# SolarWinds Database Observability Reviews **Vendor:** SolarWinds Worldwide LLC **Category:** [Database Monitoring Tools](https://www.g2.com/categories/database-monitoring) **Average Rating:** 4.5/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 225 ## About SolarWinds Database Observability SolarWinds Database Observability brings together SolarWinds database monitoring and performance management capabilities for organizations running mixed database estates across on-premises and cloud environments. The portfolio includes self-hosted and SaaS offerings and supports relational, open-source, and NoSQL databases, including SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis, Amazon Aurora, Amazon RDS, Azure SQL, and Google Cloud SQL. Designed for database administrators, platform teams, and IT operations teams, SolarWinds Database Observability helps users monitor database health, analyze query performance, troubleshoot waits, blocking, and deadlocks, and investigate performance problems with greater speed and confidence. Across the portfolio, teams can use capabilities such as query analysis, workload profiling, execution plan analysis, historical performance analysis, anomaly detection, alerting, and reporting to identify issues before they become larger operational problems. It also helps teams connect database performance to the wider IT environment by correlating database activity with CPU, memory, disk I/O, and surrounding infrastructure context. Integrations with tools and services such as SolarWinds Service Desk, PagerDuty, ServiceNow, Microsoft Teams, OpsGenie, and webhooks support faster notification, escalation, and response workflows. This broader context is especially useful for organizations trying to reduce troubleshooting silos and improve collaboration between database and infrastructure teams. The primary value of SolarWinds Database Observability is that it gives teams deeper visibility into database behavior across diverse environments while helping them diagnose slowdowns, tune performance, and resolve issues more efficiently. Rather than positioning database monitoring as a secondary add-on, it delivers database-focused depth alongside broader IT context, making it well suited to organizations that need strong database performance management without unnecessary complexity. ## SolarWinds Database Observability Pros & Cons **What users like:** - Users value the **clear monitoring capabilities** of SolarWinds Database Observability, enhancing database performance and troubleshooting efficiency. (12 reviews) - Users appreciate the **real-time monitoring** of SolarWinds Database Observability, enabling proactive response to database issues as they occur. (12 reviews) - Users appreciate the **ease of use** of SolarWinds Database Observability, enabling swift troubleshooting and integration with various tools. (11 reviews) - Users appreciate the **clear visibility and real-time insights** provided by SolarWinds Database Observability, enhancing proactive database management. (9 reviews) - Users value the **stellar visibility** into database performance with SolarWinds, simplifying issue identification and monitoring. (9 reviews) - Users value the **real-time performance monitoring** of SolarWinds Database Observability, enabling efficient database operations and insightful analysis. (8 reviews) - Accuracy (7 reviews) - Integrations (7 reviews) - Performance Optimization (7 reviews) - Platform Compatibility (7 reviews) **What users dislike:** - Users find the **learning curve steep** , making initial setup and understanding advanced features challenging for new teams. (6 reviews) - Users find the **steep learning curve** challenging, particularly during initial setup and when navigating advanced features. (6 reviews) - Users find the **initial setup complexity** daunting, particularly for those new to database monitoring tools. (5 reviews) - Users find the **difficult setup** of SolarWinds Database Observability complex, causing delays and frustration during implementation. (5 reviews) - Users find the **pricing to be high** , which can be a barrier for smaller teams or organizations. (5 reviews) - Overwhelming Features (5 reviews) - Complex Pricing (4 reviews) - Limited Customization (4 reviews) - Noisy Alerts (4 reviews) - Poor UI (4 reviews) ## SolarWinds Database Observability Reviews ### 1. DPA really made my job of sorting through database to know the speed and health easy. **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Education Management | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 27, 2017 **What do you like best about SolarWinds Database Observability?** I like how DPA leverage all my S3 databases **What do you dislike about SolarWinds Database Observability?** Sincerely there's no good software without a disadvantage. But I have not seen anything you should improove on except the pricing. That might be because of the country I'm in. **Recommendations to others considering SolarWinds Database Observability:** it is the best solution for anyone with dificulty in managing database expecially those just learning. **What problems is SolarWinds Database Observability solving and how is that benefiting you?** It's very tasky to statcally connect to every database everytime I want to manage, DPA helps in managing all of my databases simultaneously. ### 2. Great Tool for Performance Troubleshooting **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Transportation/Trucking/Railroad | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 02, 2018 **What do you like best about SolarWinds Database Observability?** Very clean interface that makes identifying problem queries easy to spot **What do you dislike about SolarWinds Database Observability?** Integration with Orion platform is half baked. **What problems is SolarWinds Database Observability solving and how is that benefiting you?** Performance slowdowns and optimization. ### 3. Solarwinds DPA Review **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Museums and Institutions | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 02, 2018 **What do you like best about SolarWinds Database Observability?** You are able to select different types of data to be analyzed and you are able to see the results easily. **What do you dislike about SolarWinds Database Observability?