ShellYard vs SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset

Tool-by-tool. Honest about gaps.
Across macOS, Windows, Linux.

Engineer's Toolset is a 60+ tool kit for Windows technicians at $1,995/yr. ShellYard maps to ~80% of the everyday ETS workflow and adds an HTTP client, a 6-engine DB inspector, Magellan AI, and a team workspace — at $288/yr/tech, on every desktop.

Download free for macOS, Windows, Linux

Free forever · Save $1,707/yr per tech · macOS · Windows · Linux

ETS → ShellYard · tool map

SolarWinds ETS → ShellYard

DNS Analyzer DNS
Subnet Calculator Subnet Calculator
MAC Address Discovery MAC Lookup + MAC Tracker
MIB Walker SNMP Browser
WAN Killer — not built

See all 24 mappings

Quick decision

Two columns. Pick the one that sounds like you.

Stay on ETS if

Windows-only shop, bundle-locked, ETS-specific tools.

You're a Windows-only shop and NPM / SAM / NCM are tightly bound to ETS.
You actually use WAN Killer or other ETS-specific tools (most teams don't, a few teams do).
License is rolled into a SolarWinds enterprise bundle you can't unbundle.

Switch to ShellYard if

Mac/Linux engineers, ~80% parity is enough, $1,707/yr/tech matters.

You have Mac or Linux engineers and Windows-only utilities are a constant friction tax.
~80% feature parity is enough for the work your team actually does day to day.
You want an HTTP client, a 6-engine DB workbench, and an AI assistant included — not separate purchases.
$1,707/yr/tech savings — and modern signed installers on every OS — matter to your renewal math.

Want the long-form "why replace ETS" story instead of the table? Read the use case →

The full map

24 ETS tools, mapped one row at a time.

Publicly documented SolarWinds ETS tools mapped to their ShellYard equivalents. Rows marked Adds are tools ShellYard ships that ETS doesn't. Rows marked Gap are tools ETS has and we don'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.
	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.

Pricing reference: ETS list price is ~$1,995/yr per technician (per-machine install, Windows-only). ShellYard Pro is $24/mo billed annually — $288/yr per technician — on macOS, Windows, and Linux.

Where SolarWinds ETS still wins

Don't switch on faith. Read this first.

We're not going to claim parity we don't have. These are the workflows where ETS is still the right answer — and the reasons a renewal might be the rational call.

WAN Killer (traffic generator)

Not built, intentionally. If your renewal hinges on synthetic WAN load generation, ETS still owns that workflow.

Legacy SNMP attack tools

We didn't port the old SNMPv1 brute / dictionary tools. SNMP Browser handles read-side work; offensive SNMP isn't on the roadmap.

Specialized utilities (WoL broadcaster, certain config-push automation flows)

Wake-on-LAN broadcaster isn't built. Config Backup + Bulk Command cover most config-push patterns, but if you use an ETS-specific automation flow, validate it against the table below before switching.

Tight integration with SolarWinds NPM / SAM / NCM

If ETS is bundled with NPM / SAM / NCM and you actually use that integration, ShellYard is engineer-side tooling — it does not replace 24/7 monitoring stacks.

Migration in one CSV

Three steps. No professional services.

1

Export your ETS connection list to CSV.

Device inventory, hostnames, IPs, tags — whatever you've curated in ETS over the years.
2

Import into ShellYard.

Drop the CSV into the connections sidebar; ShellYard maps the columns and your devices land in folders ready to use.
3

Re-open your routine workflows.

Most map one-to-one (DNS, Subnet, SNMP, Syslog, Config Diff). For the few that don't, the table above tells you which ShellYard tab takes over.

Before you install

The questions an ETS customer asks.

Is ShellYard a replacement for SolarWinds NPM, SAM, or NCM?

No — different category. NPM is 24/7 network performance monitoring, SAM is server / application monitoring, NCM is config management at scale. ShellYard replaces Engineer's Toolset — the per-tech utility kit. If you own the monitoring stack and want to keep it, ShellYard sits next to it as the engineer's workspace.

Volume pricing for a multi-tech shop?

Pro is $24/mo per tech billed annually ($288/yr). Team is $49/mo per tech and adds Shared Spaces (up to 25), per-Space KMS, cross-user credential sharing, Documents / IPAM, module-level RBAC, and audit-log CSV export. No "talk to sales" gate to get there.

What about WAN Killer or other ETS-specific tools?

Honest answer: WAN Killer is not built. The full table above marks every gap. If WAN Killer, the WoL broadcaster, or specific legacy SNMP utilities are load-bearing for your workflow, the renewal math is different — keep ETS for those, or pair it with ShellYard for everything else.

Is macOS feature parity real, or is the Mac build the lite version?

Same app on every OS — macOS, Windows, Linux. A few tools shell out to platform-native APIs under the hood (DHCP Browser uses PowerShell -ComputerName on Windows, AP Scanner uses CoreWLAN on macOS / nmcli on Linux / netsh on Windows) so the OS attributes Location Services and similar to ShellYard itself, not a subprocess. The UI, the toolkit count, and the Magellan flow are identical.

Is Magellan AI included? Does it phone home?

Yes — included on every tier, Free through Enterprise. BYO key for Anthropic, OpenAI, Google Gemini, or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint (Ollama, LM Studio, vLLM, OpenRouter). Prompts go direct from your machine to the provider you configured. No ShellYard cloud hop in the AI request path.

Team workspace and audit log?

Team tier adds Shared Spaces with per-Space customer-managed KMS keys, RBAC, cross-user credential sharing, group-shared credentials, module-level deny rules, and a CSV-exportable audit log. Enterprise adds unlimited Spaces and longer retention.

Migration support for an ETS connection list?

CSV import for the connection inventory — export your ETS device list to CSV, drop it into ShellYard, your hosts land in the connections sidebar. Documentation walks through the field mapping. Most engineers are productive on day one; the long tail of tool-specific muscle memory takes a week or two.

Cancel the renewal. Save $1,707 per tech.

Install ShellYard Free on macOS, Windows, or Linux. Run it next to ETS for a week. If the table above holds up against your real workflow, switch the renewal — the math doesn't need a spreadsheet.