SOLARWINDS ALTERNATIVE
The SolarWinds alternative: DPA and SQL Sentry in one view, plus the dollar cost of every query
Everything you use SolarWinds DPA and SQL Sentry for, from performance to blocking to waits, plus what neither shows: incidents replayed with ranked fixes, capacity forecasts before you run short, and the dollar cost of every query. Agentless, with one published price and no multi-year lock-in.
No credit card · 30-day free trial · Cancel anytime
WHY TEAMS SWITCH
The big-vendor trap
SolarWinds tools monitor well. But teams leave for the same three reasons.
// cost
Lock-in and
price hikes
A starting price, then a quote for what you’ll actually pay.
// blind spot
Monitoring, but no dollars
They tell you a query is slow. They never tell you what it costs to run, so you can’t take a number to finance.
// two tools
Two products, one problem
DPA is strong on wait-time analysis and SQL Sentry on top SQL, so teams end up switching between tools to see the whole picture.
NO TRAPS
No three-year lock-in. No surprise renewal.
One published price per server or host, with unlimited SQL Server instances on each, billed annually. Every feature is included and there are no setup fees. The opposite of the multi-year contract you’re trying to escape.
SIDE BY SIDE
WISdom vs SolarWinds DPA vs SQL Sentry
The same monitoring depth, plus what neither SolarWinds tool has.
| Capability | WISdom | SolarWinds DPA | SQL Sentry |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monitoring and diagnostics | |||
| Real-time performance monitoring | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Blocking and deadlock analysis | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Wait-time analysis and top SQL | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Top SQL ranked by dollar cost | ✓ | by wait time | by duration and resources |
| ML anomaly detection | ✓ | ✓ | custom alert conditions |
| Incident replay with ranked fixes ("What Happened?") | ✓ | history, no ranked fixes | history, no ranked fixes |
| AI insights (WISdom Advisor) | ✓ | SolarWinds AI | not offered |
| Capacity and workload | |||
| Capacity planning and right-sizing | ✓ | storage forecasting | storage forecasting |
| Workload Compare (any two periods or environments) | ✓ | partial | partial |
| Pre/post-migration analysis | ✓ | not offered | migration testing |
| Schema-change impact analysis | ✓ | not offered | not offered |
| Cost optimization | |||
| Dollar cost of every query and stored procedure | ✓ | not offered | not offered |
| Tuning recommendations | ✓ | ✓ | query and index analysis |
| Recommendations ranked by dollar savings | ✓ | not offered | not offered |
| Chargeback and showback by team or app | ✓ | not offered | not offered |
| Buying and licensing | |||
| Free trial | 30 days, no credit card | 14 days | 14 days |
| Full price published, every feature included | ✓ | starting price, tiers by quote | starting price, tiers by quote |
| Contract term | annual, no multi-year lock-in | multi-year terms | multi-year terms |
| Licensing unit | per server, unlimited SQL Server instances | subscription, by quantity tier | subscription, by quantity tier |
Based on each vendor's publicly available product and pricing information as of October 2026. Product names and trademarks belong to their respective owners.
*Already running SQL Sentry or DPA? Add WISdom on top for the cost of technology your finance team needs.
WHY WISDOM WINS
The best of both, plus what neither has
Your DBAs get fewer alerts and faster answers. Your platform owner gets a capacity plan. Finance gets a number.
// analytics
90% fewer notifications
ML anomaly detection flags what’s actually unusual, not every threshold crossing, so the alerts that reach your team are worth acting on.
// incidents
What Happened? answers it
Replay an incident minute by minute, see only the checks that flagged and the statement behind them, and get ranked steps to fix it.
// best of both
Wait stats and top SQL, together
DPA is strong on wait-time analysis. SQL Sentry is strong on top SQL. WISdom puts both in one view, from the whole estate down to the exact instance, query, or session.
// capacity
See the shortfall coming
Capacity forecasting shows when a server will run short while there’s still time to plan, and right-sizing shows where you’re paying for headroom you don’t use.
// workload
Prove the change worked
Workload Compare, pre/post-migration analysis, and schema-change impact put the before and after side by side, so a release or a migration comes with evidence.
// cost
Every query has a price
The dollar cost of every statement and stored procedure, rolled up into chargeback and showback by team and app, so you can prove the savings of a fix.
THE SUPPORT YOU REMEMBER
Miss the old SQL Sentry support?
WISdom is supported by US-based SQL Server experts, including engineers from the former SQL Sentry support team, with a 95%+ CSAT.
FIND IT · FIX IT · PROVE IT
Monitoring tells you it's slow.
WISdom tells you what to do.
FIND IT
The expensive query, ranked
Every query ranked by cost, duration, reads, and waits, so you fix what matters, not what’s loudest.
FIX IT
The fix, in the code
See the costly query, the missing index, the regression, and stop expensive code before production.
PROVE IT
The dollars saved
Before and after, converted to dollars: the number SolarWinds never gave you.
“My renewal jumped to $13,000 per year for fewer licenses, and required a three-year commitment,” said Courtney. “When I added up the true annual cost, it came out to nearly $24,000 for the same 11 licenses I now have with Fortified.”
Courtney Woolum, Senior SQL Database Administrator (DBA)
Matrix Pointe Software
FAQ
Switching from SolarWinds, answered
Is WISdom a good SolarWinds DPA alternative?
Yes. WISdom covers the same performance, blocking, and wait-stat monitoring DPA is used for, then adds query-level cost attribution, capacity planning, and migration analysis. It’s monitoring with cost optimization built in, not just another dashboard.
How is WISdom different from SQL Sentry?
SQL Sentry monitors performance. WISdom monitors performance too, then puts a dollar figure on every query, stored procedure, and workload, so you can prove the savings of a fix, not just spot a slow query. It’s one edition, priced per server or host with unlimited SQL Server instances on each, with every feature included and no multi-year lock-in.
What does WISdom cost compared with SolarWinds?
At $995/year per monitored server/host, WISdom is one price: unlimited instances per host, every feature included, and no multi-year lock-in. SolarWinds prices by quote, so compare against your own agreement and invoice.
Can WISdom run alongside DPA or SQL Sentry?
Yes. WISdom is agentless and connects read-only, so nothing is installed on your SQL Server instances and it doesn’t interfere with your current tool. Many teams that already run DPA or SQL Sentry add WISdom on top of it, because WISdom complements the tools you have by showing the cost of technology for your finance and FinOps teams. Most teams run both during the 30-day trial and compare what each one tells them.
How does WISdom license Azure SQL and failover clusters?
One WISdom license covers a server or VM with unlimited SQL Server instances, one PaaS instance, ten Azure SQL databases, or one failover cluster instance licensed on the active node only.
See what SolarWinds never showed you
No credit card · 30-day free trial · Cancel anytime