No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Oracle Enterprise Manager vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 6, 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

Oracle Enterprise Manager
Ranking in Server Monitoring
6th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
129
Ranking in other categories
Database Development and Management (3rd)
SolarWinds Server and Appli...
Ranking in Server Monitoring
7th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
4.5
Number of Reviews
44
Ranking in other categories
Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (17th), Active Directory Management (8th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Server Monitoring category, the mindshare of Oracle Enterprise Manager is 2.8%, up from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is 2.9%, up from 2.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Server Monitoring Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Oracle Enterprise Manager2.8%
SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor2.9%
Other94.3%
Server Monitoring
 

Featured Reviews

reviewer996648 - PeerSpot reviewer
Founder and President at a training & coaching company with 1-10 employees
Extensive functionality impresses despite occasional setup complexity
The functions and features of Oracle Enterprise Manager that I have found most valuable are its evolution from being problematic in 10g and 11g versions to becoming better and more stable. Now it has become a significantly improved product. We have integrated identity management, and we are using it for normal database examination, tuning, and performance. We are working with STATSPACK and similar tools that are integrated in Oracle Enterprise Manager. We are currently working with version 13.5, having upgraded from 13.4 last year. Automation is useful for improving operational efficiency, and there are many more opportunities to automate outside the databases. Not many things need to be automated inside the databases. We have jobs running, imports, exports, and similar tasks. To automate these processes, we utilize the Scheduler from Oracle, which is managed in the databases by the vendor. This is not part of our DBA functions in Oracle Enterprise Manager.
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

"Using this product makes our integration process more easy and seamless."
"Oracle Enterprise Manager helps to control servers."
"We went with Oracle because we were looking for stability, a vendor that is reliable, being able to get help, troubleshooting when there's a problem."
"It's a very flexible, straightforward installation; it's user friendly, usable day by day and we can see the database monitoring, host monitoring, everything."
"Can drastically reduce the diagnostic time and help monitoring multiple instances."
"This solution was the only one which allows us to monitor all our solutions from one interface."
"It reduces our downtime; increases our performance."
"The biggest benefit of using Oracle Enterprise Manager is its monitoring capability."
"Having used various other vendors for monitoring over my career, the SolarWinds products give outstanding value for the price."
"Extremely user friendly: Any IT professional can learn how to admin NPM in a short time."
"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."
"We manage SolarWinds ourselves without outsourcing its services."
"AppInsight for SQL: Enables us to see the relevant error log entries on the same page as performance parameters."
"The solution can be deployed quickly."
"SolarWinds SAM has significantly improved our workflow by allowing us to develop a comprehensive knowledge base of known errors and automate responses to specific alerts."
"There are many valuable features, including the network configuration manager, and the network performance manager."
 

Cons

"The solution’s pricing could be improved."
"Oracle Enterprise Manager's scalability is an area with certain shortcomings where improvements are required."
"There are some monitoring tools, such as GoldenGate, that would be great if they could put them in OEM."
"If you see the documentation, it's not really that much good."
"It comes with some monitoring bugs, which once reported to Oracle support is always solved."
"It's very expensive."
"The fact that Oracle Enterprise Manager is an expensive solution is a matter of concern and needs to be considered for improvement."
"Patching. It's extremely difficult to determine what requires patching and the process to patch each component is slightly different."
"PerfStack can be made more effective."
"One product area that could benefit from improvement is the synchronization of licensing periods across different modules"
"SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor could improve by having a cloud version. They have an observability platform but it still needs to be maintained by us."
"It would be helpful if the solution could integrate more with the security compliances, like this IDSS, etc."
"Currently SolarWinds SAM offers AppInsight for modern versions of: IIS, Exchange, SQL Server. They have shown to be powerful and insightful tools. However, AppInsight needs to be offered for more applications: Citrix, SharePoint, AX, etc."
"It needs time-based functions for monitoring. Some things need to be polled on a specific schedule or only during a specific window."
"SAM's software-defined network monitoring capability is also low and could be improved."
"Support for the IBM Mainframe is needed."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Evaluate your requirements carefully. Elaborate DR and HA setup of OEM can become expensive."
"I rate Oracle Enterprise Manager’s pricing a five out of ten."
"There are a few bugs with the software which require opening SRs with Oracle Support which contribute to the day-to-day cost. Perhaps 8 hours per month is spent dealing with support, just as a rough guess."
"As far as I know, you do not pay for Oracle Enterprise Manager separately. You can use Enterprise Manager for free if you already have an Oracle license for your database."
"The product’s price is reasonable."
"Oracle Enterprise Manager is a free-of-cost solution. Oracle Enterprise Manager can be expensive only if you go for its licensing part."
"Initially, our deal was for three years, and we extended it to five years. Oracle solutions are very costly."
"The licensing is the responsibility of our customers."
"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."
"I would rate the pricing for this solution a three out of five."
"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."
"When compared to other licensed models in the market, it stands out as one of the more cost-effective options."
"Understanding the counts of objects to monitor will determine the licensing need. In terms of pricing, it’s not cheap but it’s not expensive as larger vendors whose products don’t have all the features or integrations."
"When planning for the number of licenses to purchase, make sure you understand all of the elements within an application required to really understand performance well. In our case, we quickly came to the conclusion that an unlimited license for SAM was the way to go."
"The solution's price is reasonable. Though it's on the higher side, the tool is worth the money."
"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."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Server Monitoring solutions are best for your needs.
902,270 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
18%
Construction Company
9%
Marketing Services Firm
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Educational Organization
13%
University
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Healthcare Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business37
Midsize Enterprise25
Large Enterprise82
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business17
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise21
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Oracle Enterprise Manager?
I would rate the pricing of Oracle Enterprise Manager as very expensive, definitely deserving a 10 out of 10.
What needs improvement with Oracle Enterprise Manager?
The weaknesses I would like to address in Oracle Enterprise Manager involve the dealing of Grid Infrastructure. Oracle Enterprise Manager's handling of Grid Infrastructure needs some improvement. I...
What is your primary use case for Oracle Enterprise Manager?
I am still working with Oracle products. I would like to leave my opinion on some other Oracle products that I have been working with lately. I am working on many Oracle products for database admin...
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

No data available
SolarWinds SAM
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

7-Eleven, Halliburton, Cisco, Garmin, Nationwide, Korea Telecom, Allied Irish Bank
Andr. L. Riis AS, NetSuite
Find out what your peers are saying about Oracle Enterprise Manager vs. SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
902,270 professionals have used our research since 2012.