed out."
"The more valuable feature of this solution is the Exchange feature."
"We choose the Solarwinds based on the simplication of managing the tool itself."
"We use the solution as a central monitoring tool. We use it to monitor every transaction that has a relation to the organization’s infrastructure."
"The most valuable feature of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is the network devices' performance monitor is the best."
"As I mentioned in one of the other points: "Simplicity at its best"."
"Manage Groups: The capability to group appropriate devices gives better visibility of sites, categories, or critical regions. The same can be used to represent a dashboard for higher management."
"Monitoring of processes and services is the most valuable feature; it is not necessarily just the server alone in terms of the CPU or the memory, as we can go in-depth into services and processes."
"One of the most valuable features are the reports. They're pretty good. Also, the ease of installation and customization for the client is another feature that we value. SolarWinds has a lot of features but these are the ones I like the most. We also like that the KPIs have the ability to be preset."
 

Cons

"The GUI and metrics of Micro Focus Diagnostics can be improved. The metrics the solution gathers can be limited and could be enhanced by giving more details."
"The interface is very old, and not very user-friendly. Most of our clients don't like the UI."
"The interface could be more user friendly."
"Price is little expensive for number of license points and HP Diagnostics trainers are not available in market and no proper support from HP for any diagnotics level queries or issues."
"Reporting is the only thing with which we currently have challenges."
"Mapping interactions between systems."
"Application-based monitoring, such as monitoring within servers like Apache and IIS, has room for improvement."
"When you implement SolarWinds on a larger scale my customers complain about the speed."
"It would be helpful if the solution could integrate more with the security compliances, like this IDSS, etc."
"They should incorporate more artificial intelligence. There should also be more predictive features."
"The product needs to reduce its price."
"SAM AppInsight for SQL: The ability to ignore fragmentation of specific indexes."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The solution's price is reasonable. Though it's on the higher side, the tool is worth the money."
"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."
"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."
"I like the pricing for this SolarWinds product."
"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."
"We are on an annual license to use the solution. The price of the solution is expensive. The price is based on a bunch of factors, such as the number of engines and elements."
"I think SolarWinds' pricing is very decent compared to other competitors in the market."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
16%
Construction Company
15%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Educational Organization
13%
University
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Outsourcing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business17
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise21
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
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 ...
What is your primary use case for SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor?
I am doing research as we currently have both solutions, and I am looking to see if we need both or can manage with one. Currently, the outcome indicates that we need both. The focus point is diffe...
 

Also Known As

Micro Focus Diagnostics, MF Diagnostics
SolarWinds SAM
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

BSkyB, Alior Bank
Andr. L. Riis AS, NetSuite
Find out what your peers are saying about OpenText Diagnostics vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor and other solutions. Updated: November 2026.
920,769 professionals have used our research since 2012.