# SolarWinds SQL Sentry Reviews 2026. Verified Reviews, Pros & Cons | Capterra > Is SolarWinds SQL Sentry the right Database Monitoring solution for you? Explore 16 verified user reviews from people in industries like yours to make a confident choice. Source: https://www.capterra.com/p/86868/SQL-Sentry/reviews --- SolarWinds SQL Sentry 4.7 (16) [View alternatives](https://www.capterra.com/p/86868/SQL-Sentry/alternatives/) Provider data verified by our Software Research team, and reviews moderated by our Reviews Verification team. [Learn more](https://www.capterra.com/our-story/) * * * Last updated March 13th, 2026 # Reviews of SolarWinds SQL Sentry Ease of use 4.1 Customer Service 4.8 ## Showing most helpful reviews Showing 1-16 of 16 Reviews Sort by: Most Helpful Rating Company Size Reviewer's Role Length of Use Frequency of Use DK Derek K. Database Administrator Health, Wellness and Fitness Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "SQLSentry is the monitoring tool for SQL Server." March 7, 2019 5.0 Whenever we have had any performance problems, SQLSentry has allowed me to get ahead of the problem and assisted in solving it quickly. Pros The dashboard gives a good overall view of each instance. I have been able to identify problems before helpdesk notified us. The Top SQL allows me to quickly identify which query/application is having a problem. The event chain, while rudimentary, still makes maintenance easier. Overall, this is the best monitoring tool I have seen for a DBMS. Cons The advisory conditions are difficult to manage. There is a steep learning curve in how to set them up and manage them. The event chains need some enhancements. Review Source ER Eric R. DBA Defense & Space Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Great tool, limited active funtionality" March 5, 2019 5.0 I do like the product and have used it to find issues on many occasions. Originally it was my go-to to find all the issues. Now I tend to query the DB directly and turn to SS when I am not finding what I am looking for.... In some cases where I have an idea what the issue is I will confirm first with SS. I do wish it had more "active" functionality. Active doesnt have to run anything, but providing a script to run to dig deeper would be more helpful. Pros It helps find issues on your databases (across all databases you are licenced for). It can be helpful with new code to see how it will impact the database performance. Cons There are errors or warnings that are posted that are transient. The overall score can be impacted negatively by transient states.... not that I know how to get arround that. There are errors reported and when you try to get more information the details are a little cryptic. In some cases the issue being reported is inconsequential. There are some errors that are reported, but the source of the error is not easily found... it requires additional queries in SSMS to find the underlying issue. In some cases, it would be helpfull to have a drop down menu or a debug box to look into some of the more common issues. Review Source RG Ranula G. Associate Software engineer Information Technology and Services Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "SQL sentry for Database Server Management and Database Management " March 14, 2022 3.0 I can recommend this tool as a productive tool and also as a effective investment for a company for server management and database management Pros As a PHP Laravel developer I am using SQL server management tools daily, fortunately I found this interesting software tool SQL sentry. As a tool this provide details of queries and also it would make easy to join tables and other db operations with increasing efficiency. When it comes to querying I highly recommend this tool to software developers, It would helpful for junior developers and also for seniors. For Server management this will provide a feature to monitor the performances with graphs. Cons This tool will spend a much CPU memory, Most of the personal laptops will getting slow when using, some times that may cause to decrease productivity. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Database Architect Financial Services Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "What a change" November 4, 2018 5.0 3 years aliens involved in an evaluation of SQL Sentry. We found the product to be quite lacking. Fast forward to 12 months ago, I decided to give Sentryone another chance. I was SUPER pleased with the turnaround. Along with the performance of the product, SenteyOne customer service moved us to purchase this product! Pros The customization and ease of mining the data. The senteyone team is willing to share all that they can to make this product your own. The ability to add custom alerts removed the need for my team to start rolling their own solutions for data gathering. I also,like the way that I can give access to my development teams to see history of jobs and queries allowing my team to focus on other pressing matters. Cons The software could seam daunting to get started. The fact that it is so customizable could give some user trepidation in using the software. Maybe different editions of the software could ease smaller shops into using the product. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Database/Marketing Analyst Marketing and Advertising Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Rest API alone was worth it" November 2, 2018 5.0 Overall it has been good working with them. CSR at the company is hands down a great resource and extremely helpful when I had an issue or just needed help getting something to work Pros We decided to go with SentryOne mainly for the RestSource API connector. This allowed us to automate pulling down Google Adwords and Transaction data across our clients for Analytics purposes. In the past we would have a bunch of reports emailed to us where we would need to drop them manually to a folder and then run a package to import and create our final tables. Cons This con is not really about the software itself but more of the documentation on how best to use all of the components. It's hard to find good documentation so that you can go forward and ,work on all the components on your own. Review Source PP Peter P. It coordinator Construction Used the software for: 2+ years ### "SQL Sentry for when you need