SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor vs Cisco ThousandEyes

SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor8.9Visit Cisco ThousandEyes8.6Visit

Higher score SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor #5 in Network Performance Monitoring Software 8.9/10 Pricing on request · 30-day trial Free trial✓ 0 of 4 features Visit SolarWinds

vs

Cisco ThousandEyes #8 in Network Performance Monitoring Software 8.6/10 Pricing on request · 15-day trial Free trial✓ 0 of 4 features Visit ThousandEyes

• SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor fits best

  Established teams needing deep self-hosted NPM

• Cisco ThousandEyes fits best

  Global network and application experience monitoring

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Side by side

Feature	SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor 8.9/10 Visit ↗	Cisco ThousandEyes 8.6/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	8.9	8.6
Ranking	#5 in Network Performance Monitoring Software	#8 in Network Performance Monitoring Software
Best for	Established teams needing deep self-hosted NPM	Global network and application experience monitoring
Pricing model	Paid	Paid
Starting price	Pricing on request · 30-day trial	Pricing on request · 15-day trial
Free plan	—	—
Free trial	30 days	15 days
Free trial length	30 days	15 days
Deployment	Self-hosted	Cloud, Self-hosted, Browser extension, Desktop, Mobile
Platforms	Web	Web, Windows, macOS, Android
Support	Tickets, Community, Docs	Email, Live chat, Phone, Docs, Community · 24/7
Built for	Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise	Mid-market, Enterprise
Features SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor 0/4 · Cisco ThousandEyes 0/4
Packet loss monitoring	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Jitter monitoring	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Path visualization	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Synthetic network tests	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Specs
Monitored devices	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Deployment	Not checked yet	Hybrid
Data retention	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Our review
Pros	Maps devices, dependencies, topology, and hop-by-hop network paths Correlates metrics with PerfStack and supports capacity forecasting Monitors wired and wireless infrastructure with configurable alerts	Combines synthetic tests, path views, DNS, BGP, SNMP, and traffic analysis. Maps network topology and monitors performance from global vantage points. Connects with Webex, Teams, PagerDuty, ServiceNow, Splunk, and Slack.
Cons	Published starting price is $2,829 No free plan is available Self-hosted deployment requires internal platform ownership	No free plan is available. Pricing requires contacting sales for an annual subscription. Its broad feature set may exceed basic uptime monitoring needs.
Our verdict	SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor is self-hosted network monitoring software for IT teams managing multi-vendor environments. It automatically discovers routers, switches, firewalls, wireless controllers, access points, and other… Read the review →	Cisco ThousandEyes monitors network, application, Internet, cloud, and end-user performance for enterprise network, operations, and IT teams. The platform combines Cloud Agents, customer-managed Enterprise Agents, and Endpoint Agents with… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor — where it wins

  • Maps devices, dependencies, topology, and hop-by-hop network paths
  • Correlates metrics with PerfStack and supports capacity forecasting
  • Monitors wired and wireless infrastructure with configurable alerts

  Where it doesn't

  • Published starting price is $2,829
  • No free plan is available
  • Self-hosted deployment requires internal platform ownership

• Cisco ThousandEyes — where it wins

  • Combines synthetic tests, path views, DNS, BGP, SNMP, and traffic analysis.
  • Maps network topology and monitors performance from global vantage points.
  • Connects with Webex, Teams, PagerDuty, ServiceNow, Splunk, and Slack.

  Where it doesn't

  • No free plan is available.
  • Pricing requires contacting sales for an annual subscription.
  • Its broad feature set may exceed basic uptime monitoring needs.

• SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor8.9/10 · Pricing on request · 30-day trial

  Deep multi-vendor network monitoring for established teams that can support self-hosted software.

  Visit SolarWindsFull verdict →
• Cisco ThousandEyes8.6/10 · Pricing on request · 15-day trial

  Broad visibility for teams monitoring networks, applications, cloud services, and Internet paths.

  Visit ThousandEyesFull verdict →