As organizations modernize their infrastructure and embrace cloud-native architectures, traditional monitoring solutions are showing their age. SolarWinds, while a long-established player in IT management, was designed for an era of static, on-premise infrastructure. In 2025, teams are seeking alternatives that can keep pace with dynamic, distributed systems—and they’re finding better options.

What Is SolarWinds? Is It Still The Right Choice?

SolarWinds Platform (formerly Orion) has been a cornerstone of IT monitoring for decades, offering comprehensive coverage of network devices, servers, applications, and databases. It’s particularly strong in traditional enterprise environments with extensive hardware monitoring needs.

However, SolarWinds comes with significant challenges that are driving teams to evaluate alternatives:

• Polling-based architecture: Metrics collected every 1-5 minutes miss transient issues critical in modern applications
• Complex licensing: Quote-based pricing by module and “elements” creates unpredictable costs
• Configuration overhead: Deployments often require weeks of professional services and manual setup
• Centralized architecture: Performance bottlenecks as infrastructure scales
• Security concerns: The 2020 supply chain attack highlighted vulnerabilities in centralized, proprietary platforms

Whether you’re a startup building cloud-native infrastructure or an enterprise modernizing your monitoring stack, these five alternatives offer the speed, simplicity, and transparency that modern teams demand.

Why Teams Are Switching From SolarWinds in 2025

Organizations aren’t just looking to save money—they’re seeking fundamental improvements in how they monitor and troubleshoot modern infrastructure:

Real-Time Visibility Over Polling Delays

SolarWinds’ 1-5 minute polling intervals were acceptable when infrastructure changed slowly. Today’s containerized applications, auto-scaling services, and ephemeral workloads demand per-second granularity.

Modern alternatives like Netdata collect metrics every second, ensuring you see problems the moment they occur—not minutes later when the damage is done.

Transparent, Predictable Pricing

SolarWinds’ complex module-based licensing with quote-only pricing makes budgeting a challenge. As your infrastructure grows, costs can spike unpredictably.

Modern platforms offer simple per-node or usage-based pricing that scales predictably with your infrastructure, eliminating surprise bills.

Zero-Configuration Deployment

Traditional monitoring requires extensive setup: manual configuration, professional services, weeks of deployment time. Modern infrastructure moves too fast for this approach.

Cloud-native alternatives feature auto-discovery and zero-config deployment—you can be collecting comprehensive metrics within minutes, not weeks.

Cloud-Native Architecture

SolarWinds’ centralized polling model creates bottlenecks in distributed, cloud-native environments. Modern alternatives use distributed architectures that scale horizontally with your infrastructure.

Edge-based processing keeps data close to the source, improving performance, reducing costs, and enhancing security.

Data Sovereignty and Security

After the SolarWinds supply chain attack, many organizations reconsidered the risks of centralized, proprietary monitoring platforms. Modern open-source alternatives offer transparency and data sovereignty—your metrics can stay on your infrastructure by default.

Key Criteria for Evaluating SolarWinds Alternatives

When selecting a modern monitoring platform, consider these essential factors:

Data Granularity and Real-Time Performance

Can the platform collect metrics at sub-minute intervals? Per-second granularity is essential for troubleshooting transient issues in dynamic environments like Kubernetes.

Deployment Speed and Automation

How long from installation to value? Look for platforms with auto-discovery that automatically detect and monitor your entire stack without manual configuration.

Pricing Transparency and Predictability

Is pricing clear and predictable? Avoid complex SKU-based models. Simple per-node or usage-based pricing makes budgeting straightforward.

Architecture and Scalability

Does the platform scale efficiently? Distributed architectures handle growth better than centralized polling models.

Integration Ecosystem

Does it support your tech stack? Modern platforms should auto-discover hundreds of integrations for containers, cloud services, databases, and applications.

AI and Automation

Does it reduce alert fatigue? Look for ML-powered anomaly detection and automated root cause analysis to cut through the noise.

