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Akamai mPulse vs SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor comparison

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Akamai mPulse

Read 6 Akamai mPulse reviews
1,070 views|861 comparisons
66% willing to recommend
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SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor

Read 38 SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor reviews
5,175 views|3,398 comparisons
87% willing to recommend
Comparison Buyer's Guide
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Buyer's Guide
Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability
April 2024
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Akamai mPulse and SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Datadog, Dynatrace, New Relic and others in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability.
To learn more, read our detailed Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability Report (Updated: April 2024).
Download the complete report
767,847 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Arivu Arumugam
Lacking in regard to observation of the entire platform but does dynamic injections from within
The solution didn't help us much and that's the reason we never used mPulse on a full scale and why we chose to go with Dynatrace.
UmeshJoshi
Performs well and provides dynamic thresholds but complex to set up and missing code-level monitoring of applications
SolarWinds SAM has provided us with dynamic thresholds based on historical trends and requirements. The threshold gets configured automatically, so... Read more →
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"Enables dynamic injections from within the product which is great.""The most valuable feature is the solutions overall performance. It is very efficient and accurate for our usage."

More Akamai mPulse Pros →

"Extremely user friendly: Any IT professional can learn how to admin NPM in a short time.""The solution can be deployed quickly.""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.""AppInsight for SQL: Enables us to see the relevant error log entries on the same page as performance parameters.""SolarWinds SAM has provided us with dynamic thresholds based on historical trends and requirements. The threshold gets configured automatically, so it's no longer necessary to configure it manually every time.""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 more valuable feature of this solution is the Exchange feature.""AppInsight. Provides a simple way to get very in-depth monitoring configured for our most popular applications. Exchange, SQL, and SharePoint."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor Pros →

Cons
"The end-to-end distributor tracing connectivity isn't there.""In the next release, I would like to see the possibility of sharing the metric from this solution with other solutions."

More Akamai mPulse Cons →

"The templates could use improvement. Currently, they are quite complex. They should have drag-and-drop functionality instead. It would make it easier to use.""This product has no real downside unless they fail to continue development of its capabilities.""SAM's software-defined network monitoring capability is also low and could be improved.""I would like to see support for non-Windows or non-Microsoft domains, especially Apache and other non-Windows servers.""There is one feature that is a report writer. And they are currently trying to take it out from being a stand-alone application and integrating to the web. This doesn't give us the flexibility and it doesn't expand what we can get when it comes to reporting. So, putting it on the web is going to make it difficult to get some information. Leaving it where it is now will help us a lot.""SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor could improve by having a cloud version. They have an observability platform but it still needs to be maintained by us.""I think they need to make reporting easier and more simple & dynamic.""The product does not explain why a problem occurred."

More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor Cons →

Pricing and Cost Advice
Information Not Available
  • "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."
  • "When planning for the number of licenses to purchase, make sure you understand all of the elements within an application required to really understand performance well. In our case, we quickly came to the conclusion that an unlimited license for SAM was the way to go."
  • "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 would advise potential buyers to wait until the end of the quarter, end of year, or other time to place orders. There are actually great deals to be had at those times if your budget cycle can match up."
  • "Pricing and licensing is fair for what you get. It does have a great bang-for-the-buck appeal."
  • "SAM is not per server so the pricing model can be deceiving. If you have an enterprise environment, you will quickly exceed your licensing quickly. You should know this before going in."
  • "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 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."

    • More SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    What do you like most about Akamai mPulse?
    Top Answer:Enables dynamic injections from within the product which is great.
    Read all 2 answers   →
    What needs improvement with Akamai mPulse?
    Top Answer:The end-to-end distributor tracing needs some work because the connectivity from the user to the backend wasn't there. Akamai mPulse was not able to deliver on our requirements regarding observation… more »
    Read all 2 answers   →
    What is your primary use case for Akamai mPulse?
    Top Answer:The primary use case of mPulse is for real-time user monitoring. Our use case was to observe the entire platform from the user all the way to the backend system and that's what it did. It's all in the… more »
    Read all 2 answers   →
    What do you like most about SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor?
    Top Answer: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… more »
    Read all 24 answers   →
    What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SolarWinds Server...
    Top Answer:Among the major monitoring solutions, especially considering that free monitoring tools are available, it is relatively affordable. When compared to other licensed models in the market, it stands out… more »
    Read all 19 answers   →
    What needs improvement with SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor?
    Top Answer:The current script monitoring feature has limitations, especially when dealing with custom scripts.
    Read all 23 answers   →
    Ranking
    51st
    out of 111 in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability
    Views
    1,070
    Comparisons
    861
    Reviews
    1
    Average Words per Review
    457
    Rating
    5.0
    21st
    out of 111 in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability
    Views
    5,175
    Comparisons
    3,398
    Reviews
    9
    Average Words per Review
    427
    Rating
    7.4
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    SOASTA mPulse
    SolarWinds SAM
    Learn More
    Akamai
    SolarWinds
    Overview

