Replace SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset

$24 / mo per tech. Mac, Windows, Linux.
Magellan included.

SolarWinds ETS is $1,995/yr/tech, Windows-only, and the UI hasn't been modernized in a decade. ShellYard Pro is $288/yr/tech, runs on every desktop, and ships an AI assistant.

Download free for macOS, Windows, Linux

Free forever · No credit card · Save $1,707/yr per tech

SolarWinds ETS

$1,995

per tech / yr

· Windows only
· Per-machine install
· No AI assistant

ShellYard Pro

$288

per tech / yr

· Mac · Win · Linux
· Per-account, follows the tech
· Magellan AI included

You save

$1,707 / tech / yr

10-tech shop

$17,070/yr

Why the renewal stings

Four things you're paying for that you don't want.

The old way

1 $1,995/yr/tech. SolarWinds keeps adding products to the suite and keeps adding to the per-tech invoice. ETS by itself is the same toolkit it was in 2015.
2 Windows only. Your Mac-using engineers run ETS in a Parallels VM or sit at a second laptop. Your Linux engineers don't even bother.
3 Per-machine install. Tool config, saved device lists, and SNMP MIBs don't follow the tech — they live on the box ETS was activated on. New laptop, redo it all.
4 The UI hasn't been modernized in a decade. No keyboard shortcuts, no dark mode, no command palette, no AI assistant. You'd never ship that interface to a customer in 2026 — but you ship it to your engineers every day.

The switch

Switching is one CSV import.

The ShellYard way

1 Export your ETS device list to CSV — host, IP, type, credentials reference.
2 In ShellYard, go to Connections → Import → CSV.
3 Map your columns (host, port, type, username, tags). ShellYard will tuck credentials into the per-Space Vault.
4 Open the connections. Run your tools. Done — you're working out of ShellYard.

Run side-by-side for a week. ETS and ShellYard can live on the same Windows box during the cutover. When you're confident, cancel the renewal.

Tool mapping

The ETS tools you actually use, mapped.

The common 80% of the ETS toolkit has a direct ShellYard equivalent. Below: the most-reached-for ones. For the full row-by-row mapping, see the SolarWinds comparison page.

SolarWinds ETS	ShellYard	Note
DNS Analyzer / DNS Audit	DNS	Combined into one tool, all record types + DKIM/DMARC/SPF.
IP Address Tracker	IPAM Team+	Subnets + hosts, with Nmap writeback after a scan.
MAC Address Discovery	MAC Lookup + MAC Tracker	OUI lookup, plus fleet-wide MAC search over SSH.
Subnet Calculator	Subnet Calculator	CIDR math + VLSM allocator, binary/hex breakouts.
Ping Sweep	Ping Sweep	CIDR-aware, parallel, ICMP fallback.
Trace Route	MTR	Continuous per-hop loss/latency with ASN annotation.
SNMP MIB Walker / Viewer	SNMP Browser	v1/v2c/v3 with auth+priv, structured table rendering.
Switch Port Mapper	MAC Tracker	Modern reimplementation; Cisco/Aruba/Juniper/Brocade.
Config Editor / Viewer / Uploader / Downloader	Config Backup + Config Diff	Pull configs over SSH with version history + side-by-side diff.
Syslog Server	Syslog Viewer	Live UDP listener with severity filter + CSV export.
TFTP Server	TFTP Server	Standalone, for switch-config backups + firmware push.
Response Time Monitor	Bandwidth Monitor + MTR	Real-time interface throughput + per-hop latency.
Port Scanner / TCP Reset	Port Scanner + Nmap Scanner	TCP connect/SYN; full Nmap with parsed XML output.
Bulk SNMP / Bulk Edit	Bulk Command Team+	Run a command across many hosts in parallel, structured results.
WAN Killer (traffic generator)	—	Not built. Specialized tool; rare in modern troubleshooting.
Wake-on-LAN	—	Not shipped. Low-usage; intentionally not built.

Full SolarWinds tool-by-tool comparison →

What you gain

Four things ETS structurally can't ship.

Cross-platform.