** It seemed a bit slow to update the data, but that may be because it was a demo product. **Recommendations to others considering SolarWinds Database Observability:** Try the demo to see if it will suit your needs **What problems is SolarWinds Database Observability solving and how is that benefiting you?** We are trying to analyze our VMs that store our database and the efficiency of them. ### 4. Easy to use Database performance analysis tool **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Defense & Space | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 21, 2017 **What do you like best about SolarWinds Database Observability?** Everything is broken down with time based stacked graphs **What do you dislike about SolarWinds Database Observability?** The expense if you have a lot of databases **Recommendations to others considering SolarWinds Database Observability:** The price gets bigger if you have many databases but it's one of the best tools to quickly isolate where the problems are in your database with wait times. Easy to find the query where all the time is being wasted. **What problems is SolarWinds Database Observability solving and how is that benefiting you?** Quickly find out where the problem is. ### 5. Great insight to real time stats **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer & Network Security | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 21, 2017 **What do you like best about SolarWinds Database Observability?** The most beneficial aspect for me was the storage stats. Having a real time chart to read reads, writes and latency allows us to have a more proactive approach to response times. **What do you dislike about SolarWinds Database Observability?** There isn't too much to dislike however adding more administrative control functions would expand on the product's functionality. **Recommendations to others considering SolarWinds Database Observability:** The product does everything as advertised and more. **What problems is SolarWinds Database Observability solving and how is that benefiting you?** Visually seeing trends in peak performance utilization has allowed for more scalable maintenance plans. ### 6. quick, easy and complete inside view **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Networking | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 21, 2017 **What do you like best about SolarWinds Database Observability?** easy installation, easy DB connection, direct detailed view out of box **What do you dislike about SolarWinds Database Observability?** short test license range not within 30day Solarwinds standard **What problems is SolarWinds Database Observability solving and how is that benefiting you?** slow DB performance with business impact and no visibility where the bottle neck was ### 7. Been using Solarwinds DPA module for 3 years **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Utilities | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 21, 2017 **What do you like best about SolarWinds Database Observability?** I love the detailed information you are able to pull regarding the databases, their servers and the whole virtual environment. When syncing with NPM, it helps complete that "single pane of glass" view of your environment. **What do you dislike about SolarWinds Database Observability?** Currently, there is nothing I would say I "dislike" about this product. **What problems is SolarWinds Database Observability solving and how is that benefiting you?** We are able to see where our problem/latency spots are with our collection of Solarwinds products we have applied to the environment. ### 8. Very useful utility **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Tyler R. | Systems Administrator, Information Technology and Services, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 28, 2017 **What do you like best about SolarWinds Database Observability?** The integration with the Orion platform. **What do you dislike about SolarWinds Database Observability?** I wish that is would also work with Microsoft Exchange. **Recommendations to others considering SolarWinds Database Observability:** Make sure this is the product you want. **What problems is SolarWinds Database Observability solving and how is that benefiting you?** Mostly performance related issues ### 9. DPA **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Law Enforcement | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 28, 2017 **What do you like best about SolarWinds Database Observability?** The email reports are great for seeing what is going on. The console is easy to use and provides real time data. Has helped figure out lots of problem areas. **What do you dislike about SolarWinds Database Observability?** Really don't have any dislikes. Some times the renewing the license requires contact with Solarwinds. **What problems is SolarWinds Database Observability solving and how is that benefiting you?** SQL queries has been the most problems we see. Also found that we needed to add resources to our servers. ### 10. DPA Review **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Restaurants | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 21, 2017 **What do you like best about SolarWinds Database Observability?** DPA allows us to be proactive about monitoring databases in our environment and is easy to setup/configure. Everything integrates into a single console. **What do you dislike about SolarWinds Database Observability?** It can give so much information it can be difficult to drill down and identify what is most important. **What problems is SolarWinds Database Observability solving and how is that benefiting you?** Catching issues before our customers complain. We are able to get insight into how the DBs are performing and can make decisions based on this information. ### 11. Great Product to see under the hood of your applications **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Rik I. | Senior MSS Engineer, Information Technology and Services, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 22, 2017 **What do you like best about SolarWinds Database Observability?** Being able to get alerts on DB slowness. **What do you dislike about SolarWinds Database Observability?