ShellYard

Comparison · SolarWinds ETS

ETS is $1,995/year.
ShellYard Pro is $24/month.

Here's what you get, what you give up, and what you gain.

ShellYard network diagnostics tool grid — every utility in one window.

Tool-by-tool overlap

Mapping publicly documented SolarWinds ETS tools to their ShellYard equivalents. Rows marked Adds are tools ShellYard ships that ETS doesn't.

ShellYard adds SolarWinds-only Parity
SolarWinds ETS ShellYard Notes
Subnet Calculator Subnet Calculator Direct equivalent, modern UI.
Ping Sweep Ping Sweep Direct equivalent.
Port Scanner Port Scanner Direct equivalent.
DNS Analyzer / DNS Audit DNS Combined into one tool.
TFTP Server TFTP Server Direct equivalent.
Syslog Server Syslog Viewer Direct equivalent.
MIB Walker / MIB Viewer SNMP Browser Combined tool.
Switch Port Mapper MAC Tracker Modern reimplementation.
MAC Address Discovery MAC Lookup + MAC Tracker Two tools cover this.
Trace Route MTR Modern continuous traceroute.
Bandwidth Gauges Bandwidth Monitor Direct equivalent.
Real-Time Interface Monitor Bandwidth Monitor Direct equivalent.
Config Compare Config Diff Direct equivalent.
Config Editor / Viewer / Uploader / Downloader Config Backup + Bulk Command Combined workflow.
SSH terminal ShellYard adds.
RDP client ShellYard adds.
AV Control (Crestron, Extron, Q-SYS) ShellYard adds.
PoE Budget Calculator ShellYard adds.
HTTP REST Client ShellYard adds.
Encoders / Decoders ShellYard adds.
JSON / YAML Formatter ShellYard adds.
AWS SSM Session Manager ShellYard adds.
Active Directory ShellYard adds.
AI assistant (Magellan) ShellYard adds.
Wake-on-LAN Niche, low-usage; removed from ShellYard.
WAN Killer (traffic generator) Specialized tool; not in ShellYard.

What ShellYard adds

Capabilities that aren't in SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset at all.

  • SSH and RDP terminals
  • AI assistant for command help and output explanation
  • Cross-platform (macOS, Windows, Linux)
  • Modern UI rebuilt in 2026
  • Cloud sync of credentials and connections
  • Customer-controlled KMS encryption
  • AV control (Crestron, Extron, Q-SYS, Dante)
  • AWS SSM Session Manager
  • HTTP REST client
  • JSON / YAML formatter and JWT decoder
  • Team sharing with RBAC
  • Audit logging
  • Active Directory user lookup
  • Config Backup + Diff in unified workflow

What SolarWinds has that ShellYard doesn't yet

Honest about the gaps. If any of these are dealbreakers, stay on SolarWinds for now.

  • Long-form network performance monitoring with historical retention (different category — see SolarWinds NPM)
  • Specialized traffic generators (WAN Killer)
  • Some legacy SNMP attack tools (intentionally not built)

Cost comparison

SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset: $1,995 per user per year. ShellYard Pro: $24 per user per month billed annually — $288/year.

Scenario SolarWinds ETS ShellYard Pro 5-year savings
1 user, 1 year $1,995 $288 $1,707
1 user, 5 years $9,975 $1,440 $8,535
5 users, 5 years $49,875 $7,200 $42,675
10 users, 5 years $99,750 $14,400 $85,350

Pricing as published on the SolarWinds and ShellYard sites at time of comparison. SolarWinds support and upgrade renewals quoted separately.

How to migrate from SolarWinds to ShellYard

  1. 1 Install ShellYard Free. The Free tier needs no credit card.
  2. 2 Import your network inventory: subnet list, switch list, host list. CSV import supported.
  3. 3 Recreate your most-used SolarWinds workflows — most map directly to a ShellYard tool.
  4. 4 Run side-by-side for a week. When confident, cancel the SolarWinds renewal.

Try ShellYard before your next SolarWinds renewal.

Free is free — no card needed. Pro is $24/mo billed annually ($29 monthly); a 14-day trial requires a card and cancels with no charge before day 14.

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