We compared Amazon CloudWatch and SolarWinds NPM based on our users' reviews in five categories. We reviewed all of the data and you can find the conclusion below.
Features: Amazon CloudWatch users liked the solution’s simplicity, intuitive interface, and ability to handle large workloads. Users also praised CloudWatch’s comprehensive monitoring and alerts. SolarWinds NPM is commended for its adaptability and extensive network surveillance functionalities.
Room for improvement: Some reviews mentioned that Amazon CloudWatch could improve performance and dashboard visualization. Others noted that the solution lacked compatibility with some databases. SolarWinds NPM needs improvement in edge computing capabilities and data reporting. Users also said the performance could be better and that they would like to see expanded IPAM functionality.
Service and Support: Customers generally have positive opinions about Amazon's customer service. They commended the support team for its availability and timely issue resolution. While some customers described SolarWinds support as helpful and responsive, others reported delayed responses.
Ease of Deployment: Amazon CloudWatch is generally described as easy to set up. Some users said SolarWinds NPM was straightforward to set up, while others perceived it as complex.
Pricing: Amazon CloudWatch offers a flexible pricing structure based on usage and processing without any separate licensing cost. Some users said that scaling up can be costly due to the need for additional storage space. The cost of SolarWinds NPM varies depending on the customer’s size and requirements. Some users find it costly.
ROI: Amazon CloudWatch offers a return on investment by minimizing the need for manual monitoring. Some users reported immediate benefits from using SolarWinds NPM in terms of security and business outcomes, while others have not.
Comparison Results: Reviewers say that Amazon CloudWatch is a simple, intuitive solution that can handle large workloads, but some mentioned dashboard visualization and customizability as areas for improvement. SolarWinds NPM is a customizable solution that’s easy to deploy and features comprehensive network monitoring capabilities. However, some users consider it costly and voiced concerns about technical support and user experience.
"Monitoring time and ensuring ease in it is the most valuable feature."
"Every time we get an alarm or have an incident, CloudWatch is always there. We use it not only for resources we've spun up in the cloud, but also for some of our on-premises resources."
"I can put it in a simple term, its simplicity is always there."
"Setting up this product was easy. I found data analytics as its most valuable feature."
"The solution offers very detailed metrics for their services."
"CloudWatch immediately hooks up and connects to the KPIs and all the metrics."
"The tool's UI is good. One can scroll through the logs very easily."
"The most valuable feature of Amazon CloudWatch is the monitoring and UI."
"I like SolarWinds support because it's 24/7. You describe your issues, your situation and maybe two or three hours later you can discuss a solution with a technical engineer."
"It's a very good tool and a very stable tool."
"The ability to customize the views and dashboards is nice. SolarWinds also allows us to access the data via the API. That's probably the feature I liked the most."
"It is very extensible with 'SWQL' and APIs to where we are beginning to integrate it with network automation."
"The most valuable features are language support and technical support."
"It is considerably cheaper compared to other tools."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is the alerts."
"SolarWinds dashboard is very fast. Also, their interface is very good, it looks very user-friendly. The product allows me to see a summary of the network being monitored at a glance."
"Right now, in relation to monitoring services, there are too many services and too many metrics per service."
"I think something that can be improved are the alerts and alerting mechanism based on no rejects. We want to have it more flexible and that is one of the key things that is required."
"The graphical interface has room for improvement. CloudWatch only gives you a breakdown of what's wrong. However, it would be nice if it could automatically remedy the problems it identifies. You should be able to configure it so that when a specific condition arises, it will take a predefined action."
"The technical support must be improved."
"CloudWatch's scalability could be improved."
"There is room for improvement in terms of stability."
"It's not an advanced way of monitoring."
"We'd like the interface to be as easy as Datadog."
"It has covered everything, so no improvement is required at their end. The only thing is the price."
"The solution needs to integrate with additional SDN technologies that are part of the hyper market."
"The scalability can be better."
"They need to work on their automation and automatically discover devices. They are not very good at automatically discovering devices."
"There should be a little bit more integration in some of the other tooling and utilizing the APIs of devices or tools could be a little bit better."
"The dashboard of the solution is an area with certain shortcomings that need improvement."
"Better offline license management. I’ve had to get in touch with customer support several times simply to remove an expired license from our NPM servers."
"The integration with the APIs and the web servers deployed can definitely be improved."
Amazon CloudWatch is ranked 9th in Cloud Monitoring Software with 40 reviews while SolarWinds NPM is ranked 6th in Cloud Monitoring Software with 147 reviews. Amazon CloudWatch is rated 8.0, while SolarWinds NPM is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Amazon CloudWatch writes "Instantaneous response when monitoring logs and KPIs". On the other hand, the top reviewer of SolarWinds NPM writes "High-level, comprehensive, and proactive monitoring in a user-friendly interface". Amazon CloudWatch is most compared with Zabbix, Datadog, Google Cloud's operations suite (formerly Stackdriver), Dynatrace and Instana Infrastructure Monitoring, whereas SolarWinds NPM is most compared with Zabbix, PRTG Network Monitor, ManageEngine OpManager, ThousandEyes and Entuity. See our Amazon CloudWatch vs. SolarWinds NPM report.
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We monitor all Cloud Monitoring Software reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.