Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

SolarWinds NPM VS Observium

Compare SolarWinds NPM VS Observium and see what are their differences

SolarWinds NPM logo SolarWinds NPM

Advanced network monitoring for on-premises, hybrid, and cloud. Download a FREE 30-day trial of SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor (NPM) today!

Observium logo Observium

Observium
  • SolarWinds NPM Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-22
  • Observium Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-16

SolarWinds NPM features and specs

  • Comprehensive Monitoring
    SolarWinds NPM provides detailed insights into network performance by tracking metrics like bandwidth usage, latency, and packet loss. It supports a wide range of devices and vendors, making it versatile for varied network environments.
  • Customizable Dashboards and Alerts
    The platform offers highly customizable dashboards and alerting mechanisms, allowing users to tailor notifications and visualizations according to their specific needs.
  • Scalability
    SolarWinds NPM can scale to support large and complex network environments, making it suitable for both small businesses and large enterprises.
  • User-Friendly Interface
    The software has an intuitive, web-based interface that makes it easy for users to navigate and utilize its features without requiring extensive training.
  • Robust Reporting
    SolarWinds NPM includes advanced reporting capabilities that help administrators analyze network trends, generate compliance reports, and present data to stakeholders.

Possible disadvantages of SolarWinds NPM

  • Cost
    The initial cost and ongoing maintenance fees for SolarWinds NPM can be significant, particularly for small businesses or non-profits with limited budgets.
  • Resource Intensive
    The software can be resource-intensive, requiring robust server infrastructure to operate efficiently, which may necessitate additional investments in hardware.
  • Complex Configuration
    Setting up and configuring SolarWinds NPM to fit specific network environments can be complex and time-consuming, often necessitating a steep learning curve or professional assistance.
  • High Volume of Alerts
    While customizable, the alert system can generate a high volume of notifications, which could lead to alert fatigue if not properly configured.
  • Limited Integration with Some Tools
    Although SolarWinds NPM integrates well with many systems, there are some third-party tools and platforms with which integration is less straightforward.

Observium features and specs

  • User-Friendly Interface
    Observium offers a clean and intuitive web-based interface, making it easy for users to navigate and monitor their network infrastructure without extensive training.
  • Detailed Network Monitoring
    Observium provides comprehensive monitoring capabilities, including support for a wide range of devices and detailed insights into bandwidth usage, CPU/memory consumption, and other critical metrics.
  • Automatic Discovery
    The platform automatically discovers network devices and adds them to the monitoring dashboard, reducing the manual effort required for setup and maintenance.
  • Wide Compatibility
    Observium is compatible with a large number of network hardware and software vendors, ensuring that users can monitor a diverse set of devices without compatibility issues.
  • Flexible Alerting
    The alerting system in Observium allows users to set up custom alerts based on a variety of conditions, ensuring timely notifications for potential issues.
  • Open Source Option
    Observium offers a free Community Edition with essential features, making it accessible for small businesses and individuals with limited budgets.

Possible disadvantages of Observium

  • Limited Free Version
    While the Community Edition is free, it lacks some advanced features and support available in the paid Professional Edition, potentially limiting its usefulness for larger organizations.
  • Resource Intensive
    Observium can be resource-intensive, requiring significant CPU and memory, especially in large network environments, which can affect performance and scalability.
  • Complex Configuration
    Initial setup and configuration can be complex and may require a certain level of expertise in network management, potentially posing a barrier for less experienced users.
  • Limited Customization
    The customization options for dashboards and reports are somewhat limited in comparison to other network monitoring tools, which may not meet specific user requirements.
  • Support Limitations
    Community support is limited for the free version, and official support services are only available for the paid Professional Edition, which may pose challenges for troubleshooting issues.
  • No Integrated Ticketing
    Observium lacks an integrated ticketing system for issue management, necessitating the use of external tools for end-to-end incident handling and resolution.

