Azure Network Watcher vs Plixer Scrutinizer comparison

Microsoft and Plixer are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Microsoft is ranked #42 with an average rating of 8.5, while Plixer is ranked #74. Microsoft holds a 0.5% mindshare in NMS, compared to Plixer’s 0.5% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Plixer users who would recommend it.

Azure Network Watcher

Read 13 Azure Network Watcher reviews

1,676 Views
1,626 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Plixer Scrutinizer

Read 15 Plixer Scrutinizer reviews

2,631 Views
2,000 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Azure Network Watcher

Plixer Scrutinizer

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 2024

Plixer Scrutinizer and Azure Network Watcher compete in the network monitoring and security sector. Plixer Scrutinizer seems to have the upper hand due to its advanced flow analysis and integration capabilities, offering more detailed insights into network activities compared to Azure's focus on cloud-native tools.

Features: Plixer Scrutinizer offers comprehensive flow analysis, real-time network activity insights, and Active Directory integration. Users can track devices historically and perform advanced reporting with quick data processing. Azure Network Watcher excels in cloud-native features, such as packet capture, application firewall capabilities, and effective log management for isolating network segments.

Room for Improvement: Plixer Scrutinizer could improve its database management and real-time data storage for high traffic volumes. Its reporting features require more intuitive designs, and users desire seamless packet capture integration via the web interface. Azure Network Watcher needs better documentation and initial setup processes. It lacks built-in Wireshark functionalities and customers prefer more visual representations for easier log interpretation.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Plixer Scrutinizer is mainly deployed on-premises, providing reliable technical support with quick issue resolution. Its support is often highly praised for expertise. Azure Network Watcher, operating in the cloud, delivers effective support but faces challenges in complex onboarding processes, which some users want simplified.

Pricing and ROI: Plixer Scrutinizer's pricing is determined by the number of devices and sensors, offering an annual cost model that is competitively priced. Users note its cost-effectiveness compared to higher-priced solutions, often resulting in fast incident resolution and reduced downtime. Azure Network Watcher's pricing, while higher, is deemed affordable for enterprises in cloud settings, yielding efficient network monitoring and improved security incident responses, though it might be less accessible for smaller companies.

To learn more, read our detailed Azure Network Watcher vs. Plixer Scrutinizer Report (Updated: April 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Azure Network Watcher vs. Plixer Scrutinizer

April 2026

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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

Azure Network Watcher

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

42nd

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

5.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Plixer Scrutinizer

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

74th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (12th)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Azure Network Watcher is 0.5%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Plixer Scrutinizer is 0.5%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Azure Network Watcher	0.5%
Plixer Scrutinizer	0.5%
Other	99.0%

Network Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

Bijoyendra Roychowdhury

Program Manager at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees

Network monitoring provides comprehensive analytics while the interface requires further development

The quality of Azure Network Watcher is quite good in terms of the in-depth analysis you can create from these matrices. There are other monitoring tools such as New Relic, AppDynamics, and Dynatrace which provide very detailed network tracing. Cloud providers such as Azure or AWS do not have that kind of GUI-based capability at this point, but using PowerShell or Python, you can develop it yourself. From the GUI perspective, it still needs to evolve in terms of quality and standard, though overall, it is quite good for troubleshooting. Regarding areas for improvement, when comparing to other network tools beyond Azure Monitor or Azure Network Watcher, those tools can identify single failed packets. This level of granularity is not currently possible with cloud providers as they only go to a certain level rather than the granular level needed for deep troubleshooting, though they do provide hints with available matrices.

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Ira Mulyanti

Sales Director at ARGA SOLUSI

An affordable product with great integration capabilities

Plixer Core Platform is a valuable feature and a good software. Plixer Scrutinizer uses NetFlow analysis to monitor whatever is there in a network. Price-wise, Plixer Scrutinizer is not an expensive product. Basically, Plixer Scrutinizer is an affordable product. Plixer Scrutinizer is a tool that allows for customization, especially in scenarios where customers need new product features. Plixer Scrutinizer is a tool that can integrate with any other brand or product in the market, so it is not an area of concern.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature of Azure Network Watcher is the cloud-native application firewall, which is helpful for securing databases."

"I like the visibility."

"It provides good visibility."

"My advice to others looking into using Azure Network Watcher is to go for it, as you'll have the tool by default when you're subscribed to Azure VNet."

"The most valuable feature of Azure Network Watcher is the cloud-native application firewall. It is helpful for securing databases."

"The solution is good for monitoring device behavior."

"The stability is very good. I rate it a ten out of ten."

"What I like most about Azure Network Watcher is that it's focused more on the architecture. I also like that it has a packet capture feature that tells you how the packet travels and whether it's exiting Azure, etc."

More Azure Network Watcher pros

"I honestly don't think there are many areas where Scrutinizer could be improved; it's a pretty robust, out-of-the-box solution."

"We didn't experience any bugs."

