Atera vs. SolarWinds: A comparison for IT decision-makers

When selecting an IT management platform, you should conduct thorough research on the different options. Both Atera and SolarWinds stand out in today’s marketplace of IT technology solutions. 

While both platforms offer strong IT management features, each has its own strengths you should weigh before choosing one. To find out which IT management platform is the best fit for your IT department, you’ll need to generate a complete picture of your needs, use cases, and budget.

In this article, we will present a side-by-side comparison of Atera and SolarWinds, giving you an in-depth overview of the strengths and weaknesses of these two platforms and considering Atera as a SolarWinds alternative.

As the team working behind the scenes on one of the largest IT management platforms, we know what’s critical when it comes to this big decision.

Atera vs. SolarWinds: An overview

For a quick look into the differences between Atera and SolarWinds, we have created the following table:

Let’s also look at G2’s user satisfaction rating comparison of Atera and SolarWinds. The rating considers factors like how easy the software is to use, whether it meets user requirements, and the quality of available features.

We can quickly see that Atera beats SolarWinds in every category:

You can access the full G2 user satisfaction comparison here.

Next, let’s go into a more in-depth part of the Atera vs. SolarWinds comparison.

User interface and usability

Let’s start with an important aspect: The user interface and usability of Atera and SolarWinds.

Both platforms offer a range of capabilities to benefit users, including remote monitoring and management (RMM), patch management, ticketing, security features, and more. 

While some of the features are similar, the two platforms are comprised of entirely different dashboards and user interfaces, making their usability quite distinct from one another.

Here is a look into SolarWinds’ admin dashboard:

While some users appreciate the comprehensive nature of the SolarWinds dashboard, many have noted that the setup process is difficult and requires technical expertise. One G2 user points out, “one of the biggest challenges is that you have to programmatically configure everything you want to monitor, which takes a lot of time.”

Compared to Atera, the admin dashboard is up-to-date and modern. It was designed with ease of use in mind, and navigating between the different tools is effortless.

Here is a look into Atera’s dashboard:

Atera’s admin dashboard

Atera users, like Flora N. from an enterprise company, describe Atera’s platform as “easy to configure, user-friendly, with an intuitive interface.” Here is the full review from Flora describing the platform’s ease of use:

Atera review via Capterra

Features and capabilities

SolarWinds offers solutions for small business and enterprise clients — and while this diversity can be the right fit for some users, most IT teams prefer the streamlined tools that Atera provides.

Atera is designed to meet the diverse needs of enterprises and comes with industry-leading features, including complete remote monitoring and management (RMM), AI-powered IT, patch management, Network Discovery, PSA, helpdesk, IT security, and many native integrations to expand your capabilities seamlessly. 

Atera’s AI capabilities are one of the key features that really differentiate it in today’s crowded IT management space.

With Atera AI Copilot 2.5, released recently, Atera has positioned itself at the forefront of the AI revolution in the IT industry. AI Copilot has allowed Atera users to experience unmatched productivity, troubleshoot device issues in real-time, boost response times by 95%, and enhance workflows.

Comparatively, SolarWinds offers features that include observability, network management, systems management, database management, IT service management, application management, service desk, and IT security.

SolarWinds features are split between different products, such as SolarWinds Observability and SolarWinds Service Desk.

Performance and reliability

As any IT professional knows all too well, performance and reliability are key when it comes to choosing the best IT management tool for you. Excessive downtime can be a thorn in your side, leading to more security risks and problems down the line — that’s why you need to ensure that your next IT investment will protect you from these stressors.

Both Atera and SolarWinds offer fully encrypted data backups to the cloud, while we also offer the option of a local backup at Atera. Equally important to backing up your data, recovering your data with both Atera and SolarWinds is easy.

When comparing SolarWinds vs Atera, you will find that both platforms have strong scores when it comes to reliability and performance. They both offer reliable support teams and have committed to serving customers with the utmost reachability and professionalism to ensure your organization can continue working productively without the threat of downtime.

At Atera, we’ve earned a 9.17 likelihood of recommendation score via our GetApp.com reviews due to the reliability of our platform. SolarWinds’ reviews display a slightly lower but still impressive 8.74/10 likelihood of recommending the platform.

Pricing and value for money

As you compare IT management platforms, such as Atera vs SolarWinds, budget should be a key consideration.

At Atera, we believe in transparent pricing. We want you to fully understand what you will be paying and our value proposition. Plus, with our unique pricing model, we make growth and scalability possible without breaking the bank.

Atera uses a pay-per-technician model that starts at $149/month per technician for IT departments. There are different tiers to our services, ranging from professional to enterprises:

Tip: Learn about Atera’s IT department pricing and MSP pricing.

At SolarWinds, you can also find options for pay-per-technician pricing, as the pricing for SolarWinds Service Desk starts at $39/month per technician. For SolarWinds Observability, the monthly cost ranges from $27.50 to $5 per network device.

