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Microsoft Excel vs. SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Microsoft Excel

    Score9 out of 10
    N/AMicrosoft Excel is a spreadsheet application available as part of Microsoft 365 (Office 365), or standalone, in cloud-based and on-premise editions.

    $6.99

    per month

    SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer

    Score5.6 out of 10
    N/ASolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer (DPA) enables deep visibility into database performance and expert advice for performance optimization and tuning. What can you monitor with DPA? Oracle Oracle Exadata Oracle EBS Microsoft SQL Server Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Database Managed Instance MySQL DB2 SAP ASE Aurora MariaDB DPA monitors physical, virtual,…N/A
    Pricing
    Microsoft ExcelSolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer
    Editions & Modules
    Excel with Microsoft 365
    $6.99
    per month
    Excel for 1 PC or Mac
    $139.99
    perpetual license
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Microsoft ExcelSolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer
    Free Trial
    YesYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    YesNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Microsoft ExcelSolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer
    Considered Both Products
    Microsoft
    No answer on this topic
    SolarWinds
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    99%
    Would buy again
    78 Answers
    100%
    Would buy again
    13 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    70 Answers
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    13 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    96%
    Happy with the feature set
    76 Answers
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    13 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    96%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    46 Answers
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    12 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    54 Answers
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    12 Answers
    Best Alternatives
    Microsoft ExcelSolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer
    Small Businesses
    Stackby
    Score8.8 out of 10
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    Medium-sized Companies
    Google Sheets
    Score8.9 out of 10
    Redgate Monitor
    Score8 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Google Sheets
    Score8.9 out of 10
    Foglight
    Score10 out of 10
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    User Ratings
    Microsoft ExcelSolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.0
    (78 ratings)
    9.1
    (114 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.9
    (7 ratings)
    8.6
    (4 ratings)
    Usability
    8.5
    (23 ratings)
    8.2
    (7 ratings)
    Availability
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Performance
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    9.3
    (6 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    7.3
    (2 ratings)
    Configurability
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Microsoft ExcelSolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Microsoft
    I don't really know another program as powerful as Excel. I've used Google Doc programs but do not feel they come close. So far, anytime I've needed a table of some sort for data, whether it's budget oriented or information off a survey, the best system has been Excel. We do web audits on occasion and we create an Excel worksheet featuring every URL of the pages we're auditing, notes, data about the content, information about files attached to the page and other information to help us determine what pages need updating, deleting or otherwise. We also use Excel primarily to export our Google Analytics to in order for us to create reports for clients that need to see specific information about their traffic.
    Incentivized
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    SolarWinds
    This is an easy 10 because I actually have recommended this product to multiple clients and colleagues! Any shop that writes its own SQL queries will benefit from the insight provided by SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer, so they know which of their queries is causing a bottleneck. Small shops or databases with only a few tables likely will see far fewer opportunities for optimization.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Microsoft
    • It is very good at embedded formulas and tying cells to one another
    • It allows me to compare deals terms on a side-by-side basis and talk my clients through it easily.
    • It is very helpful as well in terms of allowing me to filter/sort results in many different ways depending on what specific information I am most interested in prioritizing.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    • Maintains historical SQL execution data, enabling forensic analysis
    • Has the ability to slice and dice the data so that you can drill down to the execution of a single SQL statement being executed by a stored procedure
    • Alerts to when the consumption pattern changes
    • Shows historical average run times against the current, illustrating problems when they arise
    • Provides tuning advice based on best practices
    Incentivized
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    Cons
    Microsoft
    • Excel offers collaboration features that allow multiple users to work on the same spreadsheet, but managing changes made by different users can be challenging. Excel could improve its features by offering more granular control, better tracking of changes, and more robust conflict resolution tools.
    • Itcan be a barrier to productivity when importing and exporting data from other applications or file formats. To improve its features, it should offer better support for standard file formats and more robust error handling and reporting tools.
    • Excel can be challenging for finance students and working professionals, but it can be improved by offering more robust tutorials, better documentation, and more user communities and support forums.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    • Alerts seem to be lacking in DPA compared to competitor's tools. They can be setup but are not quite as easy or as helpful as some other tools I have used.
    • Grooming/pruning the repository database isn't very easy. We don't manage a lot of instances but our repo DB has grown pretty significantly.
