SolarWinds Pricing: Is It Worth It In 2026? [Reviewed]

In this guide, I’ll cover everything that is publicly known about SolarWinds’s pricing structure, including what features you can expect.

➡️ At the end of this article, I’ll also introduce you to a SolarWinds alternative that offers advanced reporting capabilities, a no-code automation builder, and was built with both small and enterprise-grade IT teams in mind.

How is SolarWinds priced?

SolarWinds’ core subscription offerings break down into four “starts‑at” entry points, each sold on a term subscription (billed annually) and scoped to a simple unit of measure:

• Monitoring & Observability: Starts at $8 per node / month, giving you access to full‑stack visibility across on‑prem, hybrid, and cloud‑native environments, powered by AI-driven alerting and insights.
• Database Observability: Starts at $142 per database / month, giving you access to deep performance monitoring, real‑time alerts, and root‑cause diagnostics for leading database platforms.
• Service Management: Starts at $39 per technician / month, giving you access to centralized ITSM with AI‑powered ticketing, knowledge base, SLA tracking, and asset management.
• Incident Response (Security Event Manager): Starts at $15 per user / month, giving you access to on‑prem SIEM with automated threat detection, playbook‑driven response, and compliance reporting.

Source: SolarWinds.

Does SolarWinds Have a Free Plan or a Free Trial?

SolarWinds does not offer a permanently free tier for its core monitoring, database, ITSM, or SIEM subscriptions. 

Instead, every major module comes with a fully functional free trial:

• 30‑day trials for SaaS and self‑hosted subscriptions (Observability, Service Desk, SEM, NPM, SAM, etc.).
• 14‑day trials for smaller on‑premise tools (Engineer’s Toolset, Dameware, Kiwi Syslog Server NG, etc.).

Source: SolarWinds.

➡️ A catalog of forever‑free standalone utilities (e.g., Real‑Time Bandwidth Monitor, Kiwi CatTools) is also available, though these are point tools rather than full platform modules.

SolarWinds’ Monitoring & Observability Plan

SolarWinds Observability’s pricing starts at $8 per node/month (annual term) and delivers end‑to‑end infrastructure and application monitoring across on‑premise, hybrid, and cloud‑native stacks.

Source: SolarWinds.

Key features include:

• Automatic discovery & mapping of devices, services, containers, and cloud resources.
• AI‑powered anomaly detection and predictive alerting.
• Custom dashboards, NetPath™ for dependency‑aware troubleshooting, and integrated log ingestion (billed separately).

➡️ The plan comes with a fully-functional 30-day free trial with no credit card required.

SolarWinds’ Database Plan

SolarWinds Database Observability starts at $142 per database/month (annual term) and provides deep insights into database health and performance.

Source: SolarWinds.

Key capabilities include:

• Real‑time alerts for query bottlenecks, deadlocks, and resource saturation.
• Root‑cause diagnostics with drill‑down from host to SQL statement level.
• Support for MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, Oracle, MongoDB, Redis, Aurora, and more.

➡️ The database plan comes with a fully functional 14-day free trial, including all root‑cause and tuning advisors.

SolarWinds’ Service Management Plan

SolarWinds Service Desk starts at $39 per technician/month with unlimited ticket submitters (or Web Help Desk from $533 for unlimited end users), and offers a modern, AI‑powered ITSM platform.

Source: SolarWinds.

The plan’s features include:

• Incident, problem, change, and service catalog management.
• AI‑driven ticket categorization, auto‑assignment, and suggested resolutions.
• A fully integrated IT asset management that compiles hardware, software, POs, and more.
• Integrated CMDB and asset tracking with purchase‑order management.
• Standard integrations with Active Directory, Salesforce, Slack, and more.

➡️ The plan, similar to the others, comes with a 30-day free trial with no CC required.

SolarWinds’ Incident Response Plan

SolarWinds’ Security Event Manager (SEM) starts at $15 per user/month (SaaS) or a $1,789 one‑time perpetual license for up to 30 nodes (plus optional annual maintenance) and empowers rapid detection and automated response.