SolarWinds NPM videos

SolarWinds NPM: Your Complete Network Monitoring Solution

More videos:

  • Review - Overview of Quality of Experience Dashboard in SolarWinds NPM

Observium videos

Observium Video Demo

More videos:

  • Review - Observium Network Monitoring [Automated Installation] 15 min or less
  • Tutorial - How To Install Observium On Ubuntu With Nginx

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to SolarWinds NPM and Observium)
Monitoring Tools
71 71%
29% 29
Log Management
76 76%
24% 24
Performance Monitoring
71 71%
29% 29
Network & Admin
64 64%
36% 36

User comments

Share your experience with using SolarWinds NPM and Observium. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare SolarWinds NPM and Observium

SolarWinds NPM Reviews

The Best Cacti Monitoring Alternatives
The SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor is a paid tool, the best of the best. It’s a network monitoring solution to help you find, diagnose, and resolve network performance issues. The tool is mainly focused on maintaining the health of the devices within your network.
13 Best Nagios Alternatives for Networks, Servers, IT Systems Monitoring
Unlike Solarwinds NPM described above which is focused only on networking, checkmk can monitor a wide range of devices such as servers, network devices, applications etc.
Best Open Source Network Monitoring Tools and Software (Linux/Windows)
Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor is another Great monitoring tool that has a large community behind it and has updates almost every year.
15 Best IT Monitoring Tools and Software
SolarWinds NPM is SolarWinds’s network troubleshooter. NPM is easy to use, can be used across physical, cloud-based, or mixed businesses.
Source: blog.inedo.com

Observium Reviews

The Best Open Source Network Monitoring Tools in 2023
Description: Observium Community is the free version of Observium’s network monitoring solution. With the free version, users can monitor an unlimited number of devices while also taking full advantage of Observium’s network mapping features. The Observium network monitoring platform features automatic discovery of connected devices, ensuring that the map of your network is...
Top 10 PRTG Alternatives for Monitoring Networks and IT Infrastructure
Observium is similar to LibreNMS (which is a fork of it) and comes in Enterprise, Professional and Community Editions, so you have a free version if you want to try it out. It is more a network centric tool instead of a systems monitoring tool.
10 Best Zabbix Alternatives
Unlike other monitoring tools, Observium is easy to install and set up. If you are looking for a viable alternative to Zabbix, Observium is also a good option to consider. Unlike Zabbix, Observium is much easier to set up and customize even though it shares similar requirements. However, Observium does not run on Windows and has no data export.
13 Best Nagios Alternatives for Networks, Servers, IT Systems Monitoring
Many businesses prefer Observium because its features have been automated for the most part. Users can install the software and admins gain immediate visibility in the environment.
Best Linux Network Monitoring Tools for 2020
Observium Community is a Linux network monitoring tool designed for small servers. It provides a compendium of online experts who send its users biannual patches and updates to system software. It’s compatible with a wide variety of operating systems and uses standard SNMP network monitoring. Observium Community operates with an impressive variety of monitoring features, but...

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Observium seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 2 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

SolarWinds NPM mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of SolarWinds NPM yet. Tracking of SolarWinds NPM recommendations started around Mar 2021.

Observium mentions (2)

  • Documenting Existing Linux Servers
    Environment-wide stats such as disk utilization and load averages can be done using Observium with very minimal effort required to get started (no additional agent required as it monitors using SNMP, and it automatically detects what to monitor on a system / UPS / PDU / etc). Source: over 3 years ago
  • Nagios Monitoring
    If you're looking for a tool that can graph resource utilization for a large number of device types out of the box using SNMP, you might take a look at Observium. Source: over 3 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing SolarWinds NPM and Observium, you can also consider the following products

Zabbix - Track, record, alert and visualize performance and availability of IT resources

Datadog - See metrics from all of your apps, tools & services in one place with Datadog's cloud monitoring as a service solution. Try it for free.

LibreNMS - A fully featured network monitoring system that provides a wealth of features and device support.

Dynatrace - Cloud-based quality testing, performance monitoring and analytics for mobile apps and websites. Get started with Keynote today!

Nagios - Complete monitoring and alerting for servers, switches, applications, and services

Wireshark - Wireshark is a network protocol analyzer for Unix and Windows. It lets you capture and interactively browse the traffic running on a computer network.