Same workspace on macOS (notarized), Windows (Authenticode-signed .msi), and Linux (.deb / .rpm / AppImage). Your Mac-using engineer stops sitting at a second laptop.

Team workspaces.

Shared Spaces on Team+ with RBAC, per-Space audit logs, per-Space KMS encryption. The workspace becomes a team artifact, not a per-tech install on someone's laptop.

Magellan AI included.

Attach any tool's output — SNMP walk, packet capture, config diff, MTR trace, syslog — and Magellan explains. BYO Anthropic / OpenAI / Gemini / Ollama key. Prompts go direct to the provider, never through us.

Free forever tier.

The full 40+ network toolkit, terminals, local vault, Magellan AI, SQLite Data Inspector, and a 1-collection HTTP client all work at $0. Try it on your own subnets before you cancel anything.

Before you cancel the renewal

The questions you'd ask first.

Are there ETS tools that aren't in ShellYard?

Yes — and we'll name them. WAN Killer (the traffic generator) isn't built. Wake-on-LAN isn't shipped. A handful of legacy SNMP attack tools were intentionally left out. ETS-specific Orion integrations don't exist because ShellYard isn't part of an Orion suite. Beyond that, the common ~80% of the ETS toolkit maps to a ShellYard equivalent — see /compare/solarwinds/ for the full row-by-row mapping.

Does ShellYard replace SolarWinds NPM / SAM / NCM?

No. Those are different products. NPM (Network Performance Monitor), SAM (Server & Application Monitor), and NCM (Network Configuration Manager) are 24/7 monitoring platforms — agents, historical retention, alerting. ShellYard is the engineer-side toolkit you reach for when something is already broken or you're building/changing it. If your renewal is bundled with NPM/SAM/NCM, keep those and only retire the ETS line.

What's the math for a 10-tech shop?

ETS at $1,995/yr × 10 techs = $19,950/yr. ShellYard Pro at $24/mo × 10 techs billed annually = $2,880/yr. Or ShellYard Team at $49/mo × 10 = $5,880/yr if you want shared workspaces, per-Space audit, RBAC, and 25 Shared Spaces for MSP-style client isolation. Either way you're saving $14,000-$17,000/yr against ETS — and the techs get an AI assistant and macOS/Linux clients you didn't have.

Can I migrate my ETS connection list?

Yes — export the device list from ETS as CSV, then in ShellYard go to Connections → Import → CSV. Map your columns (host, port, type, username, tags) and open the connections. Credentials get tucked into the per-Space Vault on import; on Pro+ they sync across your machines, on Team they sync across teammates.

Are there ETS features that need Windows? How does ShellYard handle that on Mac/Linux?

ShellYard's DHCP Browser uses native PowerShell on Windows for Windows DHCP scopes (no WinRM needed), and falls back to ISC/Kea polling on Mac/Linux. The AP Scanner uses in-process CoreWLAN on macOS, nmcli on Linux, and netsh on Windows — and respects Win11 24H2's Location Services requirement with a one-click open-settings affordance. The 40+ tools all run on every platform; the OS-specific bits are abstracted in-app.

If I cancel the ETS renewal, what do I actually lose?

ETS by itself: ~20% of utilities that don't have a direct ShellYard equivalent (WAN Killer, Wake-on-LAN, a few SNMP curiosities). In exchange you gain a real HTTP/GraphQL client, a 6-engine database inspector, Magellan AI, RDP/VNC/SSM/Serial connection management, Documents/IPAM at Team tier, and a workspace that runs on every desktop your team owns. If you have Orion/NPM/SAM/NCM bundled, those are different products — don't cancel those, just retire the ETS line.

macOS, Windows, Linux — really?

All three. Signed and notarized on macOS via Apple Developer ID. Authenticode-signed on Windows via Azure Trusted Signing, .msi installer. .deb / .rpm / AppImage on Linux. Same workspace, same Spaces, same Magellan — your Mac-using engineer no longer runs ETS in a Parallels VM.

Cancel the renewal.
Save $1,700 per tech this year.

Install ShellYard Free on every engineer's laptop today. Run it side-by-side with ETS for a week. When you're confident, switch the renewal off and put the savings somewhere it matters.