IBM SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM) vs Wireshark comparison

IBM SevOne Network Performa...

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between IBM SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM) and Wireshark based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Zabbix, Datadog, SolarWinds and others in Network Monitoring Software.

To learn more, read our detailed Network Monitoring Software Report (Updated: October 2026).

Network Monitoring Software

October 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

IBM SevOne Network Performa...

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Monitoring Software (29th), Server Monitoring (15th), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (35th), Log Management (35th), Cloud Monitoring Software (28th)

Wireshark

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Troubleshooting (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

While both are Network Management solutions, they serve different purposes. IBM SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM) is designed for Network Monitoring Software and holds a mindshare of 1.1%, up 1.0% compared to last year.
Wireshark, on the other hand, focuses on Network Troubleshooting, holds 18.8% mindshare, up 12.9% since last year.

Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
IBM SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM)	1.1%
Zabbix	3.7%
SolarWinds NPM	3.7%
Other	91.5%

Network Monitoring Software

Network Troubleshooting Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Wireshark	18.8%
AirMagnet Survey PRO	8.5%
DX Spectrum	7.9%
Other	64.8%

Network Troubleshooting

Featured Reviews

reviewer1543041

Network monitoring engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

Provides consistent infrastructure monitoring with excellent usability and support

The primary use case of IBM SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM) is network monitoring. It helps to maintain the infrastructure's availability and ensure that alerts are generated when needed The most valuable features of IBM SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM) are its stability,…

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reviewer2837244

It System Engineer at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees

Packet analysis has improved real-time troubleshooting and simplifies mapping complex data flows

The best features that Wireshark offers are everything. Every time I look into Wireshark, I find something new. The ability to capture real-time packets and understand how the packet is working and moving through how many hops and to how many points it reaches makes it a wonderful tool. The specific feature I use most is capturing packets of real-time communication and seeing how the packet is working. I rely on all the filters it has to check the protocols and see the communication between one end and another end and what the hops in between are, and if there is a proxy, how it behaves. Everything helps us check out the issue and troubleshoot it. I do not have anything additional to add about the features; everything looks really fine. The graphics are also good, and you can change its graphical features, making it a pretty nice tool. You can also use it with the PCAP file, which is really nice. Wireshark has positively impacted my organization by giving us the ability to capture packets and see into the network how it is working and what we can clarify about the network, specifically how we can remove many hops in the communication channels. A specific example of a measurable outcome is that we have a few switches in our network that, when we use Wireshark analysis, we find should not be needed or can be replaced with automatic switches instead of manual switches, such as switches which do not have any active features and only passive switches. That has saved us a lot of time.

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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

"SevOne excels at gathering performance metrics and then making them quickly accessible in ways that I want to view them."

"It provides accurate data, which is critical, and I also like the very quick real-time reporting with one-minute polling, as I can pull up graphs and charts very quickly."

"SevOne's ability to report metrics on specific objects very quickly, whether it is a week, a month, or a year's worth of data points, has improved by leveraging short-term vs. long-term memory to provide necessary statistics so we can alleviate network impacts quickly."

"The monitoring of the network is very customizable. That is its unique feature."

"SevOne is like a Swiss Army Knife."

"SevOne enables us to look at the data and see that the customer has disconnected so we can stop billing and reimbursing them."

"Flexible architecture: You can extend the system and its capacity by attaching another cluster pair."

"Data Insight reporting tool is the most valuable feature. They came up with it a couple of years ago. The most pleasing factor is the dark theme. You don't have a white background. It has templates that you can create for all kinds of reports that you can hit on the fly. It's much better printing of the reports. If you want to send PDFs to people, the reports are actually decent. Whereas for years, the old architecture of the PDFs was rubbish and even our customers said, "We have to manipulate your PDFs because they all have bad margin breaks. SevOne fixed that a couple of years ago with the new Data Insight. It's fantastic."

More IBM SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM) pros

"It is free, easy to use, getting better with every release."

"Wireshark is a very useful tool."

"Wireshark is a great tool to help network engineers identify network problems like broadcasting, injection, poisoning, etc."

"The solution is a good tool for network troubleshooting or management."

"Being able to dissect email data and figure out what is inside email messages was the most valuable feature. Such a feature is pretty helpful for an ongoing forensic investigation or when there is a potential insider threat that you are trying to investigate. It allows you to see the network activity of the users you are investigating. It also gives you more visibility into your network. It was very easy to set up. There is a lot of information out there on Google and YouTube about how to use it. There is also community support. If you have any trouble, it is pretty easy to find an answer online. You will have to do some digging only if you have a very specific use case."

