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SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor vs Splunk ITSI (IT Service Intelligence) comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

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
44
Ranking in other categories
Server Monitoring (5th), Active Directory Management (8th)
Splunk ITSI (IT Service Int...
Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability
9th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
64
Ranking in other categories
IT Alerting and Incident Management (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category, the mindshare of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is 1.0%, down from 1.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Splunk ITSI (IT Service Intelligence) is 0.8%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Splunk ITSI (IT Service Intelligence)0.8%
SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor1.0%
Other98.2%
Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability
 

Featured Reviews

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.
DS
Senior Consultant at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Service health has been monitored and visual insights support proactive telecom operations
The installation process is the first aspect I dislike about Splunk ITSI (IT Service Intelligence). If you do not configure it correctly, you will encounter issues in the search head. Because we use a distributed environment where each component has its own specific roles, installation is critical and requires careful attention. Splunk ITSI (IT Service Intelligence) is built with many applications. It is a compressed file, and when you extract the Splunk ITSI (IT Service Intelligence) app, you receive approximately 19 apps. Some applications, add-ons, and packages must be installed on specific components. If you do not configure an application correctly, it will not work. Sometimes we encounter issues during installation because of this complexity. I believe the installation process should be more uniform, meaning it could be deployed across all components to avoid post-installation issues. Sometimes after installation, you receive errors, and users cannot access Splunk ITSI (IT Service Intelligence). We have experienced this type of issue due to installation errors. I believe there is currently room for improvement regarding scalability. When we create Glass Tables containing many searches, the Glass Tables sometimes fail due to memory constraints, and we receive error pages. Splunk ITSI (IT Service Intelligence) should have a lightweight version to address these concerns. I would rate current scalability as medium.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The features like trends, capacity planning, recommendations, and diagnostics are the main items I focus on for added value."
"I have found the visibility into server health with SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor very beneficial, which we use on a daily basis."
"The most valuable feature of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is its powerful monitoring capabilities."
"SolarWinds SAM has provided us with dynamic thresholds based on historical trends and requirements, so the threshold gets configured automatically, and it's no longer necessary to configure it manually every time."
"SSL Certificate Monitoring and Expiry Alerting"
"The most valuable feature is application monitoring."
"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."
"I find it to be a strong product suite, particularly when you need a comprehensive monitoring tool."
"Real-time indexing in Splunk ITSI (IT Service Intelligence) has helped me by requiring me to take actions as soon as possible before the customer even notices the issue."
"Alerts and episodes are valuable to me."
"Splunk ITSI helps us secure our environment by allowing us to create automatons that run when alerts are triggered."
"Having worked closely with Splunk support engineers, I've observed their high capabilities in resolving issues."
"One of the excellent features is the service analyzer, which is truly impressive."
"Splunk Episodes are valuable because it correlates and aggregates all the information, and you do not have one million events to look at and triage, so it is quite convenient."
"I like ITSI's glass tables. They're easy to navigate by clicking through them. The interface isn't that much different from other products I've used. It provides all the information we need in one place."
"Our mean time to detect is down to five minutes."
 

Cons

"Having two places to build and manage alerts is not efficient and not all alerting tools are available in the trap manager."
"The current script monitoring feature has limitations, especially when dealing with custom scripts."
"Reporting is the only thing with which we currently have challenges."
"Nodes in Azure are able to be monitored with the use of agents, but this does not apply to cloud service offerings that are not node based."
"It lacks a user experience for measuring things like the end-to-end time for which a user waits for a specific response in the system. In the application layer, it has some very basic stuff. You have to build your own with manuscripts and things like that."
"For each poller, SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor can only monitor up to ten thousand components, which restricts scalability."
"SAM AppInsight for SQL: The ability to ignore fragmentation of specific indexes."
"The product needs to reduce its price."
"Customer support is adequate, but it could be faster, especially with P1 issues, and having more instructional videos available would help."
"If they can somehow integrate it with AI in the near future, it will definitely be a game changer."
"Splunk ITSI should include ease of integration and more templating."
"Microservices is the only area where Splunk ITSI can be improved. When things come from one EC2 instance to another, there's a lack of exposure to microservices, so we can't know what's happening. Apart from that, it's doing pretty well."
"It would be good if an interface was included in the next release."
"The solution should integrate more features in NEAP."
"Currently, Glass tables in ITSI only display metrics related to KPIs."
"Integration is the most critical area to improve in Splunk IT Service Intelligence (ITSI). It wasn't a great experience because you had to do a little back and forth to integrate the solution."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is overpriced in terms of application management."
"The solution's price is reasonable. Though it's on the higher side, the tool is worth the money."
"I think SolarWinds' pricing is very decent compared to other competitors in the market."
"When compared to other licensed models in the market, it stands out as one of the more cost-effective options."
"I would rate the pricing for this solution a three out of five."
"The product is expensive."
"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."
"Nagios XI, WhatsUpGold, Uptime Software, PRTG, Manage Engine, and SpiceWorks are the other tools that have lower pricing and licensing costs. However, they can't compete with SolarWinds when it comes to the features and functionality that SolarWinds can provide."
"The licensing is based on data usage."
"It would have been good if the product cost was much lower."
"I wouldn't say there's been an issue with the solution's pricing because we went through the AWS marketplace and negotiated directly with Splunk."
"Splunk ITSI is expensive."
"Splunk ITSI is expensive; however, with the appropriate use case, it justifies the cost."
"The pricing of Splunk is a bit high."
"I know that it is expensive, but I do not think there is another solution that can do similar things for that price."
"Pricing has some room for improvement."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
13%
University
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Outsourcing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Outsourcing Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Construction Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business17
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise21
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business17
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise46
 

Questions from the Community

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...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Splunk ITSI (IT Service Intelligence)?
From a pricing perspective, it is not that bad because we get it from a distributor and do not purchase it directly from Splunk. We get it from a distributor who gives the pricing to a partner and ...
What needs improvement with Splunk ITSI (IT Service Intelligence)?
Training the database could make Splunk ITSI (IT Service Intelligence) even better for my work. I sometimes feel a lag with Splunk ITSI (IT Service Intelligence). I gave it a nine out of ten.
What is your primary use case for Splunk ITSI (IT Service Intelligence)?
I have been using Splunk ITSI (IT Service Intelligence) for the last two to three years for my data handling. I do IT implementation with strong technical skills. I sometimes use Splunk ITSI (IT Se...
 

Also Known As

SolarWinds SAM
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Andr. L. Riis AS, NetSuite
TransUnion, Cox Automotive, Carnival Cruises, Leidos, Econocom, National Ignition Factory, Entrust Datacard, Molina Healthcare, United States Census Bureau
Find out what your peers are saying about SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor vs. Splunk ITSI (IT Service Intelligence) and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
913,806 professionals have used our research since 2012.