Riverbed NPM+ vs Splunk Observability Cloud comparison

Riverbed and Splunk are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Riverbed is ranked #45 with an average rating of 9.0, while Splunk is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.2. Riverbed holds a 0.5% mindshare in NMS, compared to Splunk’s 1.5% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Riverbed users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of Splunk users who would recommend it.

Riverbed NPM+

Read 2 Riverbed NPM+ reviews

2,122 Views
1,846 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Splunk Observability Cloud

Read 89 Splunk Observability Cloud reviews

21,908 Views
7,887 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Riverbed NPM+

Splunk Observability Cloud

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 29, 2026

Splunk Observability Cloud and Riverbed NPM+ compete in the network and performance monitoring solutions category. Splunk shines in pricing and support, whereas Riverbed NPM+ is preferred for its extensive features and justified pricing.

Features: Splunk Observability Cloud provides real-time analytics, comprehensive monitoring, and AIOps capabilities. Riverbed NPM+ supports application performance visibility, network diagnostics, and end-user experience tracking.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Splunk offers a SaaS model with swift deployment and efficient service channels. Riverbed provides both on-premise and cloud solutions with comprehensive training and responsive service.

Pricing and ROI: Splunk is cost-effective with lower setup costs and fast ROI. Riverbed requires a higher upfront investment but offers significant ROI through advanced network performance features.

To learn more, read our detailed Riverbed NPM+ vs. Splunk Observability Cloud Report (Updated: August 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Riverbed NPM+ vs. Splunk Observability Cloud

August 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

Riverbed NPM+

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

45th

Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software

28th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Splunk Observability Cloud

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

7th

Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software

4th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (5th), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (4th), Container Management (5th), Digital Experience Monitoring (DEM) (3rd)

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Riverbed NPM+ is 0.5%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Splunk Observability Cloud is 1.5%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Splunk Observability Cloud	1.5%
Riverbed NPM+	0.5%
Other	98.0%

Network Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

Satyam Kumar

Senior Technical Engineer at a consultancy with 1-10 employees

Provides deep packet visibility for tracing failed transactions and helps improve enterprise-level monitoring

Many improvements are needed for Riverbed NPM+, particularly in NetIM, which does not perform as well as SolarWinds' single module NPM solution. Additionally, within Riverbed Portal, there is an Application Map module that could be improved. It can show the application's architecture and connectivity to the network. The applications map feature needs enhancements for better customization since currently, it is quite limited. The enhancements I recommend are not for the entire Riverbed product suite, but specifically for the application map feature within the Portal of Riverbed NPM+. This Portal is one of the dashboard modules and while there is potential for improvement, it must be enhanced significantly to provide better functionality. Currently, you cannot trace by transaction number alone; knowing the source and destination IP is necessary. For instance, if I transfer money and a transaction fails, tracing that transaction ID is not captured in AppResponse. I have raised this concern, and if this feature is implemented, it would greatly benefit banking customers, especially because it is not available with their competitors either.

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Purnambica Kolavennu

Project Manager at AGRICULTURE SKILL COUNCIL OF INDIA (ASCI)

Unified observability has improved real-time governance and now drives data-led decisions

Log Observer Connect is embedded here, but we are facing some delays in centralized log collection and analysis, which can be further fastened. We are collecting all the data metrics and decision-making insights, but all these data-driven decisions coming from different applications are not connected somewhere. A consolidated form or correlation of these insights is not happening between each other due to which we feel we are missing something significant. Some generalized feedback includes that predictive alerts or alarms which can be integrated with AI-driven alarms and alerting features should be established so that there is AI-driven intelligence and anomaly detection happening with a complete systematic process in service delivery. Application dependencies are huge, and business and operational dashboards should be improved. Right now there are very interactive custom dashboards, and every now and then, the personalization of enhancements keeps happening. KPI monitoring, executive reporting, and analytics have definitely been introduced to a great extent. There are few things in cloud-native monitoring, such as integration with AWS and Azure, where we sometimes do face lags. Those things can definitely be improved upon. I have used Datadog and Dynatrace before using Splunk Observability Cloud. Datadog was definitely recommended by most of our peers because of its very strong comprehensive observability and very strong and unique dashboard systems. Dynatrace was also very good because they have offered a lot of AI-driven analysis methods and processes, which was helping our organization a lot. Since our organization has a very strong IT ecosystem for agriculture, very different kinds of customized things are required.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Riverbed NPM+ provides a holistic view of the network and deeper insights into traffic and packet analysis."