** Nothing that I've found so far! Be good if it was cheaper. **What problems is SolarWinds Database Observability solving and how is that benefiting you?** Quickly finding root cause of user slow response issues. ### 12. DPA **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Michael G. | Network Manager, Information Technology and Services, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 22, 2017 **What do you like best about SolarWinds Database Observability?** I can monitor the performance of all my databases **What do you dislike about SolarWinds Database Observability?** I really don't have a dislike for this product **What problems is SolarWinds Database Observability solving and how is that benefiting you?** Slow database responsiveness. Found what was causing it. ### 13. Excellent analytical tool for system performance **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ken O. | Security Engineer, Information Technology and Services, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 21, 2017 **What do you like best about SolarWinds Database Observability?** The graphs and different options to customize. **What do you dislike about SolarWinds Database Observability?** There is nothing I can think of hand that I dislike. **What problems is SolarWinds Database Observability solving and how is that benefiting you?** Able to find bottlenecks in DBs ### 14. I have worked with DBA and they love the DPA **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Real Estate | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 28, 2017 **What do you like best about SolarWinds Database Observability?** Showing the colorful graph and root caus **What do you dislike about SolarWinds Database Observability?** I didn't work with it but the DBA did not complain but liking it **Recommendations to others considering SolarWinds Database Observability:** I tried recommending it but the DBA already was using it in smaller lincences **What problems is SolarWinds Database Observability solving and how is that benefiting you?** Normally, they blame everything on DB and by using DPA, will find the rood cause ### 15. Tested in a POC environment **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Hospital & Health Care | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 21, 2017 **What do you like best about SolarWinds Database Observability?** Adding DB to the stack to find performance issues. **What do you dislike about SolarWinds Database Observability?** Systems team did not find the interface user friendly. They had no experience with SolarWinds. **Recommendations to others considering SolarWinds Database Observability:** Good product that requires more diligent training of staff. **What problems is SolarWinds Database Observability solving and how is that benefiting you?** We were able to diagnose and issue with our SolarWinds NPM database and reconfigured the hardware setup. ### 16. User friendly and simple **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Retail | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 21, 2017 **What do you like best about SolarWinds Database Observability?** easy information presentation. Very user friendly UI. Doesn't lag. Liked the drag and drop feature. Easy to go through the charts. **What do you dislike about SolarWinds Database Observability?** the best tool used so far. This was my first time using a DPA so hard to say if it was missing something. **What problems is SolarWinds Database Observability solving and how is that benefiting you?** To monitor metrics of entire environment. ### 17. Hard to correlate single user impact **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Insurance | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 29, 2017 **What do you like best about SolarWinds Database Observability?** Resource correlation with database queries. time slice **What do you dislike about SolarWinds Database Observability?** VM license portion of DPA is ridiculous . We own VMAN and we need to license connectors to that same data twice so DPA can analyze its own version of the same data? **What problems is SolarWinds Database Observability solving and how is that benefiting you?** ETL query efficency ### 18. DPA Usefull **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Government Administration | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 21, 2017 **What do you like best about SolarWinds Database Observability?** Allows monitoring in real time of DB performance, and flags potential problems. **What do you dislike about SolarWinds Database Observability?** Interface is a little klugy, but otherwise works well. **Recommendations to others considering SolarWinds Database Observability:** Take a look. It's well worth the price and has helped us solve problems quickly. **What problems is SolarWinds Database Observability solving and how is that benefiting you?** Monitor and Optimize Database performance. ### 19. Great Insight into your databases **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Oil & Energy | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 21, 2017 **What do you like best about SolarWinds Database Observability?** Charts and diagrams are always the best way to demonstrate to people who don't understand the details what's going on. **What do you dislike about SolarWinds Database Observability?** It's not 100% integrated into Orion yet. **What problems is SolarWinds Database Observability solving and how is that benefiting you?** Proof that SQL Express is not usable for production systems ### 20. Connections were a little hard **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 29, 2017 **What do you like best about SolarWinds Database Observability?** I liked the ease of setup for connecting it with my NPM **What do you dislike about SolarWinds Database Observability?** I had to open a few more ports than I would have liked **What problems is SolarWinds Database Observability solving and how is that benefiting you?** Watching my SQL performance ### 21. DPA review **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Networking | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 21, 2017 **What do you like best about SolarWinds Database Observability?** User interface working method and knowledge base **What do you dislike about SolarWinds Database Observability?