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Paessler PRTG vs. SolarWinds Security Event Manager (SEM)

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Paessler PRTG

    Score8.4 out of 10
    N/APRTG Network Monitor is the flagship offering from German software company Paessler, for monitoring local and wide area networks (LANs & WANs), servers, websites, apps, and more.

    $2,149

    per year

    SolarWinds Security Event Manager (SEM)

    Score8 out of 10
    N/ASolarWinds LEM is security information and event management (SIEM) software.N/A
    Pricing
    Paessler PRTGSolarWinds Security Event Manager (SEM)
    Editions & Modules
    PRTG 500
    $2,149
    per year
    Hosted 500
    $2,149
    per year
    PRTG 1,000
    $3,899
    per year
    Hosted 1000
    $3,899
    per year
    PRTG 2,500
    $8,099
    per year
    Hosted 2500
    $8,099
    per year
    PRTG 5,000
    $14,199
    per year
    Hosted 5000
    $14,199
    per year
    PRTG 10000
    $17,899
    per year
    PRTG Enterprise
    Custom Pricing
    subscription license
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Paessler PRTGSolarWinds Security Event Manager (SEM)
    Free Trial
    YesYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Paessler PRTGSolarWinds Security Event Manager (SEM)
    Considered Both Products
    Paessler
    Chose Paessler PRTG
    Easier to configure, lower cost, greater potential usage, better for mixed environments. Easier to use and certainly easier to setup than the competition.
    Incentivized
    Chose Paessler PRTG
    I didn't make the choice, but out of what we have had in the last 5 years when it comes to network monitoring, this has been the best in my opinion. I would even like to see Auvik go away and this monitor all of our clients. That isn't my choice unfortunately.
    Incentivized
    Chose Paessler PRTG
    Both PRTG and Solarwinds work great, and they are great systems. But for the specific task of monitoring and alerting if there is a VPN connection failure, PRTG works great at monitoring and sending out a status report when a failure does occur. I like both products, but I find …
    Incentivized
    SolarWinds
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    98%
    Would buy again
    41 Answers
    88%
    Would buy again
    30 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    98%
    Delivers good value for the price
    40 Answers
    97%
    Delivers good value for the price
    28 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    42 Answers
    91%
    Happy with the feature set
    31 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    93%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    28 Answers
    89%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    16 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    38 Answers
    89%
    Implementation went as expected
    25 Answers
    Features
    Paessler PRTGSolarWinds Security Event Manager (SEM)
    Network Performance Monitoring
    Comparison of Network Performance Monitoring features of Paessler PRTG and SolarWinds Security Event Manager (SEM)
    Feature
    Paessler PRTG
    7.3
    67 Ratings
    8% below category average
    SolarWinds Security Event Manager (SEM)
    -
    Ratings
    Automated network device discovery7.260 Ratings00 Ratings
    Network monitoring9.666 Ratings00 Ratings
    Baseline threshold calculation8.557 Ratings00 Ratings
    Alerts8.867 Ratings00 Ratings
    Network capacity planning6.448 Ratings00 Ratings
    Packet capture analysis6.234 Ratings00 Ratings
    Network mapping5.447 Ratings00 Ratings
    Customizable reports5.857 Ratings00 Ratings
    Wireless infrastructure monitoring6.249 Ratings00 Ratings
    Hardware health monitoring9.264 Ratings00 Ratings
    Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
    Comparison of Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) features of Paessler PRTG and SolarWinds Security Event Manager (SEM)
    Feature
    Paessler PRTG
    -
    Ratings
    SolarWinds Security Event Manager (SEM)
    8.9
    18 Ratings
    12% above category average
    Centralized event and log data collection00 Ratings9.018 Ratings
    Correlation00 Ratings8.015 Ratings
    Event and log normalization/management00 Ratings8.018 Ratings
    Deployment flexibility00 Ratings10.018 Ratings
    Integration with Identity and Access Management Tools00 Ratings8.013 Ratings
    Custom dashboards and workspaces00 Ratings9.017 Ratings
    Host and network-based intrusion detection00 Ratings10.03 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Paessler PRTGSolarWinds Security Event Manager (SEM)
    Small Businesses
    Auvik
    Score8.8 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    PingPlotter
    Score9 out of 10
    IBM Security QRadar SIEM
    Score8.9 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Nmap
    Score8.7 out of 10
    Microsoft Sentinel
    Score8.6 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Paessler PRTGSolarWinds Security Event Manager (SEM)
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.8
    (68 ratings)
    8.0
    (46 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.9
    (5 ratings)
    7.3
    (2 ratings)
    Usability
    8.3
    (7 ratings)
    8.0
    (6 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.0
    (19 ratings)
    7.5
    (17 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Paessler PRTGSolarWinds Security Event Manager (SEM)
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Paessler
    integrates seamlessly with Windows servers via WMI and PowerShell, providing deep insights into resource usage, performance metrics, and system health. It's excellent at tracking CPU, memory, disk space, and event logs, enabling rapid troubleshooting and proactive maintenance. PRTG Network Monitor also effectively monitors Fortigate devices, providing detailed data on firewall health, traffic patterns, bandwidth utilization, VPN status, and security alerts. This visibility helps detect and resolve network security issues promptly.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    Optimal for SolarWinds Security Event Manager needs for smaller companies - it is a very cool product but has some limitations around EPS (which gets chewed up quickly if you're doing it the right way & adding servers/storage/FW & other network devices)... Also pricing model is GREAT (not consumption-based, which is the greatest grift the SIEM industry has created).