"Alluvio Network Performance Management is good for troubleshooting."

"This solution is very quick to deploy as it is a SaaS solution and integrates with tools like ServiceNow."

"It supports proactive management, enhances security, and improves operational efficiency."

"I find the monitoring console very helpful. With one click, I can see how we are performing, and at the same time, I can see what data is flowing."

"Splunk's dashboards are great."

"The solution's service map feature allows us to have a holistic overview and to see quickly where the issues are."

"Splunk Infrastructure Monitoring reduces our mean time to resolve. We are more proactive than reactive."

"Initially, before Splunk, we had a long time to resolve issues. Now, with Splunk Observability Cloud, we will be able to solve them quickly and know exactly where the issue is."

"The product retains a lot of log data for subsequent analysis."

More Splunk Observability Cloud pros

Cons

"Currently, you cannot trace by transaction number alone; knowing the source and destination IP is necessary."

"Many improvements are needed for Riverbed NPM+, particularly in NetIM, which does not perform as well as SolarWinds' single module NPM solution."

"A wide variety of logging makes log onboarding difficult."

"The learning curve for understanding all features should be improved, and the cost can increase."

"Splunk Observability Cloud could be improved by having more integration with Splunk Cloud because at the moment they're two separate products. They're making great moves on what they call unified access; tighter integration is always a good thing."

"Splunk's functionality could be improved by adding database connectors for other platforms like AWS and Azure."

"A lot of customers had a hard time effectively searching within the data in Splunk. There is a learning curve from searches to indexes and using all the macros that we have created. It is a little difficult for somebody who has not used it quite a bit and does not have a lot of practice with it, but the AI features that we have been hearing about through Splunk will make it a lot easier for us to use human language to search this data. That is big. That is pretty powerful, and that will help a lot with our customers."

"The solution's machine learning deployment is hard and should be made user-friendly."

"I would like to see an improvement and some innovation in the customer interface, which puts something in your design."

"I've been using the Splunk query language, and it can be a bit time-consuming to set up the queries I need."

More Splunk Observability Cloud cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The tool's pricing is high and I would rate it one out of ten."

"Splunk offers a 14-day free trial and after that, we have to pay but the cost is reasonable."

"I am not in that circle, but we are currently licensing based on our queries. That is working out for us. Previously, it was by volume of data, and now, we can store as much data as we want."

"I would rate the price of Splunk Infrastructure Monitoring as an eight out of ten, with ten being the most expensive."

"Splunk APM is a very cost-efficient solution."

"Licensing cost is the biggest argument I get from those divesting from Splunk. There are those within our organization who say we are going to go to other tools since Splunk is too expensive."

"Splunk has been fairly expensive, but it has been predictable."

"The pricing is based on several factors, including the scale of deployment."

"Splunk's infrastructure monitoring costs can be high because our billing is based on data volume measured in terabytes, rather than the number of devices being monitored."

More Splunk Observability Cloud pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Healthcare Company

14%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Construction Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Construction Company

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	33
Midsize Enterprise	9
Large Enterprise	56

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Alluvio Network Performance Management?

The pricing of Riverbed NPM+ is indeed high, particularly as I work with enterprises in the banking sector primarily in India and the Middle East, and I have also interacted with clients in Europe....

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What needs improvement with Alluvio Network Performance Management?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Alluvio Network Performance Management?

Riverbed NPM+ has many primary use cases, making this NPM solution totally different from other tools like SolarWinds. They have a solution called AppResponse, which is not an agent-based solution ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with SignalFx?

Regarding dashboard customization, while Splunk has many dashboard building options, customers sometimes need to create specific dashboards, particularly for applicative metrics such as Java and pr...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for SignalFx?

The solution involves observability in general, such as Application Performance Monitoring, and generally addresses digital applications, web applications, sites, and mobile applications. I worked ...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering SignalFx?

We're a customer and end-user. Currently, in France, we cannot use the artificial intelligence option. While this option is enabled for the United States and many countries, it's not yet available ...