"Wireshark is a network analytic tool which provides such intelligent information in a network."

"This is the de-facto standard network protocol analysis tool."

"Wireshark is the world's most powerful network protocol analyzer tool."

More Wireshark pros

Cons

"I think that the upgrade process could be improved, which can be painful at times."

"I would like to see live maps as an added feature. Also, build modules on AI and EML to provide better data insights that would proactively tell us what we should be looking after."

"Their virtualization solution is not compatible with our Kubernetes environment, which is one of the reasons we are ending our relationship with them."

"NMS has several areas for improvement. It should be more user-friendly inside of NMS for some of the functionality in there. It's been getting better the last version or two, but the there have been bugs in there whenever I've gone to new versions."

"It needs a platform to add portals."

"There are a lot of pain points. My main problem is that we don't have a high availability system."

"The customizations are very hard. The person doing it has to be very good at analytics and has to be very good in all languages"

"You need to plan integrations. That has been the biggest bug with SevOne so far. For the things that SevOne pulls directly, those are easy to understand, modify, and put into the database. For things that need to use the Universal Collector or xStats, you need to plan that stuff well in advance."

More IBM SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM) cons

"A room for improvement in Wireshark is its ease of use for beginners; it could be better."

"Wireshark is similar to an OS defense tool, meaning that it runs on an OS such as Ubuntu and Fedora, but I'm unsure if it's compatible with Windows or if it's a straightforward process to run it on Windows. Right now, my team needs to run Wireshark from a dongle to use it, so it's an OS-dependable tool, and that's an area for improvement. I was unable to use Wireshark on Windows, and I couldn't capture it, as I'm unsure how to configure the wireless card into monitoring mode on Windows. The process was straightforward on Linux, but it wasn't the case on Windows OS. It seems Wireshark isn't compatible with all OS. For example, you can analyze the log, and you can analyze it on the Windows server, but you can't do a capture in Windows. Configuring Wireshark for Windows isn't as easy as configuring it for Linux."

"Wireshark could be improved by adding more monitoring features."

"Maximum buffer size of captured data should be unlimited and should allow ability to archive all old captures (not save option) in real time, it should support a destination location where old captures can be directed for long term storage."

"Not always simple to setup and get the filtering right when capturing data."

"Wireshark could be improved with a delay option when getting data automatically. It could also work faster."

"The initial setup depends upon the basics. You need to have a clear understanding of the basics."

"Wireshark is restricted when any sort of encryption is involved, such as XSL encryption or DLX."

More Wireshark cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It is inexpensive compared to other monitoring tools."

"Prices per license are not huge, but they exist."

"Have a bank of licenses, because it is about the number of objects (RAM, ports, CPU, etc.)."

"There are different options available for licensing, with the per-device option being more expensive but more flexible."

"The pricing has not evolved with the market, which is one of the reasons we are moving to a new product."

"The pricing has been fair."

"For the value that you get from SevOne, it's worth the price. There are a lot of cheaper alternatives on the market, and even free options. But they require more staff, more resources, and engineers with more advanced knowledge of monitoring. That's what makes SevOne worth the price."

"There are cheaper solutions available."

More IBM SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM) pricing and cost advice

"I am using the free version of this solution."

"It is free to download and install. It runs on multiple platforms, so how can you go wrong?"

"Wireshark is free of charge, and there's no license involved."

"Wireshark is free software, so you don't have to pay any licensing fee. Individual people can use it and then donate to Wireshark."

"This is an open-source product that can be used free of charge."

"Wireshark is open source and gives great value and functionality to the network investigation."

"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."

"We're using the free version of Wireshark."

More Wireshark pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Construction Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Outsourcing Company

University

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Construction Company

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	45

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	31
Midsize Enterprise	11
Large Enterprise	29

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with SevOne Network Data Platform?

There is room for improvement in the integration with different vendors and the reporting capabilities. It would be beneficial to have out-of-the-box integration with third-party vendors and improv...

What is your primary use case for SevOne Network Data Platform?

The primary use case of IBM SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM) ( /products/ibm-sevone-network-performance-management-npm-reviews ) is network monitoring. It helps to maintain the infrastru...

What advice do you have for others considering SevOne Network Data Platform?

To compete with custom-built tools, IBM SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM) should accommodate the desired features and be timely in the delivery of feature updates. I would rate the overal...

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?

Wireshark can be improved if it provides the accessibility of capturing packets from one device that is installed in the network without needing the port-mirrored facility. They could provide somet...

What is your primary use case for Wireshark?

Wireshark's main use case is capturing packets and reviewing the data flow over the network. Regarding my main use case for Wireshark, it is a great tool and would be one of the best tools availabl...

