SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor vs Splunk AppDynamics comparison

SolarWinds and Splunk are both solutions in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category. SolarWinds is ranked #20 with an average rating of 7.6, while Splunk is ranked #3 with an average rating of 8.2. SolarWinds holds a 1.2% mindshare in APM, compared to Splunk’s 3.6% mindshare. Additionally, 89% of SolarWinds users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 91% of Splunk users who would recommend it.

SolarWinds Server and Appli...

Read 44 SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor reviews

4,008 Views
2,605 Comparison Views

89% willing to recommend

Splunk AppDynamics

Read 259 Splunk AppDynamics reviews

13,654 Views
10,377 Comparison Views

91% willing to recommend

SolarWinds Server and Appli...

Splunk AppDynamics

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 23, 2025

Splunk AppDynamics and SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor are leaders in the application performance monitoring industry. Splunk AppDynamics has a competitive advantage with its deep-dive capabilities for application stack traces, while SolarWinds excels in infrastructure monitoring.

Features: Splunk AppDynamics offers stack traces, real-time alerts, and in-depth performance insights across environments. SolarWinds provides expansive server and infrastructure monitoring, including AppInsight for SQL and Exchange, but lacks the comprehensive application analysis offered by AppDynamics.

Room for Improvement: Splunk AppDynamics could benefit from improved async call tracking, better network monitoring integration, and a more transparent cost structure. SolarWinds needs enhancements in customization, speed, and the intuitiveness of its user interface. Both require improved integration with emerging technologies, with AppDynamics in particular needing to simplify its licensing model.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Splunk AppDynamics offers versatile deployment, supporting environments like hybrid clouds but requires substantial setup and license management. SolarWinds focuses on ease with on-premises setups and is commended for integration simplicity. Both provide responsive support, with AppDynamics delivering more integrated resources.

Pricing and ROI: Splunk AppDynamics is a premium option with higher costs and a complex licensing model, justified by its comprehensive features and potential cost savings in troubleshooting. SolarWinds is perceived as offering great value, being accessible and competitive, though its costs may rise as needs expand.

To learn more, read our detailed SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor vs. Splunk AppDynamics Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor vs. Splunk AppDynamics

December 2025

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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

SolarWinds Server and Appli...

Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

20th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

4.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Server Monitoring (9th), Active Directory Management (8th)

Splunk AppDynamics

Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

3rd

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

259

Ranking in other categories

IT Infrastructure Monitoring (6th), IT Operations Analytics (2nd), Mobile APM (1st), Container Monitoring (3rd)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category, the mindshare of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is 1.2%, down from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Splunk AppDynamics is 3.6%, down from 5.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Splunk AppDynamics	3.6%
SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor	1.2%
Other	95.2%

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

Featured Reviews

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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DevendraKumar1

Technology lead at Infosys

Has enabled us to detect issues instantly through alerts and monitor every service from a single dashboard

Splunk requires significantly more improvements compared to Splunk AppDynamics, specifically regarding the licensing aspect. Splunk renews licenses every six months, which is inconvenient. It would be better to have a one-year license to avoid needing to update keys constantly, which can only occur on weekends, making it a burdensome task. Although Splunk is better for certain use cases, Splunk AppDynamics is broader in functionality. Specifically, I want enhancements related to creating dashboards not only for logs or minor services but also for configuration levels, allowing us to check configurations immediately without manually opening the entire code when exceptions arise—a feature I wish to see improved in Splunk, although it may not be necessary for Splunk AppDynamics.

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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 is simple to implement and can provide fairly decent Windows-based monitoring, beyond simple SNMP. It is great for monitoring newbies and smaller shops."

"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. We can go in-depth into services and processes."

"The most beneficial aspect of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is its ability to monitor at the application level."

"The more valuable feature of this solution is the Exchange feature."

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

"This product can monitor application environments no matter where they reside and provides capabilities for deep insight into infrastructure."

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

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor pros

"In AppDynamics, everywhere I go, there's some sort of grouping and aggregation function, or there's some sort of timeline that lets me zero in more quickly on the traces that I need. They go to more pains to aggregate and bubble the important ones to the top. That removes a lot of manual work."

"The best features of AppDynamics would be the code application monitoring capabilities."

"I like that AppDynamics allows every organization to have what they want to see, like for my organization, we're able to customize the dashboard to show us details of what we want to see in our transactions."

"The most valuable feature is the ability to take a report, and in particular, a visual, and link it to actual application performance and then the consequences. This means you can show how an incident or action has an effect on the business."

"From the performance management side, I like everything from business transaction work to tracking. On the database side, we can get a lot of insights from the database. On the server monitoring side, it helped us a lot to find out some of the issues on the VM side because VMs were creating a little trouble for us."

"The ability to identify the top running queries has been extremely valuable for us."

"The metrics browser is very useful, and the deep dive feature is very useful for us."

"It has improved my organization because we are able to proactively and reactively look at performance issues."

More Splunk AppDynamics pros

Cons

"From an integration point of view, if you want to have a manager of manager kind of layer, that is currently lacking in SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor."

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

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

"An additional feature that would improve this solution is the ability to complete root cause analysis."