    Akamai mPulse is a real user monitoring (RUM) solution that gives performance engineers, administrators, and developers the ability to effortlessly visualize website functionality issues and identify ways to improve processes that conventional testing protocols do not find. mPulse gives users usable scenarios to better understand how processes such as user interactions, visual progress, and third-party resources may be disrupting the overall user experience and application delivery.

    mPulse enables users to take a deep dive into the specific performance issues and complete comprehensive error analyses, to thoroughly understand the effect on critical user interactions such as conversions, page views, and more.

    mPulse gathers and delivers data on an organization's website’s performance and metrics on user web browsing experiences. The mPulse feature “Boomerang” is a JavaScript Library that monitors the website page load time. Boomerang has a unique plugin architecture and works with all websites. The Boomerang feature is embedded on each page of an organization's website.

    mPulse works seamlessly with Akamai solution Ion, so the RUM data can be instantly gathered once the Luna Control Center has been activated. Ion instantly attaches Boomerang to the organization’s web properties; there is no need to change the website code.

    Akamai mPulse Benefits

    • Third-party monitoring: mPulse enables users to effortlessly monitor and visualize the effect that third-party vendors, resources, and scripts may have on the organization’s web properties.

    • Real-time intuitions: RUM data is continually being gathered, so users are able to instantly experience changes in user performance during every critical event. Users are able to respond immediately and make corrections or amendments as needed. Additionally, mPulse integrates effectively with other third-party notification solutions, such as Slack, PagerDuty, and webhook API support.

    • Framework integrations: mPulse integrates with many of today’s popular single-page application (SPA) frameworks, such as React.js, Backbone.js, Angular.js, Ember.js, and even some custom frameworks. mPulse has the ability to also be seamlessly integrated in Non-SPA websites.

    • Intuitive feedback: mPulse gathers data and creates workable solutions so users have a better understanding of how objects, images, or even entire pages are affecting user behavior. Users can gather numerous metrics (custom or advanced) to achieve a better, more complete understanding of ways to improve the user experience with the application or website.

    • Custom metrics and timers: With mPulse, users can effortlessly create custom timers to discover important performance sessions unique to the application. The mPulse dashboard allows users to set up trackers for numerous metrics, such as:

      • First image load time
      • Sidebar load time
      • Page load times
      • Third-party resource content load time

    • mPulse Beacon API: This valuable benefit allows users to send custom metrics from mobile and web applications to mPulse. This gives mPulse greater flexibility and usability to frameworks and platforms that can make HTTP calls. Representational State Transfer (REST) interface is included and is able to be used by any web application using any language running on the platform. There is also a Beacon API library for JavaScript. This option is available from the dashboard by creating a new application and an API key.

    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.

    Sample Customers
    Nordstrom, Gatwick, DirecTV, MSN, SquareSpace, SAP, Lenovo, Hallmark, myspace, Intuit, Kentucky Derby, Toys "R" Us, Netflix, Newsweek, The Washington Post, Lowe's, Nike, REI, Apple, Sears, Verizon, Wendy's, Huawei
    Andr. L. Riis AS, NetSuite
    Top Industries
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm25%
    Computer Software Company12%
    Retailer10%
    Government7%
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm20%
    Construction Company13%
    Recruiting/Hr Firm7%
    Energy/Utilities Company7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization41%
    Computer Software Company10%
    Government8%
    Financial Services Firm6%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business14%
    Large Enterprise86%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business15%
    Midsize Enterprise11%
    Large Enterprise74%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business36%
    Midsize Enterprise15%
    Large Enterprise49%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business11%
    Midsize Enterprise48%
    Large Enterprise41%
    Buyer's Guide
    Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability
    April 2024
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    767,847 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Akamai mPulse is ranked 51st in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability with 6 reviews while SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is ranked 21st in Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability with 38 reviews. Akamai mPulse is rated 6.6, while SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is rated 8.0. The top reviewer of Akamai mPulse writes "Lacking in regard to observation of the entire platform but does dynamic injections from within". On the other hand, the top reviewer of SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor writes "We use this product for base and application monitoring. ". Akamai mPulse is most compared with New Relic, Dynatrace, Grafana, Datadog and AppDynamics, whereas SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor is most compared with Azure Monitor, Dynatrace, AppDynamics, Prometheus and ServiceNow Discovery.

    See our list of best Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability vendors.

    We monitor all Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability 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.