it" October 6, 2022 5.0 Overall we're a satisfied customer of Sentry one. It features a great toolset for troubleshooting issues. Pros The amount of detail it logs in the features it provides to do a deep dive analysis of performance issues in a SQL Database Cons It can be a bit overwhelming. The user interface could benefit from an update so that users can navigate their way more easily around the application. Reason for choosing SolarWinds SQL Sentry Amount of features Review Source BM Blake M. Database Administrator Chemicals Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Great tool with great support." October 26, 2018 5.0 I am extremely happy with my experience using SentryOne even with some of our holdups. This tool has proven useful time and time again. It has helped us troubleshoot active issues and find resolutions quickly. The value it has provided greatly outweighs its pitfalls. Pros SentryOne provides both useful information about our environment as well as accurate alerting for critical issues. The tool collects a lot of information from the servers that we use daily to troubleshoot issues and correct problem areas. The Conditions and Alerts allows us to respond to critical issues quickly by allowing multiple response options to a number of conditions. Cons Our group has had some issues with implementing SentryOne. The environment we support is very large and spread throughout the globe. Sometimes in very remote regions. This has caused us some issues with having all of our sites being monitored efficiently. However, SentryOne's support team worked with us to get these sites monitored and continue to work with us to improve the tools performance. Review Source KS Kris S. DBA Construction Used the software for: 2+ years ### "SQL Sentry" February 28, 2019 4.0 SQL Sentry saves alot of time, and nicely organises pertinant information for SQL Server performance. I can find poor performing queries faster than using my own sql scripts. It helps me with monitoring the general health of the SQL server, trends of performance and finding which procedures need work. Pros A quick way to find performance problems, and the software provides lots of information to solve them too. Cons This is a difficult question, i had to dig deep. The mouse scroll button does not always work within some forms. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer IT Infrastructure Manager Chemicals Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "SQL Server monitoring leader" March 1, 2019 4.0 SQL Sentry is now our go-to platform for monitoring SQL Server and troubleshooting SQL Server performance. Our developers use the SQL Sentry client as well and are able to investigate issues on their own without always having to rely on our Database Administrators. Pros SQL Sentry provides the most comprehensive view of SQL Server performance available. It allows us to very quickly identify performance issues and identify a root cause. Cons SQL Sentry can be challenging to set up for very large enterprises. Review Source RG Rob G. Architect Construction Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Specifically, Plan Explorer" February 12, 2019 5.0 Pros It's free, it provides a ton of extra information (in a much easier to read format), and it integrates super cleanly with SSMS. It doesn't require Management Studio, but it's seamless to open a plan in SSMS and then view the details in Plan Explorer Cons It would be nice if it more closely integrated with the metadata in SQL. If I open a SSMS query plan in Plan Explorer, it won't give me index information unless I create the estimated plan in Explorer also. It makes you copy the query text over. Minor complaint, especially because it's an incredible value for the money. No reason NOT to use it. Review Source ES Eric S. Team lead, DBA Computer Software Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Great product, better people" March 3, 2019 5.0 Pros The software provides everything needed to manage and monitor servers, but the people and support staff that operate the company are their best asset. Cons More features out of the box and less customization per environment. Review Source jL jingheng L. DBA Mechanical or Industrial Engineering Used the software for: 2+ years ### "DBA" February 22, 2019 5.0 very useful tools for MSSQL DB monitoring Pros very good tools, able to check history, and generate report Cons didn't see yet.installation needs some pre-requisite Review Source LE Luis E. Database Director Outsourcing/Offshoring Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "SQL Sentry is a great tools for DBAs" February 24, 2019 5.0 Currently we are using SQL Sentry to monitor critical business databases. It has helped show us what is actually happening on the SQL Server. Has helped us identified bottlenecks, what are our highest peaks times during the day. In overall it has greatly helped our DBA department do more efficiently their job. Pros Ease of use The dashboard presentation Reports Cons The way blocking is presented sometimes is a little confusing Review Source rV raveesh V. SQL DBA III Health, Wellness and Fitness Used the software for: 2+ years ### "SQL DBA III" February 25, 2019 4.0 Best support flexibility and customization on alerts Pros lot of customization on alerts. Free plan explore. Cons sometime Agent went offline without alert and have rebuilt counters on the server. Review Source SM Stephen M. DBA Information Technology and Services Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Comprehensive" March 1, 2019 5.0 Just started using it hoping to resolve tuning issues. Currently focused on alerting. Pros It has everything you could possibly think of. Cons It is somewhat overwhelming at first. Initial alerting out of the box settings you can easily be swamped with emails. Review Source RZ Rick Z. Director of IT Wholesale Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Great SQL Monitoring tool for IT" February 23, 2019 5.0 Very helpful tool. Helps us learn dates/times when SQL performance is impacted otherwise unknowingly. Pros Alerts and Dashboards and the number of days it can display. Cons There is just so much to review it's hard sometimes to tell what should be the main focus when looking for problems. Its a lack of training on our part not SentryOne Review Source Similar Products Featured