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Paessler
    • Switch monitoring and finding out if there are communication issues or throughput alerts are reached
    • Big picture view of the whole infrastructure and what is functioning and what is not
    • Uptime tracking is great and lets us know for how long a device is down or overall uptime
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    • It does a great job of notifying us when accounts have been locked out. We can then find out the device on the network where the login attempt occurred.
    • Searching for incidents is now a lot faster with the implementation of the HTML 5 interface.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Paessler
    • Licensing on a per entity basis can be cumbersome for devices which have a ton of monitoring points like network switches\routers. Each sensor may count against a license, which could be a lot of you were monitoring every TX\RX of an SFP for example
    • A better method to easily template\copy monitors across devices
    • The navigation in the web GUI could be a little more straightforward in terms of the hierarchy
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    • All SolarWinds product suffer from slow response times in management portals. SolarWinds SEM is no exception. While it is much preferred over a "thick client" there is much room for improvement in speed.
    • If you use the email alert features with SolarWinds make sure to prepare you staff and team for the large amount of emails they could receive. Make sure to reduce the number of alerts so your team does not ignore the alerts.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Paessler
    I would renew it because the platform has brought us many technical and economic benefits that make the cost-benefit ratio very good. Additionally, to do so does not require large investments in training, licensing or infrastructure, and at the administration level, extensive knowledge is not required to be able to bear it.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    It is pretty likely that we will renew SEM when the time comes up. It is easy to use and maintain so there isn't much of a need to replace this product. It is also a pretty fair price for the capabilities provided by the SEM
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Paessler
    The tool is very intuitive to use and it is Windows-based (everybody knows how to use Windows) so it's easy to get into. Every time is setup in a hierarchy so if you have a good initial hierarchy design, it will really reduce administrative effort down the road.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    If you are familiar with SolarWinds then you can use this product it's as easy as that. If you have never used a SolarWinds product then it will take a minute to get how they do reports and make dashboards but that being said the tool is great and can make things very easy once you get a feel for how it works and get everything setup how you like it.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Paessler
    PRTG does everything we need it to do and more. Ease of use, ease of management and maintenance and clarity of monitoring of hundreds of different types of device and service gives this a large advantage over other products on the market that I have tried. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who needs a network monitoring product in their environment and even to people who don't know they need a solution yet!
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    The quality of support can vary depending on whom you end up speaking with. I was fortunate enough to work with a support representative who was very familiar with the product. He had even authored some of the support documentation on the website. On the flip side, I had two other experiences where I was simply directed to online training material.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Paessler
    It's very important that de project's teams have different member of the TI. We have learned too late the importa of Security Analyst at the design architecture moment. We have to rebuild part of the implementation for made this big mistake.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Paessler
    PRTG offers more versatility in monitoring when compared to the other solutions we tested. The other solutions were also limited as far as customization options, which made them less adaptable to our networks. When compared to Auvik, for instance, we prefer PRTG as it offers immediate notifications through the desktop client - not limited to email notifications as with Auvik. We also appreciate the fact that PRTG can be self/on-prem hosted vs Auvik's cloud model. This makes for an easier deployment and less firewall adjustments to allow traffic to cloud-hosted solutions.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    Fortianalzyer can only do logs from FortiGate so usefulness is limited. Elasticsearch was a lot slower than Solarwinds and the filters were a lot harder to set up and use. The connectors for SEM were far more stable.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Paessler
    • The ability to analyze multiple pieces of information in one place, especially with historical data, has saved our IT department time and headaches. It would be so much more difficult to trace an issue without PRTG, just relying on event logs and an open task manager window.
    • The cost is not cheap, so it's an expense that hits the bottom line like everything else. Figure in hardware costs as well, ideally a server outside of your main environment.
    • I keep saying this, but the historical data piece is worth so much. There's really no good way to collect all of that information in one place without something like PRTG. And that definitely saves time and money in the long run.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    SolarWinds
    • For the price, it produced a decent value. It did a lot of the easy stuff well. I can't give any specific data given the objective of the product was to monitor very basic events in the environment.
    • There are free options that can do a better job.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    SolarWinds Security Event Manager (SEM) Screenshots

    Product screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshotProduct screenshot