PoWA vs SolarWinds Database Observability
PoWA
powa.readthedocs.ioSolarWinds Database Observability
solarwinds.comSide by side
| Figure | PoWA | SolarWinds Database Observability |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $142/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Database Monitoring | 7.6 (#19) | 8.0 (#11) |
| Purpose | PoWA collects and aggregates performance metrics from PostgreSQL instances and presents them in charts to help monitor and tune servers. | Database Observability is presented as a way to monitor, alert, triage, remediate, and prevent database issues. |
| Security | The documentation says the UI uses prepared statements and recommends HTTPS, SSL for UI-to-PostgreSQL connections, and restricting Internet access to PoWA and PostgreSQL. | SolarWinds says it follows NIST Secure Software Development Framework and NSA Enduring Security Framework guidelines and conducts regular external penetration tests with independent accredited firms. |
| Support | The documentation directs users to community IRC and GitHub issue trackers for component-specific support. | SolarWinds lists technical support, documentation, training, and a user community with over 200,000 registered members. |
Plans
SolarWinds Database Observability
- Database Observability$142 a month
In their own words
PoWA
PoWA is a free, self-hosted tool for monitoring and tuning PostgreSQL. It collects and aggregates performance metrics from database instances and presents them in charts. Local mode handles one instance; remote mode gathers metrics from multiple instances into a repository server and can include read-only standbys without restarting PostgreSQL when adding them. The project combines the powa-archivist extension and powa-web interface, with an optional powa-collector daemon for remote deployments. Supported statistics extensions include pg_stat_statements, pg_qualstats, pg_stat_kcache, pg_wait_sampling, and pg_track_settings; pg_stat_statements is mandatory, and the current version targets PostgreSQL 9.4 and newer. HypoPG support enables testing hypothetical indexes without creating real ones. PoWA 5 adds datasource views for replication, background writer, checkpointer, SLRU, WAL, and PostgreSQL 16 or newer I/O statistics, plus per-database snapshots. Metrics can be enabled or disabled, and custom extensions added without modifying PoWA.
SolarWinds Database Observability
SolarWinds Database Observability has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.