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AirMagnet Survey vs NetBrain comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 11, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

AirMagnet Survey
Ranking in Network Troubleshooting
8th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
39
Ranking in other categories
Network Modeling and Simulation (2nd)
NetBrain
Ranking in Network Troubleshooting
13th
Average Rating
7.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
Network Automation (6th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Network Troubleshooting category, the mindshare of AirMagnet Survey is 6.3%, up from 5.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetBrain is 2.7%, up from 1.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Troubleshooting
 

Featured Reviews

David Olofson - PeerSpot reviewer
It fixes so many problems quickly that we don't regret spending more on high-end tools than most companies
It would be nice to have some more training resources for younger techs. We can use them if we need some assistance, but that usually requires one of us who knows what we're doing to calibrate the programs properly. There's one thing our nXG handhelds do that AirMagnet doesn't do out of the box. The nXG devices can analyze the wired and wireless networks simultaneously and map the networks out. We find it handy. However, if I have that plugged into our older OptiView XG tablets or our laptops, I have no way to analyze both the WiFi and the wired network at the same time and build a single picture with all that data. So far, that's something only our nXG handhelds can do. It would be nice if there were a way to integrate all the network discovery, troubleshooting, and mapping of the WiFi and the wired at the same time. There are almost no products that do that currently. If they managed to do that, they'd probably open up their market pretty quickly.
Deborah Gamelin - PeerSpot reviewer
Good monitoring and troubleshoot capabilities, improves overall network traffic visibility
In my organization, we had 130,000 network devices that needed to be brought into the solution and mapped. NetBrain can handle the scale but the engineers that manage those devices have to go in and update all of them to allow NetBrain permission to poll them. It can get a little stressful for everybody when you're trying to roll out new stuff when you've got other issues that have to be addressed with other devices. In some cases, our devices had no automation at all. One example is the Cisco 3650. Right now, if you went through the inventory list, you see that we have different versions running. Some are on one version, whereas others are on another version. The problem with upgrading them is that they need to be done overnight because we don't want to disrupt any network traffic during business hours. Consequently, it could take us years to upgrade the versions before we can even get them onto these new tools. This may be an internal issue but it's a big one when you have a lot of devices. Even if you had 10,000 devices, it's still an issue. You have to consider the compatibility of the device against the tool, and being able to use certain commands to upgrade it.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The predictive survey is the most valuable feature. I use it quite often."
"Customer service is great."
"It allows us to prepare more real designs. Later, we validate them with actual surveys."
"The heat maps are quite good, and some features are easy to use."
"The addition of the AirMapper software on the nXG and our AirCheck G2s has helped a lot because we're mostly not drilling down into the data. Local managers only need to see the coverage on their end and whether there are performance bottlenecks. These things are easy enough for us to ascertain with iPerf."
"The most valuable feature is the predictive survey. The antennas' RF patterns are reflected correctly on the drawing when preparing predictive heat maps."
"We use the solution for Wi-Fi and networks."
"Using the products to ensure the safety of our equipment that we have a lot invested in."
"Chain management is a good feature. I don't get it on other solutions."
"Enables maps to be drawn out."
"A reliable, time-saving tool for providing accurate layer 2 and layer 3 network mappings."
"NetBrain is a very simple tool."
"This product has good network monitoring and troubleshooting capabilities."
 

Cons

"It'd be nice if it was cheaper, however, you get value for your money."
"The user interface needs a lot of improvement. The auto-placement of access points is not accurate."
"It would be nice to have some more training resources for younger techs. We can use them if we need some assistance, but that usually requires one of us who knows what we're doing to calibrate the programs properly."
"AirMagnet Survey needs to support Wi-Fi 6E otherwise they can lose to the competition. They also need to allow better grouping of SSIDs to one AP, removing the need to filter manually. At the moment, you can filter by channel or SSID, but grouping all those SSIDs together is a difficult task."
"I would say some of our newer techs that are going out to job sites can be a little bit intimidated by the interface."
"When you conduct an active survey and then want to use it for design work, it's actually not very useful."
"Less time consumed doing the real surveys."
"Printouts are JPEG printouts. The AirMagnet software is proprietary. I can't send my customers a file, because it is AirMagnet file, even for building projects. I can only send JPEGs or screenshots of heat maps."
"Support needs to improve for the installed product and some of the reporting could be more flexible to provide more complete cataloging."
"It would be nice if the setup was a little simpler. Also, if the solution could provide more training materials for new people coming into our company so they can quickly learn how to use the functionalities."
"Each device needs to be configured to allow NetBrain to poll for the information it needs, which can be very time-consuming for a large network."
"The IP interface brief isn't consistent."
"The solution could integrate more automation."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The tool's pricing is medium."
"The moment we began needing more of the vendor's support, the cost became very high; we switched to another solution."
"For technical support, you need an annual license, but it is not worth it."
"There is an annual cost of the solution. There are some additional charges, such as support and maintenance."
"This product is very expensive."
"The pricing needs improvement."
"The licensing of AirMagnet Survey is different when compared to Ekahu. It is a third of the cost of Ekahau but there are no dedicated laptops to the Sidekick. AirMagnet allows you to license an adapter and share that adapter."
"Licensing is based on a per-device basis, which means that it can get very expensive if you have a large number of devices."
"The product is expensive, but less expensive than some of the competition and worth the price."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Educational Organization
9%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Government
11%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about AirMagnet Survey?
We use the solution for Wi-Fi and networks.
What needs improvement with AirMagnet Survey?
AirMagnet Survey needs to support Wi-Fi 6E otherwise they can lose to the competition. They also need to allow better grouping of SSIDs to one AP, removing the need to filter manually. At the momen...
What is your primary use case for AirMagnet Survey?
We use AirMagnet Survey, for site verifications after the wireless system has been installed. We conduct pre and post-install surveys with it. We have reduced the use since now our customers requir...
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Overview

 

Sample Customers

Houston Methodist Hospital, Love's Travel Stops
CompuCon, TD Ameritrade, Move Inc.
Find out what your peers are saying about AirMagnet Survey vs. NetBrain and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
847,959 professionals have used our research since 2012.