"We see things that we did not see before; it's opened up peoples' eyes among our network folks and overall it has had a good, positive impact."

"It's agnostic as far as what your network gear is. As long as it supports an sFlow, JFlow, NetFlow, some kind of flow monitoring, Plixer will support it very well."

"We didn't experience any bugs."

"It helps us determine what is going on with our Internet and who is hogging it all up. If we get a real high throughput or a throughput that's going over and getting dropped fairly quickly, we can tell who (or what device) is consuming that traffic."

"Compared to other solutions, the functionality Scrutinizer delivers is better."

"I really feel, after reviewing three at one time and knowing some other ones, the bang and performance for the dollars, and the capacity and the flexibility; it's really second to none in those situations."

More Plixer Scrutinizer pros

Cons

"There are some occasional downtimes, but these were based on Azure-specific issues."

"I still use Wireshark and Azure Network Watcher to get the required data. My team captures the traffic from Azure Network Watcher, downloads it, then imports that traffic into Wireshark to get more details on the number of hits and replies, for example. If you can do that on Azure Network Watcher and have Wireshark built-in, that would make Azure Network Watcher better. If Azure Network Watcher has that functionality where you won't need a third-party tool to get what you need, that would be helpful. I'm also expecting more from Azure Network Watcher. It's more complex than knowing how the IP flows from its source to the destination. The tool also needs more open-source features, such as having some built-in Wireshark that improves monitoring for customers. Sometimes, you encounter a VPN tunnel, network, or routing issue, but finding out more about the blockage is challenging. Is it one hundred percent an Azure issue? Is it a peer issue? You don't get complete information from Azure Network Watcher, so you must use other tools and depend on your strategies to resolve a specific issue. If more features could be added in the next release of Azure Network Watcher, specifically ones you can find on open-source tools, then that would be a plus point for the tool."

"The solution could use some additional components of the network culture, not only VMs. I'd like to see some additional security features because what they currently have concentrates only on the network."

"Technical support from Microsoft needs significant improvement compared to other product vendors."

"The initial setup and initial learning curve could be improved to be easier."

"Azure Network Watcher could improve by having other built-in applications. For example, an application to log activities for in and outbound traffic."

"I would like to see in the future if we can troubleshoot as a firewall because it is equipment as a network player and some diagnostics."

"Azure is good, however, the Fortinet GUI is more intuitive and I like it more than anything else."

More Azure Network Watcher cons

"They're working on the security areas, so it can provide more insight."

"For updating the Scrutinizer platform, when we have the actual data, it never happens in one day. Every time we have the data, we are obliged to install a new server in order to integrate the old data, and every time it has a problem. Most of the time, we were obliged to scrap all the data because we couldn't transfer it to the new server. So, it would be very good if they could improve this part."

"Data retention needs improvement. Data retention is a thing where we are looking for a better way to collect flow data for a longer time to do forensic research on security incidents. By default, data retention is quite low. We need detailed data in safe storage for a longer time, e.g., for a couple of months. An improvement would be a way to export data into a secure long-term storage."

"The reporting structure, the front-end GUI, also needs some work."

"It would be useful if there was a way to back up the configuration information. E.g., if you wanted to deploy a new instance or disaster recovery, you could quite easily deploy and restore the config, as opposed to having to restore all the NetFlow data. If there was just a button that said "backup config information", that would be good."

"We couldn't get it set up properly."

"The reporting structure, the front-end GUI, also needs some work. It needs some getting used to. It works fairly well, but it's a technical tool rather than a user tool. You have to understand the structure of the databases before you can really use it."

"There was a price lift because previously the product was privately owned, and now there is some external capital in the organization, so pricing could be lower, though, for Plixer Scrutinizer, there is almost no competition at this price point."

More Plixer Scrutinizer cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Azure Network Watcher is a little bit expensive."

"Price-wise, I have no information on how much Azure Network Watcher costs."

"The pricing is good. It's not too expensive."

"The price of the solution is reasonable."

"There are no extra costs. It's about $8,000 a year. The bang for the buck (cost) is definitely a plus."

"Compared to some of the other tools we have, it's incredibly reasonably priced."

"It's about €10,000 a year for initial license and yearly maintenance costs. In addition, the hardware costs are about €10,000 once every five years."

"The licensing cost for Plixer Scrutinizer is in the middle. It's not the cheapest, but it's not the most expensive. Its licensing model is based on how many exporters, how many devices export information to the system. Plixer Scrutinizer has different modules you could add such as the security module which would cost extra."

"We have increased the license over time. We have added more licenses as the network has grown."

"We pay our one-off cost for the licenses, per device, in blocks of 50. And then we pay an annual maintenance fee of about $15,000 Australian, which is, at this point in time, about $9,000 US, for those 250 devices. The upfront costs for the 250-license use, were about $50,000 Australian, which is about $32,000 US."

