NinjaOne vs SolarWinds

No matter what your IT department looks like, it’s crucial to choose an IT management platform that aligns with your goals, needs, and budget. But with so many software options on the market these days, finding the perfect match can be a challenge. 

You have probably heard of SolarWinds and NinjaOne, two of the leading IT management platforms that own a significant piece of today’s crowded market. With features and capabilities specifically designed for the needs of modern IT departments, these two platforms often top the list of preferred tools as IT teams evaluate the best solution for their needs. 

To gain a better understanding of which IT management platform best fits your unique goals and requirements, it’s important to start by generating a complete picture of your use cases, budget, and priorities—this will help you make an informed and constructive decision. In this article, we will outline a side-by-side comparison of NinjaOne vs SolarWinds, making it easy to delineate the pros and cons of each platform.

User interface and usability

NinjaOne and SolarWinds each provide a range of essential functions and capabilities for their users, including remote monitoring and management (RMM) and security features. While some features are similar to both, these two platforms are built with entirely different dashboards and user interfaces (UI), rendering them ultimately quite distinct.

NinjaOne dashboard (image via Atera)

Above, you’ll see an image of NinjaOne’s dashboard. Now, take a look at the SolarWinds dashboard, which many users find more dated and less intuitive:

SolarWinds dashboard (image via Atera)

While some long-term users of SolarWinds appreciate the all-in-one accessibility of the dashboard, others feel it has a steeper learning curve and is more difficult to navigate than NinjaOne’s version. 
There are, of course, other options on the market. For example, Atera customers favor our user-friendly and intuitive interface that offers a ‘single pane of glass’ overview via the dashboard.

Features and capabilities

NinjaOne and Solarwinds are both well-known IT platforms that offer a strong variety of features. However, they are geared toward different client bases. NinjaOne provides services for both MSPs and IT departments. However, many reviewers feel that NinjaOne is more focused on enterprise-level clients, leaving small and midsize businesses in the lurch and excluding them from an affordable pricing model.

SolarWinds offers solutions for small business and enterprise clients as well as clients in the public sector—however, their offerings are made specifically for IT departments rather than managed service providers (MSPs). Other products on the market, like Atera, offer comprehensive solutions for both types of IT providers  – MSPs and IT departments, no matter their size. Atera has gained a strong foothold with small and midsize businesses looking for an affordable, functional solution that is targeted toward their unique needs.

Let’s talk about features: SolarWinds comes equipped with features including observability, network management, systems management, database management, IT service management, application management, IT security, and more.  Within these categories, SolarWinds sells individual products including SolarWinds Observability, Network Performance Monitor, NetFlow Traffic Analyzer, Service Desk, AppOptics, and more. How does that stack up to NinjaOne? How does that stack up to NinjaOne?

NinjaOne receives consistent praise for its range of features, which include endpoint task automation, script deployment, software management, flexible reporting, real-time monitoring, and more.  NinjaOne has some features in common with Atera, including patch management, remote control, endpoint management, backup, and help desk. 
NinjaOne, like Atera, also offers a strong selection of integrations, including OneLogin, Bitdefender, Splashtop, Slack, Webroot, BrightGauge, and more. Atera builds on this collection of integrations with options like Chocolatey, IT Glue, Cynet, Emsisoft, ESET, Domotz, and many others. SolarWinds has some integrations, but they are mainly focused on its service desk product and include items like Amazon Web Services, Google Analytics, OneLogin, and Zapier

While both NinjaOne and SolarWinds have robust RMM offerings, neither has made significant progress with smart automation driven by AI (artificial intelligence), which competitors like Atera have brought to market.

Atera’s AI capabilities are far and away the best of this bunch. While NinjaOne and SolarWinds have shared press releases about their AI features being in development, Atera is currently using AI-powered IT functionality to make clients’ lives easier and more efficient every day. A great example is our help desk and PSA tools. AI features make ticket resolution a breeze – and that’s just one way we are changing the game and staying ahead of competitors like SolarWinds and NinjaOne.

Performance and reliability

Whether you work as part of an internal IT department, or serve many different clients as a managed service provider, IT pros universally understand the importance of performance and reliability. When you are struggling with excessive downtime, problems like security risks can arise. Instead of gambling on the security of your company or client, start off on the right foot by choosing a platform with high scores in reliability. 

NinjaOne has garnered a strong reputation for reliability. It offers many different support channels for users who are navigating troubleshooting and other issues. SolarWinds likewise boasts strong scores when it comes to reliability and performance, and customers find their support team accessible and helpful. 
Atera, like SolarWinds, offers fully encrypted data backups to the cloud. We also offer the option of a local backup at Atera. Equally as important as backing up your data, recovering your data with both Atera and SolarWinds is easy.

