"What are the alternatives? We don't want to spend scarce consultant/DBA time on backups, patch checks, security audits, and fixing the same issues over and over."

    Compare DB24 with other SQL Server management tools to find the best fit for your organization.

    Quick Comparison Summary

    Product Primary Focus Best If… Remarks
    DB24 SQL Server automation + monitoring + security/compliance You want to outsource a lot of DBA grunt work and focus on uptime, security (e.g. NIS2), and cost control. SQL Server–focused; if you run lots of non-SQL engines, you'll need other tools alongside it.
    Redgate Monitor Multi-platform DB monitoring & diagnostics You run mixed databases (SQL + others) and have DBAs who like powerful tooling. Less focus on full automation; it surfaces issues, you still fix most of them.
    SQL Sentry Deep SQL performance monitoring You care most about performance & tuning of heavy SQL workloads and can invest DBA time. Higher price point; mainly MS data platform, not a generic infra monitor.
    SQL Diagnostic Manager SQL Server monitoring, alerting & diagnostics You're mostly SQL Server, want strong monitoring, and like IDERA's ecosystem/pricing. Less automation and security focus than DB24; less multi-platform than Redgate.

    1. DB24 (Augmented SQL Monitor + Intelligent DBA Automation)

    Why buy it

    • •You want hands-off operations, not just dashboards and alerts.
    • •Strong focus on database security, NIS2 compliance audit, performance control and cost efficiency measures for SQL Server environments.
    • •You like the idea of intelligently automating your SQL Server estates in order to solve the daily grind of tedious and repetitive database management.

    Who it's for

    • •Organizations with mostly / only SQL Server (on-prem or in Azure VMs) and limited DBA capacity.
    • •Mid-size to large environments (tens to hundreds of instances) that care about uptime + compliance more than tinkering with tools.

    What it is

    DB24 is a cloud service that fully automates a lot of day-to-day SQL Server administration (backups, index maintenance, patch checks, security auditing, cost/licensing analysis, etc.) and provides a portal for observability and security.

    Key benefits

    • ✓Automation first: up to tens of thousands of automated actions per week, handling routine and proactive tasks.
    • ✓Security & compliance baked in (restore, audits, login tracking, change logging, NIS2-oriented views).
    • ✓Cost control: identifies most expensive queries and gives license recommendations based on historical usage.
    • ✓Short time-to-value: install + configure in about a day for fairly large estates.

    Cost (high-level)

    Public sites list "Contact vendor" pricing, with monthly SaaS options and free trial. For comparison purposes, you can think of it as: typically per SQL instance / per environment rather than per user.

    2. Redgate Monitor (formerly SQL Monitor)

    Why buy it

    • •You want a single pane of glass for a mixed estate (on-prem + cloud, multiple database types).
    • •You care about advanced performance diagnostics and query impact analysis.
    • •Your DBAs prefer to stay in control and use powerful tools rather than offload tasks to automation.

    Who it's for

    • •Teams that already have DBA competence and want to scale monitoring and diagnostics.
    • •Organizations running hybrid / multi-DB platforms (SQL Server + others).

    What it is

    Redgate Monitor is a cloud-based, multi-platform database monitoring tool that covers SQL Server plus other engines (Azure SQL, AWS RDS, Oracle, PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, etc.). It focuses on deep performance monitoring and alerting, not full automation.

    Key benefits

    • ✓Estate-wide observability across on-prem and cloud databases from one dashboard.
    • ✓Strong performance & alerting features: query-level analysis, deployment impact tracking, hybrid monitoring.
    • ✓Mature ecosystem and integrations, good reputation in the SQL Server community.

    Cost (high-level)

    Licensing is per monitored VM/server; one license per Windows server/VM being monitored (even if multiple SQL instances). Exact numbers vary by edition (Standard vs Enterprise) and channel, but it typically ends up in the mid to upper SaaS range for larger estates.

    3. SolarWinds SQL Sentry

    Why buy it

    • •You have complex, performance-sensitive workloads (OLTP, DW, SSAS, Azure SQL, Synapse) and need granular insight.
    • •Performance firefighting is your biggest pain: you want Top SQL, deadlock analysis, query tuning features.
    • •You're ok with a more "enterprise monitoring suite" feel.

    Who it's for

    • •Medium to large organizations with dedicated DBAs and many SQL instances.
    • •Teams that prioritize deep performance insight over automation of admin tasks.

    What it is

    SolarWinds SQL Sentry is a SQL Server performance monitoring tool with very deep metrics, especially for query performance, wait stats, deadlocks, etc. Think of it as a DBA power tool for tuning SQL.

    Key benefits

    • ✓Extremely detailed performance metrics and proven ability to monitor very large estates (800+ instances on one monitoring DB is cited).
    • ✓Rich alerting and root-cause capabilities for slowdowns and resource bottlenecks.
    • ✓Part of a broader SolarWinds observability stack if you want to expand later.

    Cost (high-level)

    Public pricing info lists starting around USD 1,500 per user per year, with free trial available. Typically a higher-end enterprise price point than lightweight tools, especially as you add users/instances.

    4. IDERA SQL Diagnostic Manager for SQL Server

    Why buy it

    • •You want strong SQL Server monitoring and diagnostics with an emphasis on proactive alerts and advice.
    • •You like Windows-centric tools and/or you're already using IDERA for backup, security, or compliance.

    Who it's for

    • •SQL Server-heavy shops wanting powerful monitoring but not necessarily multi-DB coverage.
    • •Teams who might bundle with other IDERA products (compliance, secure, backup) for better pricing.

    What it is

    SQL Diagnostic Manager is IDERA's SQL Server performance monitoring, alerting and diagnostics tool covering on-prem, virtual and cloud environments.

    Key benefits

    • ✓Comprehensive SQL Server performance monitoring, query tracking and plan analysis.
    • ✓Predictive alerts and built-in expert advice with executable scripts.
    • ✓Can be bundled with other IDERA tools to cover compliance, security and backup in one vendor.

    Cost (high-level)

    IDERA's own store lists SQL Diagnostic Manager starting at around USD 250 per SQL instance per year for certain subscription SKUs. Other resellers list bundle licenses from ~USD 2,600+, depending on edition and number of instances. So, typically cheaper per-instance than some enterprise suites, but total cost scales with number of instances.

    How to Think About It for Your Situation

    If your primary pain is:
    "We don't want to spend scarce consultant/DBA time on backups, patch checks, security audits, and fixing the same issues over and over"

    → DB24 is probably the best fit, because of its automation and NIS2-style security focus. DB24 is not for all types of DBAs, but the smart working ones.

    If you're intentionally building a broader multi-database data platform (Postgres, MySQL, cloud PaaS, etc.) and want one monitoring layer for everything

    → Redgate Monitor becomes very attractive as your "estate observability" layer, potentially combined with DB24 on the most critical SQL Servers.

    If your key worry is query performance and SLAs on a few critical SQL systems, and you have DBAs happy to tune queries

    → SQL Sentry or SQL Diagnostic Manager are both strong, with Sentry a bit more "enterprise" and IDERA often more cost-effective.