SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor vs Tanium comparison

SolarWinds Server and Appli...

Read 20 Tanium reviews

10,837 Views
2,059 Comparison Views

78% willing to recommend

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 18, 2026

Tanium and SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor compete in the network management and monitoring space. Tanium has an advantage in customer service, while SolarWinds stands out with extensive features, providing a strong option for comprehensive monitoring solutions.

Features: Tanium provides strong security features including endpoint management, data protection, and instant discovery for threat-hunting and vulnerability management. SolarWinds offers detailed server monitoring with AppInsight for SQL and Exchange, advanced alerting mechanisms, and virtual infrastructure monitoring through VMAN.

Room for Improvement: Tanium could enhance its feature integration for broader IT environments and provide more intuitive user interfaces. Improved scalability customization and extending their non-security components would also be beneficial. SolarWinds might work on simplifying setup procedures, reducing the complexity of advanced configurations, and enhancing user experience in handling diverse monitoring tasks.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Tanium is recognized for its straightforward deployment and effective customer support, which aids in quick implementation. SolarWinds, in contrast, may require more complex configurations but offers robust customer service support to ensure successful setups.

Pricing and ROI: Tanium typically involves a higher initial cost but offers strong ROI through security and management efficiency. SolarWinds provides flexible pricing that presents good value when its comprehensive capabilities are fully utilized, balancing cost and functionality effectively.

To learn more, read our detailed SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor vs. Tanium Report (Updated: January 2026).

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor vs. Tanium

Download the complete report

Helped 881,082 peers since 2012

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 Server Monitoring

9th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

4.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (20th), Active Directory Management (8th)

Tanium

Ranking in Server Monitoring

3rd

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Vulnerability Management (23rd), Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) (21st), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) (21st), Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) (7th)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Server Monitoring category, the mindshare of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is 3.1%, up from 2.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Tanium is 5.0%, down from 7.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Server Monitoring Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Tanium	5.0%
SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor	3.1%
Other	91.9%

Server Monitoring

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.

Read full review

Vignesh K

Infra Vulnarability Manager at Rezilyens

Immediate results in patching promptly address vulnerabilities

When working with Tanium, there are some older devices that haven't been patched for a long time, and certain patches are not included in Tanium. I have to search outside to download patches, create bundles, and then perform the task. It would be easier if Tanium provided the patches directly. Some other brands provide the patch with a direct download link, which facilitates the process. Also, I feel that if there were more detailed documents and remediations readily available online for troubleshooting, especially more up-to-date information, it would be beneficial. Currently, some resources online are very out-of-date.

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

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

"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."

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

"Extremely user friendly: Any IT professional can learn how to admin NPM in a short time."

"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."

"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 solution can be deployed quickly."

"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."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor pros

"I like the fact that you can create patching campaigns depending on the area of your network that you want to address first. I like the ability it has to make several campaigns that work in parallel."

"I would say Tanium is the best tool for vulnerability management."

"Threat hunting is a very good feature on Tanium. We have just started using it and have not used it extensively."

"Tanium has made the process of detecting threats more proactive with its detection. So, the process is easier and more efficient."

"The solution's technical support is very responsive."

"I'm not so familiar with the tool but I like the interaction of the console to the picture. Patching is the primary model I have been focusing on for the last couple of weeks. So I have created a proof of concept environment and have been checking the available features."

"Tanium is a very good product and I would rate it eight or nine out of ten."

"Tanium's most valuable feature is its instant discovery aspect."

More Tanium pros

Cons

"Mapping interactions between systems."

"SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor could improve the server monitoring and the web application monitoring features are not good. Microsoft SCOM has better server monitoring."

"I would like to see support for non-Windows or non-Microsoft domains, especially Apache and other non-Windows servers."

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

"Solarwinds should come up the same monitoring system for other certificate expiration alert apart from SSL."

"Reporting is the only thing with which we currently have challenges. They have this in two ways. There is the report writer, which is the backend, and we also have web reports, which are on the console. So, they have removed the report writer for the backend reports, and we are making use of the web console, but most of the users are not finding it very interesting to use the frontend reports. I would like them to bring back the report writer. That's the key area within it to improve on the reporting. If they can bring back the report writer, then most users will actually be comfortable. I have some customers who are trying to export their report to an Excel format, but it is not possible because they said any report that has been done from the web console cannot be exported to Excel, but most of the customers need to export their reports to Excel. That's one area they need to work on."