Pricing and value for money

As you choose between IT management platforms such as NinjaOne and SolarWinds, budget is clearly an important factor. However, NinjaOne does not share its pricing transparently online, making it more challenging for IT professionals to determine whether or not the platform fits their budget. At SolarWinds, you can find pricing information online—but with a piecemeal pricing structure, determining total costs is where the challenge lies. 

SolarWinds does offer an option for pay-per-technician pricing, reflecting a welcome trend in the IT industry. Their products start at $39/month per technician for SolarWinds Service Desk, but remember that with SolarWinds, you are almost guaranteed to need more than one product to achieve full functionality. 

There are other platforms on the market that combine pay-per-technician pricing and complete functionality, without the hassle of add-ons and unexpected charges. 
At Atera, our scalable pay-per-technician model starts at $129 per month per technician. It includes all of the platform’s top features, including RMM and PSA, as well as unlimited endpoints, and a host of integrations. Atera is committed to transparent pricing, ensuring that you always understand what you are paying for. This structure allows us to support our clients as they grow and scale, without worrying about adding costs per endpoint.

Customer support and community

We’ve already discussed the importance of reliability and performance in IT management software. However, as any IT pro knows, effective customer support is a critical piece of the reliability equation. NinjaOne and SolarWinds both offer a library of online resources, like blog posts, guides, and tutorials, available for users on-demand at any hour of the day (or even late at night, if you’re burning the midnight oil on an urgent IT task). 
Both platforms, however, have received complaints from users about the lack of human support and responsiveness. Other IT management platforms in today’s market, including Atera, offer live online community boards that make it easy to collaborate with fellow users and build online relationships with like-minded IT professionals. While NinjaOne does not offer this feature, SolarWinds has a somewhat comparable resource known as THWACK. 

Security and compliance

There is no avoiding it: security is a crucial factor when considering the right RMM software for your team. For MSPs and IT departments alike, maintaining security and compliance for the endpoints under your jurisdiction is a key tenet of the job. 

As you consider the differences between SolarWinds and NinjaOne, take note that SolarWinds names ‘security’ as one of its top concerns, whereas NinjaOne barely broaches the issue in its description of RMM offerings. That said, both platforms have strong protections in place, and users report that both employ consistent updates to ensure ongoing security compliance. 

Although security is not a native focus of NinjaOne’s product, it does offer a few security-related integrations to address this area of concern, including Webroot, Vanta, Bitdefender, CrowdStrike, and SentinelOne. In the “IT Security” segment of SolarWinds’ products, the company highlights its ability to reduce attack surface, improve compliance, and manage access. These focus areas are certainly important to security, but many users have doubts about SolarWinds’ capabilities after recent developments in the IT space…
While SolarWinds has long had a security-focused reputation, that image was challenged with the 2020 SolarWinds hacking incident. Hackers were able to enter SolarWinds’ Orion system, impacting customers across the private and public sectors for months afterward. Since then, SolarWinds has continued enhancing its security, but this incident has left a dent in user confidence.

What about security certifications? While NinjaOne is SOC2 certified and holds a number of user feedback awards from places like TrustRadius and G2, the company does not hold many other security compliance certifications. Atera, on the other hand, is GDPR compliant, AICPA SOC2 compliant, and HIPAA compliant. We also hold numerous ISO certifications, including 27001, 27017, 27018, and 27032. Now that’s a vote of confidence!

User feedback and reviews

NinjaOne has received strong ratings on software review sites for ease of use, scripting capabilities, and patch management, as well as remote access. However, some users have had issues with missing features, device limitations, and reporting issues. 

Reviewers who are commenting on SolarWinds seem to have positive feelings about the features that are offered. However, many users note that update issues, inadequate reporting, excessive downtime, and poor user interface were major concerns.

NinjaOne vs SolarWinds, the bottom line

As you consider NinjaOne vs SolarWinds, we hope this guide is helpful in highlighting similarities and differences. While both platforms have plenty of RMM capabilities and security tools, their pricing structures (ranging from inaccessible to piecemeal) make it challenging to understand total costs and determine which one aligns with your team’s budget. 

Keep in mind that other competitors on the market are committed to affordable, scalable services, robust online support communities, and ongoing innovations powered by artificial intelligence. Atera is one such NinjaOne and SolarWinds competitor, and we hope you will keep us in mind as you continue your search. 
Before you make a final decision about the right IT management software, it is important to conduct thorough research. Some of the best strategies to help you include requesting demos, signing on for trials, and speaking with company representatives to garner more information about each platform’s capabilities. At Atera, our team is ready to answer your questions and help you in the decision-making process. Contact us today.