Freedom251 › Application Performance & Observability - Midmarket Software
SolarWinds Observability
What SolarWinds Observability is
SolarWinds Observability combines application, digital experience, database, infrastructure, network, and log data to help teams detect issues, improve performance, and troubleshoot services. Its SaaS offering unifies logs, metrics, traces, database queries, and user experience data. SolarWinds says AIOps-enhanced insights prioritize problems, filter noise, and provide real-time visibility into application and service health. Supported application technologies include .NET, Java, Node.js, PHP, Python, Ruby, and Go. Listed databases include MongoDB, MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, Redis, and Amazon Aurora. The service supports OpenTelemetry integrations and direct OTel ingestion, distributed tracing, transaction tracing, dependency mapping, log correlation, and real-user monitoring. Buyers can choose SaaS or self-hosted deployment, including cloud, data-center, hybrid, behind-firewall, AWS, Azure, or GCP arrangements described for the offerings. Self-Hosted includes integrations for AWS, Database Performance Analyzer, Microsoft Azure, Security Observability, and Service Desk. Pricing starts at $8/mo (annual), with a 30-day trial. SolarWinds was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.
Who it suits
SolarWinds Observability suits teams monitoring applications, infrastructure, networks, databases, logs, and digital experiences across SaaS or self-hosted environments.
What it does well
- Unifies logs, metrics, traces, and user data
- OpenTelemetry integrations and direct ingestion
- SaaS and self-hosted deployment options
- 30-day fully functional trial
- Real-user and synthetic monitoring plans
What to know first
- No free plan
- Pricing uses different usage units
- Self-Hosted licensing is subscription-only
- Some plans require annual billing
Limits
There is no free plan. The Essentials plan is $8 a month per node and lists network performance monitoring, server and application management, log monitoring and analysis, and IP address monitoring and management; higher listed capabilities are in other plans.
Plans
| Plan | Billed and limits | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Digital Experience Observability - Synthetic | Per 10 uptime or 2 transaction checks; multi-year contracts billed annually · Synthetic monitoring for availability and performance | $10 a month |
| Digital Experience Observability - Real User Monitoring | Per 100,000 page views; multi-year contracts billed annually · Real user monitoring of website experience | $10 a month |
| Advanced | Per node per month; multi-year contracts billed annually · Everything in Essentials · ML-powered anomaly-based alerting · security vulnerability dashboard · flow monitoring and analysis | $14 a month |
| Network and Infrastructure Observability | Per node per month; multi-year contracts billed annually · Network devices and hosts (1:1) · cloud services (3:1) · containers (10:1) | $15.75 a month |
| Premier | Per node per month; multi-year contracts billed annually · Everything in Advanced · storage performance monitoring · web performance monitoring · Incident Response user licenses | $17.50 a month |
| Application Observability | Per Service; multi-year contracts billed annually · Real-time application metrics · distributed tracing · code profiling | $27.50 a month |
| Log Observability | Per GB per month; multi-year contracts billed annually · Log ingestion sold in increments of 1 GB/month · retention from 1 to 60 days | $5 a month |
| Database Observability | Per database instance; multi-year contracts billed annually · Entitlement based on daily high watermark of active database instances | $70 a month |
The first 8 of 9 plans, as solarwinds.com lists them, read 7 Oct 2026. The maker's own page has the final word. Every plan
Getting started
- Visit the SolarWinds Observability website.
- Choose SaaS or Self-Hosted deployment.
- Select a listed plan suited to its billing unit and included capabilities.
- Start the advertised 30-day trial for SaaS or Self-Hosted.
- Deploy in a cloud, data center, hybrid setup, or supported Self-Hosted location.
Verdict
SolarWinds Observability covers multiple monitoring domains in one service, with deployment choices and integrations for common application and database technologies. Its plan structure varies by node, service, database, data volume, checks, or page views, so requirements determine the relevant cost.
Questions
How much does SolarWinds Observability cost?
Pricing starts at $8/mo (annual). Listed plans are priced from $5 a month for Log Observability to $70 a month for Database Observability, with different billing units.
Is there a free plan or trial?
There is no free plan. SolarWinds advertises a fully functional 30-day trial for Observability SaaS and Observability Self-Hosted.
Which platforms does it support?
Listed platforms are API, Linux, self-hosted, web, and Windows.
Can it ingest OpenTelemetry data?
Yes. SolarWinds Observability SaaS supports OpenTelemetry integrations and direct ingestion of OTel data.
Is SolarWinds Observability available as self-hosted software?
Yes. Self-Hosted can run behind a firewall or be self-hosted in AWS, Microsoft Azure, or GCP.
What security and compliance information does SolarWinds list?
SolarWinds lists SOC 2 Type 2 reports for Observability SaaS and describes ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification covering its products and services.
Facts from SolarWinds Observability's own pages
- AIOps
- SolarWinds says its AIOps-enhanced insights prioritize problems, filter noise, and provide real-time visibility into application and service health. · solarwinds.com, 7 Oct 2026
- Deployments
- The product offers SaaS and self-hosted options, and the company describes deploying in the cloud, in a data center, or in a hybrid setup. · solarwinds.com, 7 Oct 2026
- Founded
- 1999 · solarwinds.com, 28 Sept 2026
- Headquarters
- Austin, Texas, United States · solarwinds.com, 28 Sept 2026
- OpenTelemetry
- SolarWinds Observability SaaS supports OpenTelemetry integrations and direct ingestion of OTel data. · documentation.solarwinds.com, 7 Oct 2026
- Purpose
- SolarWinds Observability SaaS combines application, digital experience, database, infrastructure, network, and log data to help teams detect issues, optimize performance, and troubleshoot. · solarwinds.com, 7 Oct 2026
- Security and compliance
- SolarWinds lists SOC 2 Type 2 reports for SolarWinds Observability SaaS and describes ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification covering its products and services. · solarwinds.com, 7 Oct 2026
- Self-hosted deployment locations
- SolarWinds says Self-Hosted can run behind a firewall or be self-hosted in AWS, Microsoft Azure, or GCP. · solarwinds.com, 7 Oct 2026
- Self-hosted integrations
- SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted has built-in integrations for AWS, Database Performance Analyzer, Microsoft Azure, Security Observability, and Service Desk. · solarwinds.com, 7 Oct 2026
- Self-hosted licensing
- Self-Hosted licensing is node-based, subscription-only, billed annually, and offered in Essentials, Advanced, and Premier editions. · solarwinds.com, 7 Oct 2026
- Supported application technologies
- The SaaS sources page lists .NET, Java, Node.js, PHP, Python, Ruby, and Go services. · solarwinds.com, 7 Oct 2026
- Supported databases
- The SaaS sources page lists MongoDB, MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, Redis, and Amazon Aurora. · solarwinds.com, 7 Oct 2026
- Telemetry
- The SaaS offering unifies logs, metrics, traces, database queries, and user experience data. · solarwinds.com, 7 Oct 2026
- Trial
- SolarWinds advertises a fully functional 30-day trial for Observability SaaS and Observability Self-Hosted. · solarwinds.com, 7 Oct 2026
Where SolarWinds Observability stands on Freedom251
- Application Performance & Observability - Midmarket Software#17 of 26
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- Distributed Tracing Tools#26 of 32
- Observability Platforms#25 of 30
- Container Monitoring#42 of 49
- Application Performance Monitoring#32 of 37