"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."

"Support for the IBM Mainframe is needed."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor cons

"They could improve the UI."

"I would like to have more integrations and custom plugins to input. Integration is always a big deal in a lot of different environments."

"Tanium's limitations should be improved because although it is a great tool, it is limited to only a few classes during a session."

"Any movement into a SaaS solution has challenges since the processes and data flows are not well defined. Hence, you need to build it at the same time."

"Most of the time, agent-relative issues have to be more equipped with self-healing features. At times, the agent is there, but for some reason, it doesn't report a status. It gives certain problems that are obviously agent-based."

"There are some bugs in the product. The tool needs to improve in the area of reporting."

"The performance could improve in future releases. We have had performance issues in specialized web environments, but overall I think the problems are less than 2% of the computer systems being used."

"We had some issues with the solution's OS upgrade."

More Tanium cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"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."

"The solution is overpriced in terms of application management."

"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."

"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."

"I think SolarWinds' pricing is very decent compared to other competitors in the market."

"Pricing and licensing is fair for what you get. It does have a great bang-for-the-buck appeal."

"I would rate the pricing for this solution a three out of five."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor pricing and cost advice

"There is an annual license required to use this solution."

"It is higher than some competitors in the market."

"The solution is expensive but it's a good investment."

"It's an expensive solution. It would be nice if the cost were lower."

"The product's pricing differs from region to region depending on negotiations and the number of endpoints."

"Tanium is a more expensive solution in Latin America than some of the competitors, such as BigFix."

"The solution offers value for money."

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Server Monitoring solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

11%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Computer Software Company

No data available

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	6
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	11

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor?

Identifying the problem statement is easy.

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.

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 needs improvement with Tanium?

While there is always room for improvement, I am pleased with Tanium.

What is your primary use case for Tanium?

The primary use case for Tanium ( /products/tanium-reviews ) is compliance, patching, and inventory as part of the core functions.

What advice do you have for others considering Tanium?

For smaller companies, Tanium is quite a big investment, and one needs to have a considerable setup to make it economically viable. I would recommend it to others with a similar use case. The solut...

Dynatrace vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Comparisons

Compared 11% of the time

Azure Monitor vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Compared 11% of the time

Splunk AppDynamics vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Compared 7% of the time

Icinga vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Compared 5% of the time

Prometheus-AI Platform vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Compared 4% of the time

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor Competitors

CrowdStrike Falcon vs Tanium

Compared 9% of the time

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vs Tanium

Compared 6% of the time

BigFix vs Tanium

Compared 5% of the time

Microsoft Configuration Manager vs Tanium

Compared 4% of the time

NinjaOne vs Tanium

Compared 4% of the time

More Tanium Competitors

Product Reports

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Download SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor product report

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor report

Download Tanium product report

Also Known As

SolarWinds SAM

Tanium Inc Cloud, Tanium XEM

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

Tanium offers robust endpoint protection, patching, and inventory management, consolidating the functions of tools like BigFix with capabilities in incident response, network security, and cloud or on-premise deployments.

Known for real-time capabilities, Tanium provides detailed analytics, security features, and device management. Users benefit from quick implementation, real-time updates, and patching campaigns. Despite its strengths, integration and custom plugin expansion remain areas to improve, along with data visualization and network optimization. Reporting enhancements and user training could advance its usability, and some UI elements may require updates for clarity and security.

What are the essential features of Tanium?

Detailed Analytics: Provides actionable insights for better decision-making.
Security Capabilities: Offers strong defense measures against threats.
Real-Time Queries: Facilitates immediate information access.
Patch Management: Streamlines software updates across devices.
Device Management: Efficiently handles comprehensive inventory and monitoring tasks.

What benefits should users expect?

Ease of Use: Simplifies complex IT tasks.
Scalability: Adapts to growing IT infrastructure needs.
Integration Flexibility: Merges with existing systems effortlessly.
Real-Time Updates: Ensures current data availability for informed actions.

Tanium's deployment spans industries focusing on endpoint protection and compliance, ensuring reliable device and server management in settings where safety and quick adaptation are critical. Organizations use it for application deployment, compliance checks, and integrating it as an EDR solution, enhancing overall security and operational efficiencies.

Sample Customers

Andr. L. Riis AS, NetSuite

JPMorgan Chase, eBay, Amazon, US Bank, MetLife, pwc, Cerner, Delphi, MGM Grand, New York Life

SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor vs. Tanium