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DX Spectrum vs Wireshark 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

DX Spectrum
Ranking in Network Troubleshooting
8th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
118
Ranking in other categories
Network Management Applications (11th), Network Monitoring Software (30th), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (29th), DX NetOps (1st)
Wireshark
Ranking in Network Troubleshooting
4th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
63
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Network Troubleshooting category, the mindshare of DX Spectrum is 4.9%, up from 3.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Wireshark is 14.3%, up from 12.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Troubleshooting Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Wireshark14.3%
DX Spectrum4.9%
Other80.8%
Network Troubleshooting
 

Featured Reviews

PinchasAlbalya - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Engineer at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees
Monitoring has become centralized and management now sees real‑time health of key network assets
The time investment required is significant, not because of difficulty but because of the need for free time to invest in it. We need to get the knowledge. We know there are many options, but we took an external vendor to install and make the customization. If we want to make others changes without paying for customization, we need to learn it deeply by ourselves. The tutorials are very complicated. They could work on that area. The tutorial part could be more simplified. I know there are many explanations, and you can get help or documents in one click on the current page in the product, but it is not very clear. If you want to do something new that you did not see from the vendor in the installation, it is not very simple. The documents are good for people that know how to operate the product well, but for new users, it is not simple.
Vijay Duggal - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Specialist at Squarepoint Capital
Provides detailed traffic analysis and helps troubleshoot issues
There is a disadvantage when it comes to sampling intervals. While the solution supports sampling as fine as one millisecond, it requires a copy at that interval. My Python script allows me to achieve a granularity of up to ten microseconds, but I can't go beyond that. When dealing with provisioning on both issues, it would be beneficial if I could go down to the microsecond level, if not the nanosecond. Additionally, I've heard from a colleague that Wireshark might be less effective in the voice domain.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It does correlation so instead of producing 20 alarms if a site goes down, it only creates one."
"The support we have been receiving has been really good."
"It's easy to implement, very configurable, and you can easily add new alerts and watch lists so we can certify new devices and watch the behavior of these new devices out of the box."
"CA Spectrum allowed our client, a Tier 1 TELCO, to manage their E2E network infrastructure, proactively monitor Enterprise: GMPLS, IPVPN, ISDN, LTE and Leased Line services against set SLAs, and maintain a top quality of service, while the easy integration of topology views to a web portal provided a wow factor by exposing real-time performance and health status of enterprise infrastructure setups to customers."
"The topology correlation for layers one, two, three, and four significantly reduces the number of false positives (>98% ratio)."
"Easy navigation from initial alerts to a full topology and detail on the Network infrastructure and it relationships is the most valuable feature"
"The alarm and root cause analysis features are the most valuable to me, as they help to pinpoint causes of outages and performance issues and identify the specific component responsible for an issue, thus accelerating problem and issue resolution."
"Implemented with Enterprise Customers across region, it is a very strong fault management tool with extraordinary correlation and alarming."
"I have found the most valuable feature you can design your sniffer the way you want to."
"The initial setup is simple."
"I like the filtering feature as we can filter data easily. This feature is also available in tcpdump, but it's a simple piece of software. Wireshark is more advanced and has many features. It allows you to filter a lot of things. The output can be filtered easily. The most important feature is colorization. If I say, "Okay, this particular SMB protocol in red, it will show me red." It's easy to identify that protocol or capture data."
"Wireshark is a dynamic software that has developed and adapted to the latest technology advancements and network challenges."
"I find Wireshark a very useful tool. Its best feature is that it allows me to deeply understand what's going on at the packet level, as well as any adverse signatures that I can analyze."
"What's best about Wireshark is that it doesn't require installation, supports cards and monitoring permissions, and is sufficient for appending and capturing activities, so you won't need to install other tools and can capture packets at any time from your laptop through Wireshark."
"The best thing about Wireshark is the community/ecosystem."
"The most valuable feature of Wireshark is the ability to choose a destination of flow that has not been working as expected."
 

Cons

"The configurations are still XML-based and require a good deal of coding to setup each object for monitoring."
"We have a lot of different monitoring tools in the background, so orchestration has been a little bit of a challenge."
"It has a limitation in that it needed an old version of Java."
"A big problem for us now is the Java requirement for the console."
"We have had one support issue that's been open for a couple of months, and it is currently open."
"Definitely the way this product needs to go is more web-based. They need to put more emphasis in the web technology."
"A better integration with the UIM, as far as being able to do root cause analysis and that type of analytics."
"It doesn't really allow for multi-tenancy. If you're an ISP or an MSP and you want to use this tool to provide these types of fault management services to your customers, you would need a separate SpectroSERVER for each customer..."
"The volume of data on a typical TCP segment is so large that it can be challenging to capture and find the right data."
"We would like the product to be developed so that it doesn't rely on internet access for installation."
"You need good network connectivity to download during the setup, otherwise, it might take a while."
"I would like to see Wireshark improve the ease of application of the command. The command is very powerful, but not easy to apply."
"Its user interface was a little less friendly. They can make its user interface a little bit more friendly."
"It needs the ability to follow multiple interfaces for specific traffic from different network zones/virtual networks. It would help to understand how any packet is going through the network."
"Running Wireshark through an admin account for multiple exploits is unsecured."
"Wireshark does not allow you to make any changes relevant to the network; in other words, you can only observe the network."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution's pricing could be better."
"The price is good enough to expect an ideal solution. It's expensive."
"Spectrum is expensive."
"The price is very high."
"Since the acquisition by Broadcom, we have not had such a good experience with licensing and pricing. Since they were bought by Broadcom, every sales contract is getting complicated. It's very complicated, and it's much more expensive than before. It's not a good pricing strategy from Broadcom."
"It is expensive compared to other tools in the market."
"Currently, a perpetual license but some services are moving to a subscription"
"It is very pricey. With the current trend of enterprises moving towards cheaper and more modern looking solutions like ManageEngine, SevOne, ServicePilot, and Paesller."
"Wireshark is open-source and free of charge."
"We're using the free version of Wireshark."
"Wireshark is free software, so you don't have to pay any licensing fee. Individual people can use it and then donate to Wireshark."
"I've never personally had to pay for it, making it a highly valuable internet resource that's accessible for use. While they offer some paid versions, our firm has utilized the free version for the past three years."
"It is free to download and install. It runs on multiple platforms, so how can you go wrong?"
"It is free."
"Wireshark is an open-source product, so it's free to use."
"The tool is free."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Construction Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
University
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Healthcare Company
7%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business25
Midsize Enterprise19
Large Enterprise90
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business31
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise27
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with DX Spectrum?
The time investment required is significant, not because of difficulty but because of the need for free time to invest in it. We need to get the knowledge. We know there are many options, but we to...
What is your primary use case for DX Spectrum?
The university purchased DX Spectrum, called ICE. DX Spectrum NAC is working for us only on Cisco 9200 switches. It is not working on any other switch like C1000 or HG or any 2960X. Even other Cisc...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Wireshark?
Wireshark is priced at a medium range, not too high, not too low. The pricing could be more flexible, and they might make it more expensive. That said, compared to other products, it is competitive.
What needs improvement with Wireshark?
The speed of the Internet could be improved, especially its performance. Performance can sometimes be a challenge due to numerous factors.
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

CA Spectrum
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

National Informatics Centre India, Banese, Olympus, AlphaServe Technologies, Sicredi
Comversion, ADP, Talbots
Find out what your peers are saying about DX Spectrum vs. Wireshark and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
885,286 professionals have used our research since 2012.