What users are saying about
45 Ratings
<a href='https://www.trustradius.com/static/about-trustradius-scoring' target='_blank' rel='nofollow noopener'>trScore algorithm: Learn more.</a>Score 9.4 out of 100
Based on 45 reviews and ratings
SolarWinds NPM
<a href='https://www.trustradius.com/static/about-trustradius-scoring#question3' target='_blank' rel='nofollow noopener'>Customer Verified: Read more.</a>
Top Rated
561 Ratings
<a href='https://www.trustradius.com/static/about-trustradius-scoring' target='_blank' rel='nofollow noopener'>trScore algorithm: Learn more.</a>Score 8.7 out of 100
Based on 561 reviews and ratings
Feature Set Ratings
- SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor (NPM) ranks higher in 1 feature set: Network Performance Monitoring
Network Performance Monitoring

8.1
Nmap
81%

8.2
SolarWinds NPM
82%
Nmap ranks higher in 6/10 features
Nmap ranks higher in 6/10 features
Automated network device discovery

8.5
85%
13 Ratings

8.2
82%
207 Ratings
Network monitoring

9.0
90%
13 Ratings

9.0
90%
229 Ratings
Baseline threshold calculation

9.9
99%
7 Ratings

7.8
78%
199 Ratings
Alerts

9.2
92%
4 Ratings

8.9
89%
226 Ratings
Network capacity planning

7.0
70%
7 Ratings

7.8
78%
186 Ratings
Packet capture analysis

7.0
70%
6 Ratings

7.2
72%
129 Ratings
Network mapping

9.5
95%
18 Ratings

7.9
79%
188 Ratings
Customizable reports

4.7
47%
11 Ratings

8.5
85%
210 Ratings
Wireless infrastructure monitoring

9.9
99%
8 Ratings

7.4
74%
150 Ratings
Hardware health monitoring

6.0
60%
5 Ratings

8.8
88%
213 Ratings
Attribute Ratings
- Nmap is rated higher in 1 area: Likelihood to Recommend
- SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor (NPM) is rated higher in 1 area: Support Rating
Likelihood to Recommend

9.7
Nmap
97%
20 Ratings

9.0
SolarWinds NPM
90%
233 Ratings
Likelihood to Renew

Nmap
N/A
0 Ratings

8.9
SolarWinds NPM
89%
23 Ratings
Usability

Nmap
N/A
0 Ratings

9.8
SolarWinds NPM
98%
17 Ratings
Availability

Nmap
N/A
0 Ratings

8.2
SolarWinds NPM
82%
2 Ratings
Performance

Nmap
N/A
0 Ratings

5.5
SolarWinds NPM
55%
2 Ratings
Support Rating

8.7
Nmap
87%
18 Ratings

9.5
SolarWinds NPM
95%
40 Ratings
Online Training

Nmap
N/A
0 Ratings

6.4
SolarWinds NPM
64%
1 Rating
Implementation Rating

Nmap
N/A
0 Ratings

7.3
SolarWinds NPM
73%
16 Ratings
Product Scalability

Nmap
N/A
0 Ratings

7.3
SolarWinds NPM
73%
1 Rating
Likelihood to Recommend
Nmap
If you're a sysadmin, or anyone who's had to deploy network services, you've almost certainly had to use Nmap at some point or other. Need to see what devices are on your LAN? Nmap can tell you that. Want to check which ports your web server has open to the internet? Nmap is your friend.
Nmap is a powerful command-line tool and has many options that require some reading of documentation to get the best out of (although generally straightforward). If the thought of working at the command-line scares you (presumably not if you're reading this review), then you may want a much simpler tool, or at least check out Zenmap GUI.

Verified User
Employee in Information Technology
Information Technology & Services Company, 1-10 employeesSolarWinds NPM
NPM is well suited for small to medium-sized organizations. It does the basic functions of a network monitoring suite very well however some of the more advanced features aren't as straightforward. Basic up/down email alerts work well but there are obviously many solutions that do this as well. I wouldn't recommend NPM for very large organizations because the server needed to support that many devices.
Network Engineer
Widener UniversityHigher Education, 201-500 employees
Pros
Nmap
- NMap provides a very fast and a very thorough network "sweep" that allows you to quickly map out exactly what's on your network.
- NMap is highly configurable. The "canned" choices are very good in most instances, but using various switches and options, you can create a very specific scan and get exactly the results you're looking for.
- NMap is easy to use. Even a new administrator will be able to use the graphical version (Zenmap) with efficiency right away.
Senior Systems Analyst
CymSTAR, LLCDefense & Space, 201-500 employees
SolarWinds NPM
- Out of the Monitoring of almost all Network Devices.
- Build custom pollers to monitor which is not supported out of the box.
- Further you can alert on these custom metrics and Out of the box metrics.
- It provides you great dashboards, Reports features.
- You can integrate it with any MoM layer tools either using its API or sending out traps.
- Out of the box Integration with Service Now ITSM Tool.