Top 5 SolarWinds Alternatives for 2025

1. Netdata

Best for: Real-time infrastructure monitoring with per-second granularity Architecture: Distributed, edge-based Deployment: < 5 minutes, zero-configuration

Why choose Netdata? Netdata represents the modern approach to infrastructure monitoring with distributed architecture, per-second metrics, and zero-configuration deployment. Built for cloud-native environments, it automatically discovers and monitors your entire stack—from bare metal to Kubernetes—without manual setup. Unlike traditional polling-based solutions, Netdata collects and processes metrics directly on each node with machine learning running at the edge, eliminating centralized bottlenecks while keeping your data sovereign by default. The platform offers 800+ auto-discovered integrations, Agentic AI for automated root cause analysis, and transparent per-node pricing with volume discounts. Deployment takes under 5 minutes with no dashboard creation needed—everything is monitored automatically with comprehensive out-of-the-box coverage. While the edge-based paradigm requires adjustment for teams used to centralized polling, and it’s less mature for traditional network devices, Netdata excels for cloud-native infrastructure, fast-growing startups needing scalable affordable monitoring, DevOps teams wanting zero-config deployment, and organizations requiring data sovereignty.

Special Offer: SolarWinds Migration Program - Up to 20% off + white-glove migration support

Explore Netdata

2. Datadog

Best for: Full-stack observability with extensive integrations Architecture: Centralized SaaS Deployment: Agent-based, moderate setup time

Why choose Datadog? Datadog offers a comprehensive observability platform covering infrastructure, applications, logs, and user experiences with 600+ integrations and a polished interface. It’s a mature, feature-rich platform with excellent documentation, strong APM and distributed tracing capabilities, unified dashboards across your stack, and network performance and security monitoring. However, its complex SKU-based pricing with unpredictable costs can become expensive at scale, it still uses minute-level metric resolution (not real-time), and some features require multiple paid modules. Datadog is best suited for large enterprises needing comprehensive observability, teams requiring mature APM and tracing, and organizations willing to pay premium pricing for an all-in-one solution.

3. New Relic

Best for: Full-stack observability with consumption-based pricing Architecture: Centralized SaaS Deployment: Agent-based, moderate setup

Why choose New Relic? New Relic pioneered APM and has evolved into a full observability platform with 750+ integrations, distributed tracing, AI-powered anomaly detection, and interactive visualization. It offers a user-friendly interface with strong APM capabilities, flexible usage-based pricing that can be cost-effective for smaller deployments, and good mobile app support. However, costs increase significantly with data volume, there’s a learning curve for advanced features, the free tier has limited functionality, and some features are locked to higher pricing tiers. New Relic is best suited for application-centric monitoring needs, teams with predictable low-to-moderate data volumes, and organizations prioritizing ease of use over cost optimization at scale.

4. Prometheus + Grafana

Best for: Customizable open-source monitoring Architecture: Self-hosted, distributed Deployment: Significant setup and maintenance required

Why choose Prometheus + Grafana? This open-source combination offers maximum flexibility and customization with Prometheus excelling at time-series data collection and Grafana providing powerful visualization. It’s free and open-source with a powerful query language (PromQL), highly customizable dashboards, strong Kubernetes integration, flexible alerting, a large ecosystem of exporters, and no vendor lock-in backed by an active community. However, it requires significant setup and maintenance overhead, technical expertise for management, manual configuration for most integrations, and isn’t true real-time (15-60 second scrape intervals typical). Scaling requires additional tools like Thanos or Cortex. Prometheus + Grafana is best suited for teams with DevOps expertise, organizations requiring maximum customization, Kubernetes-native environments, and budget-constrained projects willing to invest time instead of money.

5. Dynatrace

Best for: Enterprise AI-powered observability Architecture: Centralized SaaS with OneAgent Deployment: Agent-based, automated instrumentation

Why choose Dynatrace? Dynatrace offers enterprise-grade observability with auto-instrumentation (OneAgent), full-stack monitoring, business analytics, and security monitoring capabilities. Its Davis AI engine provides some automated insights and anomaly detection, though the AI capabilities are largely similar to other enterprise platforms. The automatic instrumentation reduces initial setup time, and it offers comprehensive enterprise features with strong support and professional services. However, Dynatrace is among the highest-priced options, can be overkill for smaller organizations, has complex licensing and pricing, and still relies on minute-level granularity for infrastructure metrics. Dynatrace is best suited for large enterprises with substantial monitoring budgets who prioritize vendor support and professional services over cost optimization.