SolarWinds NPM vs IBM SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM)

Comparisons

Compared 5% of the time

Zabbix vs IBM SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM)

Compared 4% of the time

Splunk Enterprise Security vs IBM SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM)

Compared 3% of the time

IBM Security QRadar vs IBM SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM)

Compared 2% of the time

Avada Software Infrared360 vs IBM SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM)

Compared 2% of the time

More IBM SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM) Competitors

Colasoft Capsa vs Wireshark

Compared 7% of the time

DX Spectrum vs Wireshark

Compared 7% of the time

AirMagnet Survey PRO vs Wireshark

Compared 7% of the time

Broadcom Network Flow Analysis vs Wireshark

Compared 7% of the time

Observer GigaStor vs Wireshark

Compared 6% of the time

More Wireshark Competitors

Product Reports

IBM SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM)

October 2026

IBM SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM) report

Download IBM SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM) product report

Download Wireshark product report

September 2026

Also Known As

SevOne

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Overview

IBM SevOne Network Performance Management offers real-time insights, customization, and integration capabilities to efficiently monitor network performance across diverse infrastructures, enhancing operational efficiency.

IBM SevOne NPM is recognized for its ability to provide scalable network monitoring across multi-vendor environments. It delivers real-time data insights essential for maintaining network health and performance. With features like SNMP monitoring, NetFlow data collection, and comprehensive dashboards, it supports proactive tracking and analysis. While challenges in upgrade processes and third-party integration exist, its ability to monitor network availability, capacity, and performance in complex environments makes it valuable for organizations managing data centers and virtual machines.

What are the key features of IBM SevOne NPM?

Real-time Data Insights: Provides immediate visibility into network performance.
Scalability: Supports growing infrastructure and diverse environments.
Customization: Adaptable to specific infrastructure needs.
Extensive Device Support: Monitors a wide range of network devices.
Comprehensive Dashboards: Offers detailed performance assessments.

What benefits and ROI should users expect from IBM SevOne NPM?

Improved Efficiency: Enhances operational processes through ITSM integration.
Proactive Monitoring: Facilitates early detection of network issues.
Flexible Infrastructure Support: Efficient in multi-vendor environments.
Insightful Reporting: Provides baseline comparisons and anomaly detection.

In industries such as IT service providers and large enterprises, IBM SevOne NPM is implemented for its ability to monitor extensive network environments, including data centers and virtual machines. Its proactive monitoring and reporting capabilities are instrumental in maintaining network health and ensuring seamless performance across multiple regions and platforms.

IBM

Wireshark offers robust packet analysis through comprehensive filtering and color-coding features, adaptable across platforms due to its open-source nature. It supports real-time and offline packet captures, multiple protocols, and easy installation, making it a favored tool for network experts.

Renowned for its traffic decryption capabilities and detailed traffic insights, Wireshark provides deep packet inspection and a simple GUI. Ideal for network troubleshooting, it allows users to view VoIP traffic and perform advanced customizations. While Wireshark's interface can be complex and challenging for newcomers, its powerful features make it invaluable in identifying network issues, inspecting protocols, and understanding data flow across wired and wireless environments. Users seek more intuitive filters, better Windows and non-laptop support, as well as features like real-time evolution and graphical analysis tools to enhance usability. Wireshark's wide application includes security research, protocol analysis, and application performance baselining, supporting both on-premises and cloud-based operations.

What are Wireshark's standout features?

Filtering and Color-Coding: Enables detailed packet analysis.
Real-Time and Offline Captures: Supports both capture modes for comprehensive network monitoring.
Traffic Decryption: Provides detailed insights into encrypted traffic.
Deep Packet Inspection: Delivers granular network data examination.
GUI Simplicity: Ensures ease of use despite complex capabilities.

What benefits and ROI should users evaluate?

Network Troubleshooting: Streamlines identification and resolution of network issues.
Protocol Inspection: Facilitates in-depth examination of network communication protocols.
Traffic Monitoring: Ensures effective monitoring of network traffic in real time.
Security Research: Assists in uncovering malicious traffic and vulnerabilities.
Application Performance: Aids in baselining and optimizing app performance.

Wireshark is implemented across industries to manage and troubleshoot networks, analyze traffic flow, and ensure secure, efficient communication. It supports research and security operations, providing insights into protocol usage and application performance across physical and virtual environments. Its deployment spans education, telecommunications, finance, and healthcare, underpinning connectivity and data integrity.

Sample Customers

ATOS, Devereux, Spark New Zealand, Access4, Rogers Communication, Lumen (formerly known as CenturyLink)

Comversion, ADP, Talbots