VMware Aria Operations for Applications vs WhatsUp Gold comparison

Why PeerSpot?

Broadcom and Progress Software are both solutions in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category. Broadcom is ranked #17 with an average rating of 8.8, while Progress Software is ranked #39 with an average rating of 7.0. Broadcom holds a 1.3% mindshare in APM, compared to Progress Software’s 1.3% mindshare. Additionally, 93% of Broadcom users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of Progress Software users who would recommend it.

VMware Aria Operations for ...

Read 14 VMware Aria Operations for Applications reviews

8,461 Views
4,654 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

WhatsUp Gold

Read 25 WhatsUp Gold reviews

15,052 Views
4,064 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

VMware Aria Operations for ...

WhatsUp Gold

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 24, 2024

WhatsUp Gold and VMware Aria Operations for Applications are two prominent IT monitoring solutions. WhatsUp Gold is appreciated for simplicity and price, while VMware Aria Operations for Applications is noted for its advanced features despite higher costs.

Features: WhatsUp Gold is praised for real-time network monitoring, user-friendly dashboards, and cost-effectiveness. VMware Aria Operations for Applications offers predictive analytics, workload optimization, and comprehensive monitoring tools.

Room for Improvement: Users suggest that WhatsUp Gold could enhance integration capabilities, reporting tools, and user interface design. VMware Aria Operations for Applications needs to improve user accessibility, reduce setup complexities, and streamline the user experience.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: WhatsUp Gold users report a quick deployment process and responsive customer service. VMware Aria Operations for Applications provides strong customer support but has a steeper learning curve.

Pricing and ROI: WhatsUp Gold is considered cost-effective with a faster ROI, favored by smaller enterprises. VMware Aria Operations for Applications, although more expensive, is seen as a long-term investment with substantial ROI due to its robust capabilities.

To learn more, read our detailed VMware Aria Operations for Applications vs. WhatsUp Gold Report (Updated: October 2026).

Buyer's Guide

VMware Aria Operations for Applications vs. WhatsUp Gold

October 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

VMware Aria Operations for ...

Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

17th

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

14th

Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software

13th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Container Monitoring (6th)

WhatsUp Gold

Ranking in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

39th

Ranking in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

20th

Ranking in Cloud Monitoring Software

26th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Monitoring Software (26th), Server Monitoring (14th), Configuration Management (21st), Log Management (41st), Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (14th)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability category, the mindshare of VMware Aria Operations for Applications is 1.3%, up from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of WhatsUp Gold is 1.3%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
VMware Aria Operations for Applications	1.3%
WhatsUp Gold	1.3%
Other	97.4%

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability

Featured Reviews

Ajay Shukla

Consultant at HCLTech

Automation and insightful diagnostics elevate operations while improvements are welcome

The new version 8.18 has brought significant improvements. The main purpose of using this tool is having a single console to manage all entities. The cloud integration capabilities, including private, public, and hybrid, are already well-implemented. The ability to manage multiple vCenters across different geographical locations is very effective. The new Skyline health feature and certificate and licensing management are particularly useful improvements. The dashboard's overview tab provides comprehensive information about current vCenter status, resizable amounts, reclamation opportunities, anomalies, diagnostics, licensing, and certificates. However, there is room for improvement in application analysis. The current functionality lacks detailed monitoring at the kernel level, focusing mainly on CPU, memory, and storage matrices. Enhanced application monitoring capabilities, including tracking downtime for specific types of applications such as transactional or e-commerce applications, would be beneficial.

Read full review

Erik Cheng

Technical Manager at Quan Hung Gourmet

Efficient monitoring with detailed customization, yet complexity remains

The best feature of WhatsUp Gold is the automatic generation of topology and its integration with virtualization and wireless. I have used the automated device discovery with this topology feature. The interactive map feature helps me manage the topology because sometimes we cannot draw the topology correctly, so we need to manually edit the connections. The alerting system is very tunable and customizable, but it's a little complicated to use. Many customers cannot manage it by themselves and need support from us, the provider. We always use the dashboards in the SOC, where we constantly display a dashboard or multiple dashboards. This allows us to know immediately if the connection or bandwidth is full or if the connection is broken.

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

"Using Wavefront, we have been able to reduce the complexity of our pipeline."

"This solution will give you a single pane of glass for everything, and centralized monitoring."

"It has a familiar interface, which makes it easy to get started."

"It significantly improves application performance management by offering recommendations for resource allocation to avoid wastage or overcommitment."

"Scalability for VMware Aria Operations for Applications is easy to implement and manage."