See all answers

Comparisons

Datadog vs Riverbed NPM+

Compared 14% of the time

NETSCOUT InfiniStreamNG vs Riverbed NPM+

Compared 12% of the time

ThousandEyes vs Riverbed NPM+

Compared 8% of the time

NETSCOUT nGeniusONE vs Riverbed NPM+

Compared 7% of the time

PRTG Network Monitor vs Riverbed NPM+

Compared 5% of the time

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Datadog vs Splunk Observability Cloud

Compared 3% of the time

Grafana vs Splunk Observability Cloud

Compared 3% of the time

Avantra vs Splunk Observability Cloud

Compared 2% of the time

Dynatrace vs Splunk Observability Cloud

Compared 2% of the time

PRTG Network Monitor vs Splunk Observability Cloud

Compared 2% of the time

More Splunk Observability Cloud Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Network Monitoring Software

August 2026

Download Riverbed NPM+ product report

Buyer's Guide

Splunk Observability Cloud

July 2026

Download Splunk Observability Cloud product report

Also Known As

Alluvio Network Performance Management

Splunk Infrastructure Monitoring, Splunk Real User Monitoring (RUM), Splunk Synthetic Monitoring

Overview

Riverbed NPM+ offers comprehensive network performance monitoring tailored for complex IT environments, providing insights and tools to optimize network efficiency and user experience.

Designed for IT professionals, Riverbed NPM+ delivers granular visibility into network activities, allowing for precise traffic analysis and performance metrics. This enables enterprises to troubleshoot and resolve issues swiftly. With scalable features, it supports seamless integration with large infrastructures, ensuring continuous network health and performance.

What are the key features of Riverbed NPM+?

Deep Packet Inspection: Enables detailed analysis of network traffic for improved diagnostics.
Application Performance Monitoring: Tracks application metrics to enhance operations and delivery.
Scalability: Supports extensive networks, adapting to the needs of growing enterprises.
Custom Reporting: Offers tailored insights and reporting for effective decision-making.

What benefits and ROI can users expect from Riverbed NPM+?

Improved Network Efficiency: Optimize network performance, reducing downtime and disruptions.
Cost Savings: Minimize resource wastage and manage network expenditures effectively.
Enhanced User Experience: Deliver consistent and reliable network performance, catering to user demands.
Informed Decision Making: Leverage accurate data for better IT strategy and planning.

Riverbed NPM+ is utilized across industries such as finance, healthcare, and education, where network reliability and speed are critical. In finance, it ensures rapid transaction processing; in healthcare, it supports the operation of medical systems; and in education, it maintains connectivity for online learning platforms.

Riverbed

Splunk Observability Cloud offers sophisticated log searching, data integration, and customizable dashboards. With rapid deployment and ease of use, this cloud service enhances monitoring capabilities across IT infrastructures for comprehensive end-to-end visibility.

Focused on enhancing performance management and security, Splunk Observability Cloud supports environments through its data visualization and analysis tools. Users appreciate its robust application performance monitoring and troubleshooting insights. However, improvements in integrations, interface customization, scalability, and automation are needed. Users find value in its capabilities for infrastructure and network monitoring, as well as log analytics, albeit cost considerations and better documentation are desired. Enhancements in real-time monitoring and network protection are also noted as areas for development.

What are the key features?

Log Searching: Efficiently search and analyze logs from various sources.
Data Integration: Seamlessly integrate with multiple environments.
Dashboard Customization: Tailor dashboards to specific monitoring needs.
Monitoring Capabilities: Provides comprehensive insights into application performance.
Security Features: Analyze and address security threats across systems.
Visualization Tools: Enhance data analysis and system performance optimization.

Why consider this for ROI?

Comprehensive Visibility: Gain complete insights into IT infrastructure.
Performance Optimization: Improve overall system performance and efficiency.
Rapid Deployment: Quick setup to meet organization demands swiftly.
Enhanced Security: Strengthen security measures through detailed analytics.

In industries, Splunk Observability Cloud is implemented for security management by analyzing logs from detection systems, offering real-time alerts and troubleshooting for cloud-native applications. It is leveraged for machine data analysis, improving infrastructure visibility and supporting network and application performance management efforts.

Splunk

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Sunrun, Yelp, Onshape, Tapjoy, Symphony Commerce, Chairish, Clever, Grovo, Bazaar Voice, Zenefits, Avalara

Buyer's Guide

Riverbed NPM+ vs. Splunk Observability Cloud

August 2026

Free Report: Riverbed NPM+ vs. Splunk Observability Cloud

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