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Spotlight vs. SQL Server Business Intelligence Manager

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Spotlight

    Score7 out of 10
    N/ASpotlight from Quest Software is a database performance monitoring option.N/A

    SQL Server BI Manager

    Score7 out of 10
    N/AHouston-based Idera's SQL Server Business Intelligence Manager is an IT infrastructure monitoring option.N/A
    Pricing
    SpotlightSQL Server BI Manager
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    SpotlightSQL Server BI Manager
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Features
    SpotlightSQL Server BI Manager
    SQL Performance Monitoring
    Comparison of SQL Performance Monitoring features of Spotlight and SQL Server Business Intelligence Manager
    Feature
    Spotlight
    7.7
    3 Ratings
    8% below category average
    SQL Server Business Intelligence Manager
    7.8
    4 Ratings
    7% below category average
    Performance dashboard8.83 Ratings8.04 Ratings
    Intelligent alerting8.03 Ratings8.54 Ratings
    Top SQL6.62 Ratings8.54 Ratings
    Historical trend data8.02 Ratings8.03 Ratings
    Virtualization support7.02 Ratings6.03 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    SpotlightSQL Server BI Manager
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    SolarWinds SQL Sentry
    Score9 out of 10
    SolarWinds SQL Sentry
    Score9 out of 10
    Enterprises
    SolarWinds SQL Sentry
    Score9 out of 10
    SolarWinds SQL Sentry
    Score9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    SpotlightSQL Server BI Manager
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.0
    (4 ratings)
    7.0
    (5 ratings)
    Usability
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.8
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    SpotlightSQL Server BI Manager
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Quest Software
    Spotlight’s ability to consolidate data from various entities and provide insightful reports is highly beneficial. It streamlines financial reporting, allowing professionals to focus on advisory services and strategic decision-making.Small businesses, nonprofits, and organizations that need regular board packs or executive summaries find Spotlight useful. Less Appropriate: Certain industries (e.g., specialized manufacturing, healthcare, or research) have unique reporting needs. Spotlight’s generic templates may not cover all industry-specific metrics or compliance requirements.
    Incentivized
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    IDERA (an Idera, Inc. company)
    SQL Server [Business Intelligence] Manager is useful for tracking performance across SSIS, SSRS and SSA and have the data represented in dashboards. It helps improve performance and helps end users. However, several features are redundant for smaller organization that can use the tools that comes with existing Microsoft products. These features also takes time to learn and use.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Quest Software
    • Great SQL server monitoring
    • Rewind and playback of previous times
    Incentivized
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    IDERA (an Idera, Inc. company)
    • Types of alerts
    • Dashboard view
    • Configurable Alerts
    Incentivized
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    Cons
    Quest Software
    • My only complaint was the cost.
    Incentivized
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    IDERA (an Idera, Inc. company)
    • Lacks versioning control.
    • Lacks support/native driver for alternative database.
    • Only plays well with other Microsoft products.
    Incentivized
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    Usability
    Quest Software
    the platform offers a clean, easy to use interface. You can customize reports and dashboard. Integration is also pretty good, you can integrate to Xero, QBO and MYOB and excel spreadsheets. It also offers very broad supporting documents and webinars. There are only two downside of Spotlight; learning curve (it could be a bit difficult at the beginning to learn the system) and price point (For small businesses, Spotlight Reporting can be seen as relatively expensive compared to other reporting tools)
    Incentivized
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    IDERA (an Idera, Inc. company)
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Quest Software
    I've never had to contact support, as of yet I have had no issues or problems with the tool. This is after 5 years of use.
    Incentivized
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    IDERA (an Idera, Inc. company)
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Quest Software
    I think Dell is better with its dashboard and ease of use, but SQL Sentry is better at customization. We used Spotlight at my previous company, and SQLSentry at my current company.
    Incentivized
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    IDERA (an Idera, Inc. company)
    SQL Server Business Intelligence Manager does what SQL Server Management Studio should already do natively. So it actually fills up important gaps Microsoft left in its product.
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    Quest Software
    • Spotlight is reasonably inexpensive, and any one of the multiple things we use it for more than justifies the cost.
    Incentivized
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    IDERA (an Idera, Inc. company)
    • More efficiencies throughout the BI stack
    • Less employees needed for monitoring all the BI processing
    • Proactive error handling
    Incentivized
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    ScreenShots