SolarWinds Observability Reviews & Product Details

What I like most about the SolarWinds database is how clearly it shows what is happening inside the database without making things confusing. Even if you are not a database expert, you can still understand where the problem is coming from. The dashboard feels clean and practical, not overloaded with unnecessary information. It saves a lot of time because you don't have to dig through logs or run multiple queries just to understand performance issues. Slow queries, high CPU usage, or memory problems are highlighted in a very straightforward way. This makes daily monitoring less stressful. Another good thing is how it works well with different databases. Whether it is SQL Server, MySQL, or another database, everything can be monitored from one place. This is very helpful when you manage multiple systems. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

One thing I don't like much is that the setup can feel heavy at the beginning. It takes some time to configure everything properly, especially if the environment is large. For new users the first few days can feel overwhelming. The pricing can also be a concern. For small teams or companies, it may feel expensive compared to simpler tools. Not everyone needs all the advanced features, but they still come as part of the package. Sometimes the alerts can feel too frequent if they are not tuned well. Without proper configuration, you might review notifications that are always urgent, which can become distracting. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

This platform offers comprehensive observability across public cloud, on-premises, network, and hybrid environments. It makes it easy to monitor metrics like CPU, memory, and network latency, and the dashboards are simple to customize. Integration with automation and ticketing tools is supported. The addition of AIOps features such as correlation and forecasting provides extra value. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The initial deployment and configuration can be challenging, as it demands a high level of technical expertise. At present, it only supports ServiceNow ITSM out of the box, so integrating with other ITSM platforms requires custom work. Additionally, the pricing might be a concern for customers with smaller budgets. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

We are able to monitor the network in much greater depth compared to other monitoring tools. It's really easy to add a device or a service to monitoring. And we can use it not only on-prem servers, but also a cloud-hosted version for use. It's really easy to install the software, since all the steps are integrated into one setup. We can use 24/7 customer support not only from SolarWinds, but also from other premium partners like Loop1. We can integrate SolarWinds with any ITSM platform for better visibility. I am using this daily with a few client environments. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

There are too many options, and I need to know all the details to achieve the maximum outcome from the tool. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I like SolarWinds Observability because it provides me with clear, real-time visibility into my customers' environments, making it easy to identify issues quickly. It simplifies monitoring, reduces troubleshooting time, and helps me support clients more efficiently. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Sometimes SolarWinds Observability can feel limited in customization, and certain features still need more maturity. A few areas may be slow or require additional steps, which can prolong troubleshooting time. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Easy to install.

Fast time to ROI. Have used several other tools in the past that proved to be much more labor intensive to get ROI (Tivoli Netview, HP Openview Suite, Cisco Works)

Like that they are embracing API monitoring for cloud based monitoring (Like Meraki, Juniper/Mist, etc)

I LOVE the integration with ServiceNow for auto ticket creation, assignment and closure. This is a lifesaver for our org and I have a least a dozen alerts setup for this integration.

SAM makes monitoring pretty flexible - monitoring services, listening ports, hardware health, etc. Made OpenManage essentially obsolete for us.

NCM is great tool for network config backups and comparison / change control. Have been using since was stand alone product and while I miss some of the features from then it is still very good (vulnerability management is very nice feature)

Not a big fan of the Device Tracker. We have been using Netdisco for years and I really like it so have never converted. It may be OK but similar to Cacti (which we also run in parallel) it simply does some things better (single pane view of multiple charts all aggregated - possible with performance analysis but more time consuming to create and not as easy to place on NOC dashboard)

I think the Sunburst security event has really placed a much greater focus on security for Solarwinds. They were pretty relaxed before and have done a 180 on this now.

Online training / videos are pretty good. Documentation is also above average.

We use Netflow and having consolidated it away from Lancope has been a nice single pane / vendor advantage. Not best of breed but good enough to not manage 2 products.

IPAM tool is good but not perfect. Massive improvement over any manual excel or similar. Neighbor discovery, auto scanning, history, integration with DHCP and DNS. All very nice. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Reliability is becoming increasing criticism for me.

For example, I monitor several hundred VMware guests through 2 different vCenter servers. I have alert integrations with ServiceNow to auto open and close tickets and this is especially useful for a widely distributed set of hardware monitoring. Catching failed power supplies, drives, fans, batteries using only SAM (vs Dell OpenManage) and being able to auto open, assign and close tickets is brilliant.... When it works right. Too often in last year (really starting around 2024 release) I see faults in vCenter which Solarwinds tells me should be polled once every 12 hours (not customizable BTW) which are multiple days old (weekend) and have not triggered. Doing nothing more than opening the alert that should have triggered this, walking through each of the tabs or even jumping to the final tab and hitting save will instantly trigger the alert! Support has been unhelpful in diagnosing this so I am forced to monitor the monitor more than I should.

I still have gripes about moving subnets in IPAM - it is clunky and slow though a little better in 2025.x

Lastly, Solarwinds is near the top of most annoying sales upsells and renewals for me. There must be enormous pressure on their sales team because the turnover to our account is very high and they are constantly trying to upsell. I basically ignore now for everything except renewals. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

SolarWinds Hybrid Cloud Observability (HCO) is like a stop for IT engineers for keeping an eye on everything on environment (like server, backup, storage, network, AP, Sensors, UPS etc) setup—either platform is running on-prem, in the cloud, or somewhere in between. Solarwinds pulls together monitoring for networks, infrastructure, apps, and cloud services into one easy-to-use and manage dashboards. We are currently managing 35K + devices and components under a single monitoring roof. It's becomes way simpler because of flexible licensing and smart alerts, it saves time and cuts down on admin work. If someone doesn't have hand-on experience on scripts and languages then he can easily use the manually features (like alert creation, report, any modification). HCO completely transformation and gives better visibility, on license, issues and keep things running smoothly. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

*here is a limitation from the tool that Dell does not expose much volume information over WMI hence we are unable to monitor the disk operations on the dell servers. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

It is a comprehensive solution that covers a wide variety of monitoring requirements. From network devices, to traffic, to servers. Other aspects like storage, web performance, etc.

Secondly, the simplicity of using the product from a user perspective. It does not require you to edit any config files, or keep a track of files to set up and modify your monitoring needs Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Technical support or other resources available do not provide enough information or support for integrations using the SWQL studio. There should be resources available to learn, implement and troubleshoot integration issues. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I like that SolarWinds Observability provides a single unified dashboard where I can monitor infrastructure, applications, logs, and network performance in one place. The correlation between metrics, logs, and traces makes troubleshooting much faster. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Some features feel a bit complex to configure at first, and there can be a learning curve for new users. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I like the unified visibility across infrastructure, applications, and networks from a single dashboard, which simplifies monitoring and speeds up troubleshooting. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The learning curve can be a bit steep initially, especially when configuring advanced features and fine-tuning alerts Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The platform has an intuitive and easy-to-navigate interface, nice in depth dashboards for the device views, which makes it accessible to both novice and experienced users. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

While the interface is user-friendly, fully leveraging the advanced features can require a significant learning curve and training. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.