    • At times when I am drilled-down to a chart, it can be difficult to navigate around from that point to another time range/query/metric.
    Incentivized
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    Likelihood to Renew
    Microsoft
    Excel remains the industry standard for spreadsheets and has maintained simple and straight-forward formula writing methods. Although there is a learning curve to do more complex calculations, there are countless help sites and videos on the Internet for almost any need.
    Incentivized
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    SolarWinds
    We have relied on this product for a very long time and it continues to exceed expectations. The product is a vital part of our organization at this point, it would not be very ideal for us to abandon it. We use it almost every day and depend on its alerts for critical parts of our business
    Incentivized
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    Usability
    Microsoft
    I'm giving it a 7 because it is my go to. But the fact other prefer Google Sheets when working with a team does get irritating. I've used the online version of Microsoft Excel that other teams can get into and it still seems behind Google Sheets. It's a little clanky and slow? If that's even a term.
    Incentivized
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    SolarWinds
    I don't want to think about managing clusters of SQL servers in the future without this tool. We have demoed other tools and SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer is the gold standard for usability and insight into what your servers are doing. The UI is a bit dated, but everything is laid out in a logical manner and drilling down into queries or timeslices is extremely intuitive.
    Incentivized
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    Reliability and Availability
    Microsoft
    I have rarely, if ever, had issues with its availability.
    Incentivized
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    SolarWinds
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    Microsoft
    Excel load and performs calculations immediately. It integrate well with all Microsoft Office applications and does not slow them down.
    Incentivized
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    SolarWinds
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Microsoft
    I have not had to use it often, but it is good.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    I have had to use their support on a few occasions, for reasons that I am not clear about until recently I have always had problems upgrading the software (although the last 2 updates have gone without issue which I am very pleased to say). On those unfortunate occasions, the support has been brilliant with either excellently documented guides on how to resolve the issue by myself or have been hands-on with calls and screen sharing to remotely fix the issue. Every time the problem was sorted and more importantly, nothing was lost (apart from a bit of time). And as I stated above whatever the problem was that was causing my upgrade issues appears to have been resolved in the last 2 updates.
    Incentivized
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    Implementation Rating
    Microsoft
    No answers on this topic
    SolarWinds
    Follow the guidelines for the capacity of the servers. We found that the DPA databases were getting rather large and also that there are ways to reduce their size built into some of the options.
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    Microsoft
    Out of Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Power BI, IBM SPSS, and Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel is by far the most common tool used for anything data-related across organizations. Accordingly, our organization has also implemented Microsoft Excel as a first-step tool. We recently adopted Microsoft Power BI (the free version), and use it occasionally (mostly for creating dashboards), but it is less commonly understood by stakeholders across our organization and by our clients. Accordingly, Microsoft Excel is more user-friendly and because of its popularity, we can easily look up how to do things in the program online. Google Sheets is a comparable alternative to Microsoft Excel, but because it's cloud-based and we have sensitive data that needs to be protected, we chose against using this software. Finally, a few users (including myself) have access to and utilize IBM's SPSS. For my role, it's a helpful tool to do more rigorous analyses. However, because of its cost and limited functionality as a simple spreadsheet, we only use it for more complex analyses.
    Incentivized
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    SolarWinds
    At the time, we found SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer to be easier to setup and to have a richer feature set than Redgate SQL Monitor, plus, from what I remember, the DPA pricing worked better for us over the course of a year. We're very happy with all the features DPA has to offer.
    Incentivized
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    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    Microsoft
    N/A I was not involved in this process.
    Incentivized
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    SolarWinds
    No answers on this topic
    Scalability
    Microsoft
    Each user can use it to whatever level of expertise they have. It remains the same so users can contribute to another's work regardless of whether they have more or less expertise
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    Microsoft
    • Excel has positively impacted the business as it has increased our efficiency.
    • It also saves us the time that we would have spent on making the calculations that it does for us.
    • Since it works on all devices and is compatible with both Windows and Mac, we do not have to invest in any other alternative.
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    • It has allowed us to progress as an organization with much less reliance on a direct DBA than would traditionally be required
    • Allowed us to be much more proactive in our performance monitoring and responding to issues that would affect users.
    Incentivized
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    ScreenShots

    SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer Screenshots

    Screenshot of DashboardScreenshot of Alerts and reportsScreenshot of Application-centric view of DPAScreenshot of Blocking deadlock analysisScreenshot of Collaboration across teamsScreenshot of Intuitive performance monitoring