"Wavefront's monitoring tools and visibility into public cloud platforms are competing with the best out there."

"We haven't had any issues with stability."

"Tanzu itself, integrated with multiple solutions, bestows support and security upon a container platform, especially when it comes to managing open-source container platforms such as Kubernetes."

More VMware Aria Operations for Applications pros

"The interactive mapping interface for scrolling, zooming, and drilling down on an element to learn about a network issue is good. When we see a network there will sometimes be a spot that has one link. You can go into a particular part of the topology map, scroll in, and see exactly which module it is."

"The documentation is very good."

"We've been using it for many years and we use it typically for early warning, as it notifies customers of problems prior to failure."

"One thing good about WhatsUp Gold is that it is fairly stable."

"Their tech support is very good."

"WhatsUp Gold is very easy to deploy."

"The most important features of WhatsUp Gold are the server health and uptime it provides. Additionally, WhatsUp Gold is a Windows-based solution which is a benefit."

"The most valuable feature is the auto-discovery function."

More WhatsUp Gold pros

Cons

"In the new version, I would love to see more prediction capabilities. It would be great if one could see the alerts get a little more enriched with information and become more human-friendly instead of the technical stuff that they put in there. I think those would be really awesome outcomes to get."

"Its billing model is consumption-based. I understand the consumption-based model, but it is not necessarily easy to estimate and guess how many points or how much we are going to consume on a specific application up until we get to that point. So, for us, it would be helpful to have more insights or predictability into what we can expect from a cost perspective if we are starting to use specific features. This can potentially also drive our consumption a bit more."

"So far, the solution's learning curve has been pretty high."

"An area for improvement would be more in-depth reporting, such as analyzing disk IO during business hours compared to after hours."

"It could use a URL document server. Everything in the market is moving towards automation and everybody's looking for the single click operations as well relational data locality."

"However, it is still not a very mature product."

"They could make it more easy to plug-in data so that a nontechnical person will be able to use it, like accountants or finance people. That way they don't have to ask us."

"The implementation is a long process that should be improved."

More VMware Aria Operations for Applications cons

"We can never achieve or get a good picture of the network topology."

"The point system is not clear and clarity around this would improve our understanding of the system."

"Adding on services increases the cost and on the version we have there is no option for ATM monitoring."

"I haven't had any issue with stability, except during the upgrade to 2017 when we encountered slow responses."

"The initial setup of WhatsUp Gold is a medium range of difficulty levels. However, if it is your first time it could be difficult."

"I might like to see a better interface in the future. It's not necessarily easy to integrate the product with other vendors."

"Importing the maps and being able to customize them could be easier."

"The interface needs some work."

More WhatsUp Gold cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing costs are very high, particularly when you consider that we have to purchase a level 1 license for every integration, such as the load balancer, HAProxy, and the MSSP. And if you want to use vSAN, that's another license. Then, of course, Tanzu Observability has its own separate license."

"I would rate the pricing as three out of five."

"I don't have the details. In our case, there is a mixture in place. We have production usage, and we are also doing training for VMware. So, we also have a training instance. It is worth the money you would spend on it. That's because if you were to build all of this yourself by using some of the open source tools, then you would need a lot of time."

"Different locations require different setups. In your terms, around 300 to around 400K USD."

"The tool's price is reasonable. WhatsUp Gold is cheaper than SolarWinds."

"This is a well priced solution."

"I'm not sure, but it's expensive. We don't pay any additional fees."

"The price of WhatsUp Gold is good."

"The most valuable feature is the cost compared to other solutions."

"There are some subscription charges that are quite heavy. I need to pay for support every year and these charges can be quite expensive. Aside from the initial cost for the tool, you need to pay additionally for support."

"The choice of version depends on the number of points, or devices, that you want to monitor, and this makes the product expensive."

"It is per device, per year. The pricing is very clear. If you have a service agreement, you get all of your major upgrades and minor upgrades. It was under $10,000 to go all-in with all of the different add-ons for it."

More WhatsUp Gold pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability solutions are best for your needs.

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Comms Service Provider

Outsourcing Company

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Comms Service Provider

Outsourcing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	10

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	5
Large Enterprise	14

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for VMware Tanzu Observability by Wavefront?

The solution includes cost drivers that can be configured according to your environment. You can input server-wise, CPU-wise, storage, and memory costs per hour or day. Once cost drivers are provid...

See all answers

What needs improvement with VMware Tanzu Observability by Wavefront?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for VMware Tanzu Observability by Wavefront?