"SAM AppInsight for SQL: The ability to ignore fragmentation of specific indexes."

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

"The setup was complex. We had local support to assist us."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor cons

"I would like to see more of a unified platform. They're very, very new on the server side, machine agents. I want them to be more mature in this area."

"AppDynamics Browser Real-User Monitoring needs to offer an end-to-end experience, including the internet layer and third-party elements that come into play on websites."

"In the next release, I would like to see the configuration of the data and more support for new applications. It should support new languages."

"AppDynamics' modules and hardware resources are very high."

"The infrastructure is not as good as other solutions."

"The user access management could be a bit better."

"Needs more integration with applications suites, like Oracle Enterprise Server or BMC Remedy."

"The networking monitor function could be better, we are not getting many details from it."

More Splunk AppDynamics cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price is too high."

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

"The tool is available for my company at a good price point."

"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."

"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."

"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."

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

"Pricing is inexpensive, starting at 2440 euros. For that, you get the ability to monitor a couple of nodes and one year of maintenance and support."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor pricing and cost advice

"We do not have any issues with the price."

"One of the main downsides to the solution is its cost."

"It could be cheaper. It's a little cost prohibitive. There are so many features that also show a lot of value, but it’s not always easy to justify the cost."

"I rate AppDynamics Mobile Real-User Monitoring's pricing as seven out of ten. Mobile monitoring is paid based on the number of instances utilizing the mobile monitoring service, which increases as the scale grows. Consequently, your mobile user count can proportionally surpass all other applications."

"There is no standard license instead, the license is adapted to the organization's requirements."

"AppDynamics Server Monitoring is an expensive solution."

"The price of AppDynamics could be reduced in my region."

"It is expensive. However, our time to recover has been reduced, and this product has helped recuperate costs and provided us with ROI."

More Splunk AppDynamics pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

11%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

26%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	55
Midsize Enterprise	36
Large Enterprise	194

Questions from the Community

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

Any advice about APM solutions?

There are many factors and we know little about your requirements (size of org, technology stack, management systems, the scope of implementation). Our goal was to consolidate APM and infra monitor...

See all answers

What do you like most about AppDynamics?

The solution saves time and cost.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for AppDynamics?

I would rate the pricing an eight out of ten. The solution is highly expensive. Our company pays for the solution on a yearly basis, if we don't add new modules or features to the license, we need ...

See all answers

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Compared 5% of the time

Prometheus-AI Platform vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Compared 4% of the time

Nagios XI vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

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Dynatrace vs Splunk AppDynamics

Compared 11% of the time

New Relic vs Splunk AppDynamics

Compared 7% of the time

Datadog vs Splunk AppDynamics

Compared 7% of the time

Splunk Enterprise Security vs Splunk AppDynamics

Compared 6% of the time

PRTG Network Monitor vs Splunk AppDynamics

Compared 2% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

January 2026

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor report

Download SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor product report

Buyer's Guide

Splunk AppDynamics

January 2026

Download Splunk AppDynamics product report

Also Known As

SolarWinds SAM

No data available

Overview

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

Splunk AppDynamics enhances application performance monitoring with advanced diagnostics and real-time insights, offering seamless end-to-end transaction tracking and infrastructure visibility.

AppDynamics provides critical tools for businesses to analyze application behavior and performance. Through innovative features like transaction snapshot analysis and adaptable dashboards, users can quickly identify and address issues, ensuring high levels of system uptime and efficiency. It is designed to support complex environments including Kubernetes and AWS, enhancing user experience by detecting performance issues early. Despite needing improvements in network monitoring and integration, it remains a robust option for tracking application health.

What are the key features of AppDynamics?

Real-time Performance Monitoring: Offers immediate insights into application behavior.
Business Transaction Tracking: Tracks transactions from start to finish for bottleneck identification.
JVM Memory Monitoring: Provides detailed JVM metrics and memory use information.
Deep-dive Diagnostics: Enables in-depth analysis of code and stack traces.
Adaptable Dashboards: Customizable views for better data interpretation.

How does AppDynamics benefit users?

Improved Incident Resolution: Faster problem detection and solution implementation.
Enhanced Application Performance: Real-time monitoring optimizes system operations.
Comprehensive Visibility: Provides a full view of application infrastructure.
Informed Decision Making: Detailed analytics guide performance improvements.
Customer Satisfaction: Enhances user experience through faster issue resolutions.

In industries like financial services and e-commerce, AppDynamics facilitates performance tracking across distributed systems, optimizing infrastructure to meet consumer demands. It excels in environments needing precise transaction monitoring and is pivotal in delivering high value and satisfaction.

Splunk

Sample Customers

Andr. L. Riis AS, NetSuite

Cisco, Sony, Nasdaq, Reserve Bank of New Zealand, Edmunds.com, Puma, Fox News, DirecTV, Pizza Hut, T-Systems, Cornell University, OpenTable, BITMARCK, Green Mountain Power, Care.com, Overstock, Paddy Power, eHarmony, Kraft, The Motley Fool, The Container Store, and more See more customers

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor vs. Splunk AppDynamics

December 2025

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