Source: SolarWinds.

Its key features include:

• Real‑time log collection, normalization, and correlation.
• Out‑of‑the‑box threat intelligence feeds and compliance reporting templates (PCI, HIPAA, SOX, etc.).
• Playbook automation for threat containment and incident workflows.
• USB/device control and file‑integrity monitoring.

➡️ The plan, similar to the others, comes with a 14-day free trial of the SaaS edition with no CC required.

SolarWinds’ Cons: What can you expect?

Some IT managers have left SolarWinds unhappy due to the tool’s limited customization options, poor flexibility, inadequate customer service, and limited automation features.

#1: Limited customization options and lack of deep flexibility

There are numerous complaints about SolarWinds’ limited customization options and lack of deep flexibility.

For example, a user mentions that even though it’s possible to customize the workflows and forms, their team has not been happy with the fact that the platform lacks the deep flexibility of other, more complete platforms on the market.

‘’While you can customize workflows and forms, some teams feel it lacks the deep flexibility of more enterprise-focused tools (like ServiceNow). For example, complex conditional logic or very granular permissions can be harder to achieve.’’ – G2 Review.

#2: Poor customer support

There are a few complaints about SolarWinds’ customer service, even from Enterprise-grade users (who usually get the best treatment), who mention that they are left with open tickets for over a month.

‘’The worst part is the support. We have a ticket currently that has been open for over a month with little progress. The support has been less than helpful to the point where we are considering other options, as the part that is broken is one of our major systems.’’ – G2 Review.

#3: Limited automation capabilities

Last but not least, some IT leads are dissatisfied with the fact that the platform has limited automation capabilities.

For example, you can’t always access certain fields you’d like to use in automation rules.

‘’Some of the automation options are limited—you can’t always access certain fields you’d like to use in automation rules.’’ – G2 Review.

Are SolarWinds’ Paid Plans Worth It?

SolarWinds paid plans can be highly cost-effective for organizations that:

• Need an integrated, full-stack monitoring and ITSM/SIEM solution.
• Lack the resources to build and maintain a DIY observability stack.
• Value predictable unit-based pricing.

The platform is less compelling if you:

• Only need a narrow monitoring scope.
• Have deep in-house monitoring expertise.
• Must avoid any license fees at all costs. 

A short trial against your specific environment and processes will be the test for whether the platform delivers enough efficiency gains to pay for itself.

Looking for a SolarWinds alternative for ITSM?

SmartSuite offers the best alternative to SolarWinds in 2026 for ITSM with our modern solution that helps you automate critical IT processes, organize projects, and remove traditional obstacles in the tech landscape.

Here’s a quick walkthrough of the platform and our solution for IT teams:

Let’s go over the features that make SmartSuite the best option for both small and large IT teams looking for a SolarWinds alternative: 👇

All-In-One IT Service Management

SmartSuite helps IT teams manage their processes, projects, and assets all in one single solution. Our no-code solution lets you automate all technical processes with ease.

Here are the capabilities and use cases that your team will get with SmartSuite:

• Manage critical IT processes: Manage IT data and workflows in one place, from deploying help desk and issue management solutions to ensuring core business operations stay uninterrupted.

• Track tickets & issues: Deploy help desk and issue management solutions to make sure that your business operations are not interrupted.

• Manage your IT assets and licenses: Track all of your IT assets, to which employees they are deployed to and what software versions are deployed.

• Manage internal IT projects: Plan deployments, schedule your teams, and monitor progress to make sure that you deliver on time and on budget.

• Integrate with your existing systems: Integrate with existing systems and data to consolidate and centralize your data. 

• Automate for accuracy and efficiency: Remove inefficiencies and the chance for human error by automating repeatable workflows.
• Monitor and report on your work with customizable IT dashboards: Slice and dice data, track help tickets, work requests, and more in dynamic interactive dashboards.