"I rate Plixer Scrutinizer's price a three on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price or affordable, and ten is high price or expensive."

"Our entire solution, amortized over five years, is in the vicinity of $40,000 to $50,000 a year."

More Plixer Scrutinizer pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

22%

Construction Company

10%

Government

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Large Enterprise	7

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	8

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Network Watcher?

I do not have the exact setup cost information on hand, but it is available in the public Azure portal. You can access the calculator there to get detailed pricing information.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Azure Network Watcher?

The main area for improvement is AI-based features. Currently, many intelligent tools are coming from third parties, and Azure Network Watcher needs to improve in this area. The focus should be on ...

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What is your primary use case for Azure Network Watcher?

Azure Network Watcher is used for monitoring network traffic. It provides insight into egress and ingress traffic, which helps determine whether consumption can be controlled. Most Azure services c...

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Compared 8% of the time

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Compared 6% of the time

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Compared 5% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Azure Network Watcher

May 2026

Download Azure Network Watcher product report

Buyer's Guide

Plixer Scrutinizer

April 2026

Download Plixer Scrutinizer product report

Overview

Azure Network Watcher provides advanced network monitoring capabilities including packet capture, cloud-native firewall, and traffic diagnosis, aiding in VPN troubleshooting and security enforcement with enhanced visibility and alerting features.

Azure Network Watcher is essential for monitoring, diagnosing, and analyzing network traffic. It efficiently handles VPN connection issues and enhances network security by capturing and analyzing traffic to assess performance or latency problems. The tool facilitates traffic flow control, security rule verification, and bandwidth monitoring. Users benefit from its capabilities in diagnosing service connections, offering insights into network activity, and identifying potential threats, crucial for maintaining compliance and efficient network management.

What are the key features of Azure Network Watcher?

Packet Capture: Enables detailed network traffic inspection to troubleshoot issues.
Cloud-Native Application Firewall: Provides enhanced protection for applications running in the cloud.
Traffic Monitoring: Allows for real-time analysis and troubleshooting of network traffic.
NSG Flow Logs & AI-Based Monitoring: Enhances flow control and threat detection.
Alerting & Threshold Configuration: Offers customizable alerts via Azure Monitor for proactive management.

What benefits can users look for in reviews?

Improved Network Security: Helps in identifying and mitigating threats efficiently.
Enhanced Visibility: Provides clear insights into network operations and potential issues.
Compliance Support: Assists in maintaining regulatory compliance with thorough monitoring capabilities.
Effective Bandwidth Management: Facilitates control and optimization of network bandwidth.

In industries like finance and healthcare, Azure Network Watcher is implemented to ensure robust security and compliance, crucial for safeguarding sensitive data. It aids retail and manufacturing sectors in optimizing network performance and maintaining seamless connectivity, supporting their digital infrastructure needs.

Microsoft

Plixer Scrutinizer provides enhanced network traffic management and security analytics, enabling organizations to quickly identify bandwidth issues and threats through comprehensive reporting and real-time monitoring.

Plixer Scrutinizer is a network monitoring tool that efficiently manages and visualizes traffic to detect bandwidth utilization and security threats. Its integration capabilities and compatibility with network devices enhance data context, ensuring robust network visibility. Organizations leverage its rapid data processing and extensive customization options for specific needs, supporting both on-premise and cloud deployment strategies.

What are the key features of Plixer Scrutinizer?

Comprehensive Reporting: Offers detailed insights to facilitate informed decision-making.
User-Friendly Interface: Simplifies navigation and improves user experience.
Advanced Security Analytics: Provides enhanced security threat detection capabilities.
Integration Capabilities: Ensures seamless compatibility with network devices and security products.
Real-Time Traffic Monitoring: Allows for immediate network traffic assessment.
Customization Options: Adapts to specific organizational needs and requirements.

What benefits and ROI should users expect from Plixer Scrutinizer?

Efficient Bandwidth Management: Ensures optimal utilization and performance.
Enhanced Threat Detection: Identifies and mitigates security risks promptly.
Improved Network Visibility: Offers comprehensive oversight of network activities.
Cost-effective Data Processing: Reduces operational costs through streamlined processes.

In sectors like telecommunications, educational institutions, and healthcare, Plixer Scrutinizer supports network monitoring and troubleshooting. It helps track bandwidth utilization and security, enabling capacity planning and analyzing traffic across multiple vendor environments.

Plixer

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Oxford Networks, Squaw Valley Ski Holdings, UltiSat, Wipro, West Aurora School District 129, SUNY Geneseo College, Bloomington Public Schools, First National Bank of Pennsylvania, Kitsap Credit Union, Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County Houston Texas, Carilion Clinic, Banner Health, IDEXX Laboratories, Phibro Animal Health Corporation, Goodwill Industries, Parmalat, Armstrong Coal Company, Flybe, James Walker

Buyer's Guide

Azure Network Watcher vs. Plixer Scrutinizer

April 2026

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