I have been involved in several projects where I had to implement automation and monitoring alerting. I performed automation using VMware Aria Operations for Applications. There is an automation ta...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for WhatsUp Gold?

Clients find the licensing calculator confusing, but we simplify this for them by collecting relevant information first. The licensing is based on devices, providing better cost-effectiveness than ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with WhatsUp Gold?

It would be great if WhatsUp Gold could add features that simplify management with AI, as it is currently too complicated to manage.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for WhatsUp Gold?

My use case for WhatsUp Gold includes all device availability checks, bandwidth usage, CPU, and memory usage, as well as alarm notifications.

See all answers

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Compared 3% of the time

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Compared 3% of the time

Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 2% of the time

LibreNMS vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 2% of the time

SolarWinds NPM vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 2% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

VMware Aria Operations for Applications

September 2026

VMware Aria Operations for Applications report

Download VMware Aria Operations for Applications product report

Buyer's Guide

WhatsUp Gold

September 2026

Download WhatsUp Gold product report

Also Known As

Tanzu Observability, Wavefront, Wavefront by VMware, VMware Tanzu Observability

No data available

Overview

VMware Tanzu Observability by Wavefront is a powerful tool for monitoring and analyzing the performance and availability of applications and infrastructure in real-time.

With its comprehensive monitoring capabilities, visualizing and analyzing data becomes effortless. The real-time alerting system ensures timely issue resolution, while scalability and a user-friendly interface provide a seamless experience for smooth operations.

Broadcom

WhatsUp Gold stands out with its comprehensive network monitoring, dynamic mapping, and real-time alerts, offering essential tools for managing extensive IT infrastructures.

WhatsUp Gold provides robust capabilities in network visibility through dynamic mapping and NetFlow analysis. The platform's interactive topology aids in pinpointing issues effectively. Auto-discovery ensures complete network device tracking. While offering an intuitive interface and integration with Cisco ServiceNow, users find server performance monitoring useful for incident handling. However, improvements are anticipated in application monitoring and Active Directory integration. The pricing model and customization options leave room for enhancement. Despite these, users benefit from its integrated dashboards for immediate device health checks and network updates, making it beneficial for large-scale infrastructure management.

What features does WhatsUp Gold offer?

Network Monitoring: Provides continuous oversight of network components
Dynamic Mapping: Offers visual representation of network topology
NetFlow Analysis: Delivers insights into bandwidth utilization
Threshold Alerts: Notifies users upon reaching set performance thresholds
Auto-Discovery: Detects devices automatically for complete network coverage

What benefits should users expect from reviews?

Comprehensive Visibility: Enhanced understanding of network elements
Real-Time Monitoring: Immediate insights into network and device status
Cost-Effectiveness: Competitive solution suitable for expansive networks
User-Friendly Interface: Simplifies the management of complex networks

Organizations in sectors like telecommunications, education, and healthcare utilize WhatsUp Gold for their network monitoring needs. Telecom companies track switches and routers, educational institutions manage bandwidth usage, and healthcare facilities monitor device availability to ensure seamless operations.

Progress Software

Sample Customers

1. Atlassian 2. Cisco 3. Databricks 4. DigitalOcean 5. Equinix 6. Fidelity Investments 7. Google 8. Hewlett Packard Enterprise 9. Honeywell 10. IBM 11. Intel 12. JetBlue Airways 13. LinkedIn 14. Lyft 15. Mastercard 16. Microsoft 17. MongoDB 18. Netflix 19. Nvidia 20. Oracle 21. PayPal 22. Pinterest 23. Qualcomm 24. Red Hat 25. Salesforce 26. SAP 27. Spotify 28. Square 29. TMobile 30. Twitter 31. Uber 32. VMware

Artoni Trasporti, Austin Independent School District, Banca Marche, Burke County North Carolina, Cambridge University School of Clinical Medicine, Clayco, Community Integrated Care, Desca, Deutsche Bergbau, Flexi-Van, Gropper, Hamleys, Hammonds Furniture, Knowledge IT, Idras S.P.A., Sibeg, Swann Engineering, Trivium Lindenhof

Buyer's Guide

VMware Aria Operations for Applications vs. WhatsUp Gold

October 2026

Free Report: VMware Aria Operations for Applications vs. WhatsUp Gold

Find out what your peers are saying about VMware Aria Operations for Applications vs. WhatsUp Gold and other solutions. Updated: October 2026.

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See our VMware Aria Operations for Applications vs. WhatsUp Gold report.

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