Feature Comparison Table

Migration Considerations: Making the Switch

Migrating from SolarWinds doesn’t have to be disruptive. Here’s how to approach it:

1. Start with Parallel Running

Run your new monitoring solution alongside SolarWinds during evaluation. This risk-free approach lets you:

• Validate coverage and accuracy
• Train your team on the new platform
• Identify any gaps before full cutover
• Build confidence in the new solution

Most modern platforms can be deployed in minutes, making parallel testing straightforward.

2. Prioritize Quick Wins

Begin with:

• Infrastructure monitoring: Replace SolarWinds NPM/SAM with faster, simpler infrastructure monitoring
• Auto-discovery: Let modern platforms automatically find and monitor your services
• Real-time dashboards: Experience per-second visibility vs. minute-level polling

3. Leverage Migration Support

Many vendors offer migration assistance:

• Netdata: SolarWinds Migration Program with white-glove support and up to 20% discount
• Datadog/New Relic: Professional services teams
• Prometheus/Grafana: Community resources and consultants

4. Don’t Migrate Everything at Once

Phase your migration:

1. Start with non-critical systems
2. Expand to production infrastructure
3. Move specialized monitoring (databases, applications)
4. Finally, sunset SolarWinds

5. Preserve Historical Data

Most alternatives can coexist with SolarWinds for historical data access. You don’t lose your history when you migrate—your SolarWinds instance can remain as a historical reference.

Decision Framework: Which Alternative Is Right for You?

Choose Netdata if you want:

• ✅ Per-second real-time monitoring
• ✅ Zero-configuration deployment (< 5 minutes)
• ✅ Transparent, predictable pricing
• ✅ Cloud-native focus (Kubernetes, containers, microservices)
• ✅ Data sovereignty and open-source transparency
• ✅ AI troubleshooting without alert fatigue

Ideal for: Startups to Enterprises; DevOps teams; cloud-native infrastructure

Choose Datadog if you want:

• All-in-one platform with extensive features
• Mature APM and distributed tracing
• Willing to pay premium for comprehensive solution
• Budget for potential cost growth

Ideal for: Large enterprises; teams needing full-stack observability

Choose New Relic if you want:

• Strong APM capabilities
• Consumption-based pricing
• Application-centric monitoring

Ideal for: Application-focused teams with predictable data volumes

Choose Prometheus + Grafana if you want:

• Maximum customization and control
• Open-source flexibility
• Technical team comfortable with configuration

Ideal for: Kubernetes environments; teams with DevOps expertise

Choose Dynatrace if you want:

• Enterprise-grade support
• Budget for high-end solution
• Automatic instrumentation

Ideal for: Large enterprises with substantial monitoring budgets

The Modern Monitoring Landscape in 2025

The infrastructure monitoring market has evolved significantly from the SolarWinds era. Today’s teams demand:

• Speed: Per-second metrics, not minute-level polling
• Simplicity: Zero-config deployment, not weeks of professional services
• Transparency: Predictable pricing, not complex quote-based licensing
• Intelligence: AI-powered insights, not just dashboards full of metrics
• Flexibility: Modern architectures that scale with cloud-native infrastructure

While SolarWinds served traditional IT environments well, modern alternatives are purpose-built for today’s dynamic, distributed systems. Whether you choose Netdata’s real-time distributed approach, Datadog’s comprehensive platform, New Relic’s user-friendly APM, Prometheus/Grafana’s flexibility, or Dynatrace’s enterprise AI, you’ll find significant improvements over legacy polling-based monitoring.

Take the Next Step

Ready to modernize your monitoring? Start with a risk-free evaluation:

Netdata: Start free trial or explore SolarWinds Migration Program (up to 20% off + white-glove support)

Contact us to discuss your specific monitoring needs and migration strategy.