Automate Your Team’s IT Workflows

Our platform lets you standardize your IT request workflow with a centralized work request process. 

SmartSuite helps you prioritize tasks, assign IT staff and ensure that you achieve SLAs.

You’ll also be able to monitor your team with flexible reports and dashboards that keep you updated in real time.

Apart from that, SmartSuite's no-code automation builder provides IT teams with a visual interface that makes it easy to respond to events and take action.

That means you can customize your ITSM workflows without technical resources.

💡 Working from mobile? Stay connected to critical IT information, tickets and device information with our native iOS and Android apps.

Your team can use our mobile apps to share files, images, updates and other feedback to resolve problems and close tickets.

Pre-Built ITSM Templates

Our team has prepared a few ITSM templates for IT teams looking to get started right away, instead of building everything from scratch, such as an IT Help Desk.

Our ITSM template includes a:

• IT Service Request Management, where you can streamline work requests, automate repetitive tasks, and manage IT assets.

• IT Help Desk, which we built for internal IT departments looking to capture and resolve internal technology issues.

• IT Asset Tracker, where you can keep track of IT assets issued to employees or implemented in networks, facilities and workspaces.

You can customize our ITSM management templates here for various use cases, such as IT Security Policies, IT Security Audits, and IT Work Requests.

How is SmartSuite a good solution?

SmartSuite offers a platform with:

• A modern solution with an intuitive interface that does not confuse your IT team or require extensive training.
• A 14-day free trial to help you get started, as well as an Enterprise-grade fully custom plan.
• Automated workflows that can help you build multi-step automations to trigger actions at the right time.
• Dedicated customer support and account management, which will help you with setting up the automations inside the platform.

💡 Case Study: Learn how MediaLab transformed operations, minimized risk, and saved $40,000+ per year by cutting software costs.

How Is SmartSuite’s Pricing Different From SolarWinds’?

Unlike SolarWinds, SmartSuite offers a 14-day free trial of its Professional plan (no credit card required), with automations, team collaboration, multi-dashboard views, and more.

There are three per-seat plans plus a per-solution Signature plan, all available through the 14-day free trial:

• Team: $15/user/month billed annually ($20 billed monthly, minimum 3 users), including 5,000 records per solution, 50GB of file storage, and 25,000 automation runs and API calls per month.
• Professional: $32/user/month billed annually ($36 billed monthly, minimum 5 users), adding 100,000 records per solution, 100GB of file storage, two-factor authentication, and Gmail & Outlook integrations.
• Enterprise: Custom pricing with no seat minimum, adding 400,000 records per solution, 500GB of file storage, audit logs, data loss prevention, SSO, and SCIM provisioning.
• Signature: A customized plan tailored to your organization’s needs and team size with no predefined limits.

Get Started With SmartSuite & Our ITSM Templates For Free

If you’re an IT lead looking to build IT service management workstreams, you can give SmartSuite a chance with our 14-day free trial and ready-to-use ITSM templates.

SmartSuite’s platform offers just the right customization, native collaboration capabilities and a library of 200+ project management templates to help teams create and maintain a project management workflow.

Here’s what's in it for your team when you try SmartSuite:

• A 14-day free trial of the Professional plan with multi-board views (Kanban, Chart, Map, Timeline, Card, and Calendar), automations, and 40+ field types, including formula and linked record fields.
• No-code automation builder to set up to 500,000 trigger/action workflows.
• Built-in productivity tools, including time tracking, status tracking, and checklists.
• Team collaboration and planning tools such as whiteboards and SmartSuite docs.
• Resource management across projects and teams.
• 40+ field types, including the option to add your custom fields.

Start a 14-day free trial to explore all its features.

Or, if you’d like to talk to our team of experts, schedule a demo.

⚠️ Disclaimer: This article was last updated on 11 Dec 2025 and if there's any misinterpretation of the information, please contact us and we will fact check it.

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