Verified User
Analyst in Professional Services
Information Technology & Services Company, 10,001+ employeesCons
Nmap
- exporting, There's a serious lack of ability to export the information in a readable format to present to VPs and such. I always find myself doing a lot of data massaging to get it in a pretty format
- some scans can trigger sensitive IDS/IPS
- SYN scans can be particularly aggressive and cause problems on remote systems.
Senior Systems Software Specialist
Delaware Department of Health & Social ServicesGovernment Administration, 10,001+ employees
SolarWinds NPM
- Configuring thresholds for your alerts can be a little cumbersome.
- Getting additional details onto the alerts is not as easy as it could be.
- You need to have two servers to run SolarWinds NPM, one for the service and a separate one for the database.
Development Manager
Carenet Health CareHealth, Wellness and Fitness, 1001-5000 employees
Pricing Details
Nmap
General
Free Trial
—Free/Freemium Version
—Premium Consulting/Integration Services
—Entry-level set up fee?
No
Starting Price
—Nmap Editions & Modules
—
Additional Pricing Details
—SolarWinds NPM
General
Free Trial
Yes
Free/Freemium Version
—Premium Consulting/Integration Services
—Entry-level set up fee?
Optional
Starting Price
$0 Starting Price
SolarWinds NPM Editions & Modules
Edition
NPM | $1,5831 |
---|
- Starting Price
Additional Pricing Details
—Likelihood to Renew
Nmap
No score
No answers yet
No answers on this topic
SolarWinds NPM
SolarWinds NPM 8.9
Based on 23 answers
The entire IT staff relies on NPM in its daily operations. It would be impossible for us to maintain our level of service without it. If SolarWinds gets to proud of their product and begins to over charge for it, we would be forced to reconsider and use a different product. But as it stands it is worth the price to renew it.
Systems and Security Administrator
Flathead CountyGovernment Administration, 501-1000 employees
Usability
Nmap
No score
No answers yet
No answers on this topic
SolarWinds NPM
SolarWinds NPM 9.8
Based on 17 answers
SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor (NPM) is quite an extensive product, covering all our bases and requirements. There are a lot of customizable options and features which you can work with for their alerting which is really useful. I haven't found anything yet which I thought SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor (NPM) could do, but it actually couldn't so overall it works nicely and does the job.

Verified User
Employee in Information Technology
Insurance Company, 51-200 employeesReliability and Availability
Nmap
No score
No answers yet
No answers on this topic
SolarWinds NPM
SolarWinds NPM 8.2
Based on 2 answers
Has never failed me

Verified User
Technician in Information Technology
Government Administration Company, 1001-5000 employeesPerformance
Nmap
No score
No answers yet
No answers on this topic
SolarWinds NPM
SolarWinds NPM 5.5
Based on 2 answers
Pages load slow, especially the bettors map. Could be that my server is old.

Verified User
Technician in Information Technology
Government Administration Company, 1001-5000 employeesSupport Rating
Nmap
Nmap 8.7
Based on 18 answers
There is a very large support community and a robust selection of add-ons and scripts. Once you get the use down this is one of the most powerful tools and you can find anything you are looking for as far as examples on the web. While not having official support its not lacking by any means.
Sr. Network Security Engineer
InsightInformation Technology and Services, 5001-10,000 employees
SolarWinds NPM
SolarWinds NPM 9.5
Based on 40 answers
In all of the times that we called support, someone at SolarWinds had the answer for us in a timely manner. Through thwack and other internet searching, we have been able to resolve all of our issues that arose to our satisfaction. The support staff have always been knowledgeable of their products or had a fellow support staff member to rely on to get the needed answers.
IT Technician / Application Specialist
Casino FandangoEntertainment, 201-500 employees
Online Training
Nmap
No score
No answers yet
No answers on this topic
SolarWinds NPM
SolarWinds NPM 6.4
Based on 1 answer
Would like an in person course

Verified User
Technician in Information Technology
Government Administration Company, 1001-5000 employeesImplementation Rating
Nmap
No score
No answers yet
No answers on this topic
SolarWinds NPM
SolarWinds NPM 7.3
Based on 16 answers
Make sure your inventory is accurate. Stand up some virtual machines for testing prior to installation. Make sure your database and its credentials are setup. Think about things you want to monitor that may not be obvious - UPS units, Door hardware, PBX systems, Fabric Channel switches, firewalls, routers, switches. Try to setup SNMP on these devices and have an IP that you will assign to the new server. If you do that it will go well.
Systems and Security Administrator
Flathead CountyGovernment Administration, 501-1000 employees
Alternatives Considered
Nmap
Alternatives to Nmap (other IP scanners) are often much more limited in what they can do; They often only allow you to scan a specific subset of ports or a limited number of IP addresses in one command. Nmap is unrestricted in that regard. What makes Nmap stand out above the rest, is the complete network analysis package you get with it. It allows IP scanner, network deep-dives, hardware analysis, vulnerability analysis, encryption detailing, and so much more, in one free application
Security Officer
IXON CloudInformation Technology and Services, 51-200 employees
SolarWinds NPM
We selected SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor because of the capabilities of the product versus the price. The tools also work well with their other products and support is fairly good. We have never had a problem when we needed to make a call.

Verified User
Executive in Information Technology
Government Administration Company, 501-1000 employeesScalability
Nmap
No score
No answers yet
No answers on this topic
SolarWinds NPM
SolarWinds NPM 7.3
Based on 1 answer
From the direction and information I have been given it is very flexible and scalelable

Verified User
Technician in Information Technology
Government Administration Company, 1001-5000 employeesReturn on Investment
Nmap
- Positive return as it's open-source (free) on all OS's.
- If a person is not used of the command line there are a ton of front ends that make it point-and-click so the learning curve is good. That cuts down on time and manpower.

Verified User
Technician in Information Technology
Oil & Energy Company, 11-50 employeesSolarWinds NPM
- The impact is largely on the positive side as ROI figures are on the rise.
- The licensing model is appropriately designed to meet every need. We have an XLS license and with the addition of an APE license, we can easily extend our scope.
- SolarWinds has helped in the creation of business use cases for network equipment or bandwidth investments. With capacity planning, we can accurately size our Infra.

Verified User
Consultant in Information Technology
Information Technology & Services Company, 10,001+ employees