Ixia Hawkeye vs Plixer Scrutinizer comparison

Keysight Technologies and Plixer are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Keysight Technologies is ranked #32 with an average rating of 10.0, while Plixer is ranked #54 with an average rating of 8.0. Keysight Technologies holds a 0.2% mindshare in NMS, compared to Plixer’s 0.4% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Keysight Technologies users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Plixer users who would recommend it.

Ixia Hawkeye

Read 4 Ixia Hawkeye reviews

436 Views
299 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Plixer Scrutinizer

Read 15 Plixer Scrutinizer reviews

982 Views
376 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Ixia Hawkeye

Plixer Scrutinizer

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 2024

Ixia Hawkeye and Plixer Scrutinizer are competing products in the network performance monitoring market. Plixer Scrutinizer appears to have the upper hand due to its superior data analysis features, considered worth the investment.

Features: Ixia Hawkeye focuses on real-time network performance monitoring, automated testing, and proactive alerts. Plixer Scrutinizer offers comprehensive flow analysis, extensive drill-down options, and traffic visualization.

Room for Improvement: Ixia Hawkeye could benefit from enhanced flow analysis, more detailed traffic visualization, and additional customization options. Plixer Scrutinizer might improve its deployment process, offer more competitive pricing options, and simplify its initial setup.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Ixia Hawkeye is noted for its streamlined deployment and responsive customer service team, providing assistance throughout setup. Plixer Scrutinizer, despite a more intricate deployment, is supported by comprehensive documentation and knowledgeable technical support, making the complexity manageable.

Pricing and ROI: Ixia Hawkeye is recognized for lower upfront costs and rapid ROI, appealing to budget-conscious buyers. Plixer Scrutinizer, with higher initial costs, justifies the investment with high returns through enhanced capabilities and deeper insights.

To learn more, read our detailed Ixia Hawkeye vs. Plixer Scrutinizer Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Ixia Hawkeye vs. Plixer Scrutinizer

April 2025

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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

Ixia Hawkeye

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

32nd

Average Rating

9.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Unified Communications Monitoring (4th), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (35th)

Plixer Scrutinizer

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

54th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (10th)

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Ixia Hawkeye is 0.2%, down from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Plixer Scrutinizer is 0.4%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

José Enrique Cano Rodriguez

Assistant Consultant at Tata Consultancy

A valuable tool for optimizing network performance and security with comprehensive network monitoring capabilities, user-friendly interface, and flexibility for scripting

Distinguishing itself from network management systems like SolarWinds Orion and Dataminer, Hawkeye offers a distinctive feature. It empowers network administrators to access specialized and detailed views for specific tests, including video streaming and performance related to specific applications like video games. In contrast, SolarWinds and Dataminer typically offer a more general evaluation of network health. Hawkeye's unique capability enables a detailed analysis of network performance through specific tests, allowing administrators to identify areas in need of improvement and take precise actions to enhance network performance.

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Ronald Jansen

Owner/President at Abraxax

Reporting is extensive, flexible, and can be custom-made in just a short time

In terms of additional features I'd like to see in the next release of Plixer Scrutinizer, I can't think of any because you can do some integration with other monitoring tools that are not strong in NetFlow or don't have NetFlow at all. There are also some integration possibilities in the product, plus there are alerts, too. Plixer Scrutinizer is a pretty complete product. 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.

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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

"Our customer was happiest with the price of this product."

"The most valuable feature is the deployment because it's very easy to deploy real flow through the network."

"It empowers network administrators to access specialized and detailed views for specific tests, including video streaming and performance related to specific applications like video games."

"The ease of setup is the most valuable aspect of this solution. It's easy to set up and run tests."

"We have had many requests to understand in the network which devices are connected to others. Most people don't have this information or are able to establish a map of data flow everywhere around the network. Scrutinizer can really help with this. We are using it to understand who is talking to what, how, and which protocols can help us to improve security and analyze flow."

"Visualization of the network traffic is the most valuable feature. It allows you to drill into information quite quickly."

"The most valuable features of Plixer Scrutinizer are its ease of use, accessibility, and UI."

"One feature I found most valuable in Plixer Scrutinizer is the very extensive reporting. Reporting is very flexible, though sometimes you need a little bit of support from Plixer Scrutinizer to create custom-made reporting in a very short time. Reporting is a very strong feature of the product."

"As a network engineer, the ability to identify what traffic on the link is consuming all the bandwidth at any given time, and provide immediate feedback to the business, is the most valuable feature."

"We didn't experience any bugs."

"The most valuable features of the solution are the ability to track what a device is doing and to go back historically. It is also able to go down to, and identify, very low levels of traffic."

"The reporting and generating troubleshooting reports would be the best feature; our host-to-host conversation reporting."

More Plixer Scrutinizer pros

Cons

"The customization of tests and even the results can be improved."

"Improvements in network performance are essential."