** Didn't understand perstack and DPA relationship **Recommendations to others considering SolarWinds Database Observability:** Go for this database analysis it will be very helpful **What problems is SolarWinds Database Observability solving and how is that benefiting you?** I am not using but studied about the status ### 22. An extremely helpful tool **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Food Production | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 23, 2017 **What do you like best about SolarWinds Database Observability?** I like the one stop analysis, this allows us to more efficiently manage our databases **What do you dislike about SolarWinds Database Observability?** I don't have any complaints at this time **What problems is SolarWinds Database Observability solving and how is that benefiting you?** ensuring efficient use and access to databases ### 23. Senior systems Analyst **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Hospital & Health Care | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 22, 2017 **What do you like best about SolarWinds Database Observability?** ease of use, easy integration, simple maneuvering through windows. **What do you dislike about SolarWinds Database Observability?** some of the menus are not as intuitive as necessary, unintegrating the trial product was problematic **Recommendations to others considering SolarWinds Database Observability:** trial/evaluate before purchasing **What problems is SolarWinds Database Observability solving and how is that benefiting you?** application issues ### 24. Database Performance Analyzer **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Food Production | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 21, 2017 **What do you like best about SolarWinds Database Observability?** Ease of use and functionality with users **What do you dislike about SolarWinds Database Observability?** Nothing so far, its been a great product **What problems is SolarWinds Database Observability solving and how is that benefiting you?** Cut down on unneeded network traffic ### 25. best tool for easily diagnosing oracle database performance issues **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Bert S. | Chief technology Officer, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 16, 2015 **What do you like best about SolarWinds Database Observability?** the tool is simple to use and offers a viable freeware whose only basic limitation is a four window for history - this allows for one to test drive the software and see exactly what it can do. it also is agentless so nothing to install on database servers that might impact performance. zero learning curve - the tool works the way DBA's think about finding the needle in the performance haystack **What do you dislike about SolarWinds Database Observability?** at first the price seems a bit high, but after using the freeware to see the value it becomes a little easier to justify - but still wish they offered a portable consultant type license for reasonable cost **Recommendations to others considering SolarWinds Database Observability:** start by trying the freeware. you will get addicted and then having complete history will not only make sense - but be easy to justify the expense **What problems is SolarWinds Database Observability solving and how is that benefiting you?** database performance issues once database changes, application or code placed into production ## SolarWinds Database Observability Discussions - [How does SolarWinds Database Observability perform in terms of analytics depth and total cost of ownership?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/how-does-solarwinds-database-observability-perform-in-terms-of-analytics-depth-and-total-cost-of-ownership) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [Does DPA allow exporting of all captured information?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/dpa-exporting) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [Is it recommended to have a DPA server located at each site you are monitoring?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/dpa-location) - 2 comments, 1 upvote - [What databases and platforms can you monitor?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/dpa-monitoring) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [How do I access DPA? Do I have to install anything on my PC to view the interface?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/dpa-access) - 2 comments, 1 upvote - [View SolarWinds Database Observability pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/database-observability/reviews?page=5§ion=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-05-21+21%3A05%3A27+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=bd99c840-e8ac-4373-ade3-b708bfaa5403&secure%5Btoken%5D=a82ded4f21db25c6e4b4166c858a16fdc01bdc7acf4394c34852b0b78658ca60&format=llm_user) ## SolarWinds Database Observability Integrations - [Ansible Control Node on Debian 10](https://www.g2.com/products/ansible-control-node-on-debian-10/reviews) - [Azure Active Directory Domain Services](https://www.g2.com/products/azure-active-directory-domain-services/reviews) - [Cisco Meraki](https://www.g2.com/products/cisco-meraki/reviews) - [Google Cloud SQL](https://www.g2.com/products/google-cloud-sql/reviews) - [ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus MSP](https://www.g2.com/products/manageengine-servicedesk-plus-msp/reviews) - [MongoDB](https://www.g2.com/products/mongodb/reviews) - [Windows Server](https://www.g2.com/products/terracloudx-windows-server/reviews) ## SolarWinds Database Observability Features **Functionality** - Monitoring - Alerting - Logging - Response Time - Reporting - Data Visualization **Management** - Performance Analysis **Functionality** - Platform support **Agentic AI - Database Monitoring** - Cross-system Integration **Administration** - Error Alerts - Service Automation **Agentic AI - Data Warehouse Automation** - Proactive Assistance ## Top SolarWinds Database Observability Alternatives - [Dynatrace](https://www.g2.com/products/dynatrace/reviews) - 4.5/5.0 (1,231 reviews) - [Datadog](https://www.g2.com/products/datadog/reviews) - 4.4/5.0 (693 reviews) - [SAP HANA Cloud](https://www.g2.com/products/sap-hana-cloud-2025-10-01/reviews) - 4.3/5.0 (521 reviews)