SolarWinds Observability pricing

Since each SolarWinds product has its own pricing structure, the total cost can add up very quickly. For example, if you manage 50 network devices with SolarWinds Observability and want access to the network observability feature, the cost is already $600/month.

This is also the major difference between Atera’s and SolarWinds’ pricing.

At Atera, our pricing is all-inclusive. You won’t need to handle numerous add-on charges and different packages to get our full capabilities. Instead, you will get everything you need in one fell swoop.

In action, our pricing model can end up saving organizations because of how quickly different add-ons can rack up. As evidenced by many of our customer reviews, offering a more all-inclusive RMM pricing model ends up saving our customers time and money.

Customer support and community

We already covered the importance of reliability in relation to IT products, and customer support is a crucial piece of the reliability equation. Both Atera and SolarWinds have strong online resources, blog posts, guides, and knowledge bases that users can access at any time of day (or night). 

Where Atera shines, however, is in our active IT community of users who support each other around the clock. Our community has received plentiful praise from users, who find it an excellent place to troubleshoot issues and receive feedback from others who have dealt with similar situations.

We are incredibly proud of the tight-knit Atera community of IT professionals, and we look forward to welcoming you into the Atera family should you choose our product. With 24/7 help available from live agents as well as the user community, plus numerous digital resources to harness self-serve learning and assistance, you are sure to find help whenever you need it.

SolarWinds also has a strong community branch of their organization, known as THWACK. It even has a forum where you can constantly find users discussing the latest and greatest in optimizing and managing their IT network.

Security and compliance

SolarWinds has a reputation as a solution that focuses on cybersecurity, but that reputation has been semi-upended in recent years, especially with the infamous SolarWinds hacking incident in 2020. 

Hackers were able to enter SolarWinds’ Orion system, impacting numerous customers across both the private and public sectors for months to come. Since then, SolarWinds has continued to develop its security offerings, but this incident has marred user perception of the product.

After this incident, many SolarWinds users on Reddit have kept discussing whether the software is trustworthy enough for IT management:

At Atera, we are increasingly focused on our commitment to compliance and security. With smart logging and reporting, as well as adherence to industry standards like MFA, we can give our customers the ultimate peace of mind so that you know your organization is not under fire from malevolent actors.

Another important part of maintaining security in the IT space is patch management. Ensuring your networks and endpoints are up-to-date with the latest patches helps ensure that nobody can take advantage of any deficits. With Atera’s automated patch management capabilities, it is easier than ever to ensure that your systems are safe and sound.

Our automation settings allow you to create customized patch management schedules for each endpoint. Not only will you gain complete control over your busy IT environment, but you will also achieve the ultimate best practices in cybersecurity by minimizing downtime and vulnerabilities throughout your network.

But don’t just take our word for it. Check out this review from a Capterra user who switched from SolarWinds to Atera due to reliability issues:

Review via Capterra

The reviewer also mentioned, “Atera has consistently delivered, and the 24/7 support has been wonderful and efficient.”

User feedback and reviews

Generally speaking, users have found Atera to be an incredibly robust suite of IT solutions. With best-in-class pricing, Atera appeals to both start-up and enterprise customers. Plus, with a quick learning curve, the setup time associated with Atera’s products is much shorter than what you might see with other platforms.

When analyzing G2 and Capterra reviews, Atera users often praise its AI and automation capabilities.
One Capterra user specifically said, “The AI Copilot function is amazing! It helps to automatically solve issues and create knowledge base articles for future references, saving so much time.”

In 2024 alone, we received G2 rewards such as “Momentum Leader,” “High Performer” in France, Canada, and across Europe, “Best Mid-Market Relationships,” “Best Mid-Market Results,” “Most Implementable,” and more. Atera is loved by users worldwide—and it’s easy to see why.

Compared to SolarWinds, customer reviews mostly relate to the platform’s monitoring capabilities, alerting, and ability to configure custom actions for fixing device issues.
As concluded, one G2 user mentioned, “SolarWinds’s settings are difficult to configure, and it’s expensive, but one of its best features is the network monitoring.”

Atera is the ultimate solution for future-proofing your IT 

As you analyze Atera vs. SolarWinds, we hope that you have found this guide helpful in highlighting the differences between the two platforms and the areas where each one shines.

While the platforms have similar pricing models, Atera offers an enhanced range of features, increased functionality, and capabilities, as well as a lower barrier to entry in terms of setup time and difficulty.

Users also enjoyed Atera’s robust online community of fellow IT professionals, who can help with troubleshooting — plus the live support available via live chat. Overall, Atera offers a strong alternative to SolarWinds and can meet the needs of enterprises and growing organizations at every stage in their growth journeys.

While you make your final decision about which IT software to purchase, it’s important to conduct thorough research. We encourage you to request demos, sign up for free trials, and speak with company representatives to gain an even fuller picture of each platform’s capabilities. Where to start? Get in touch with Atera’s sales team today!