"Ixia has one flaw, which is that they do not print the license code on the paper licenses that are shipped to the customers."

"You can't delete more than one thing at a time. It would be great to be able to highlight three out of five things and delete them, whether it's a test or an actual report."

"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."

"There is room for improvement around the data that they have on the website about solutions... they should have more templated solutions on their website. Going out and identifying how to do RTP performance with a Cisco router, or how to do application response times in an Arrista data center deployment was where most of the work was... They should spend some more time documenting solutions and putting together white papers."

"I wish the reporting side was easier to work with, but it does a decent job. I also wish the reporting side was a little more intuitive or they offered more reporting examples."

"From what I understand it is that the solution is not very scalable in a high volume traffic environment with a large number of flows."

"Though Plixer Scrutinizer has network detection and response, it's an area that needs just a little more rounding out. Another room for improvement in the solution is its lack of SaaS offering which some customers were looking for. My company deals in small to medium businesses, mid-market, and some customers wanted the SaaS feature which Plixer Scrutinizer doesn't offer. What I'd like to see in the next release of the solution is for it to have a SaaS offering because my company also deals with educational spaces and smaller businesses that just don't have the staff that can implement this. If there's either a managed service or SaaS-based offering to just make it a little easier for those types of customers, it would be a great addition to Plixer Scrutinizer."

"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."

"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."

"Knowing that they're coming out with a new user interface, that is an area where there is room for improvement. There are so many variables. They should limit the variables in the user interface and create some classes, like "simple," "novice," and "expert" to narrow down the variables within it."

More Plixer Scrutinizer cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"In larger networks, the costs for licenses tend to be more reasonable, but for smaller networks, it appears relatively costly."

"It cost us approximately 25,000 for two years. This is cheaper than ThousandEyes."

"We just renewed. The pricing is 5,000 euro per year. This is the final price. All tax (20 percent) is included."

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

"The license is per device. We have 50 devices."

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

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

"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."

"There is a recurring maintenance fee after the initial purchase or if we want the license upgrade."

"We recently bought a license upgrade, so we will integrate more exporters. We upgraded from a 25 exporter license to a 50 exporter license. Therefore, there will be more flows, and this will be an extension. I don't know when we will purchase a faster server, because the server that we have is quite new."

More Plixer Scrutinizer pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

16%

Computer Software Company

14%

Energy/Utilities Company

Government

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Ixia Hawkeye?

It empowers network administrators to access specialized and detailed views for specific tests, including video streaming and performance related to specific applications like video games.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Ixia Hawkeye?

Improvements in network performance are essential.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Ixia Hawkeye?

Our objective is to evaluate the performance of GPON and DOCSIS networks which involves considering factors such as pricing, sales, and the technical aspects of conducting tests. To achieve this, v...

See all answers

What do you like most about Plixer Scrutinizer?

Plixer Scrutinizer is an affordable product. Plixer Scrutinizer is a tool that allows for customization, especially in scenarios where customers need new product features.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Plixer Scrutinizer?

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.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Plixer Scrutinizer?

I don't have deep enough knowledge to comment on what requires improvements in Plixer Scrutinizer. In Plixer Scrutinizer, scalability is an area with minor concerns where improvements are required.

See all answers

Comparisons

NETSCOUT nGeniusONE vs Ixia Hawkeye

Compared 38% of the time

ThousandEyes vs Ixia Hawkeye

Compared 35% of the time

Gigamon Deep Observability Pipeline vs Ixia Hawkeye

Compared 27% of the time

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SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer vs Plixer Scrutinizer

Compared 29% of the time

Cisco Secure Network Analytics vs Plixer Scrutinizer

Compared 24% of the time

Kentik vs Plixer Scrutinizer

Compared 17% of the time

PRTG Network Monitor vs Plixer Scrutinizer

Compared 16% of the time

LogicMonitor vs Plixer Scrutinizer

Compared 13% of the time

More Plixer Scrutinizer Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Network Monitoring Software

March 2025

Download Ixia Hawkeye product report

Buyer's Guide

Plixer Scrutinizer

April 2025

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Overview

Hawkeye quickly and effectively validates network performance, isolates problems, and proactively detects issues by running scheduled verification tests. Using a combination of hardware and software agents called Performance Endpoints, Hawkeye simulates application traffic and sends key performance metrics to a central console for fast action.

Keysight Technologies

The Scrutinizer incident response system leverages network traffic analytics to provide active monitoring, visualization, and reporting of network and security incidents. The system quickly delivers the rich forensic data needed by IT professionals to support fast and efficient incident response.

Plixer

Sample Customers

EMA

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

Ixia Hawkeye vs. Plixer Scrutinizer

April 2025

Free Report: Ixia Hawkeye vs. Plixer Scrutinizer

Find out what your peers are saying about Ixia Hawkeye vs. Plixer Scrutinizer and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.

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