Kentik vs Observer GigaStor comparison

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Kentik and Viavi Solutions are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Kentik is ranked #13 with an average rating of 8.7, while Viavi Solutions is ranked #88. Kentik holds a 1.5% mindshare in NMS, compared to Viavi Solutions’s 0.5% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Kentik users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Viavi Solutions users who would recommend it.

Kentik

Read 22 Kentik reviews

8,240 Views
7,086 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Observer GigaStor

Read 7 Observer GigaStor reviews

3,243 Views
2,043 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Kentik

Observer GigaStor

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 2024

Kentik and Observer GigaStor compete in network performance monitoring and diagnostics. Observer GigaStor is perceived to have an upper hand due to its comprehensive features and perceived value for cost.

Features: Kentik provides advanced data visualizations, real-time traffic insights, and adaptable integrations, which help offer a seamless network performance overview. Observer GigaStor delivers detailed packet-level analysis, extensive historical data storage, and forensic capabilities, catering specifically to intricate security investigations.

Room for Improvement: Kentik could enhance its packet analysis capabilities, improve historical data archiving, and bolster its security features for more thorough investigations. Observer GigaStor might benefit from simplifying its deployment process, reducing its upfront costs, and improving its integration within cloud environments.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Kentik supports cloud-native deployments for quick, scalable setups and offers adaptive support for diverse network architectures. Observer GigaStor's appliance-based model requires more initial setup effort but excels in customer service, aiding complex deployments.

Pricing and ROI: Kentik offers competitive pricing and cost-efficient solutions, providing significant ROI through analytics capabilities. Observer GigaStor involves a higher upfront investment, justifying costs with its in-depth network forensics capabilities and long-term ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Kentik vs. Observer GigaStor Report (Updated: September 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Kentik vs. Observer GigaStor

September 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

Kentik

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

13th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection (7th)

Observer GigaStor

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

88th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

8.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Troubleshooting (15th), Network Packet Broker (NPB) (6th)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Kentik is 1.5%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Observer GigaStor is 0.5%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Kentik	1.5%
Observer GigaStor	0.5%
Other	98.0%

Network Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

Gcecilio

Network Engineer at a media company with 51-200 employees

Traffic insights have reduced transit costs and support secure, direct connections with providers

The best features that Kentik offers are the ability to identify traffic end-to-end and to know which transit is used, if it goes through any other transit, to see the entire flow, from the subscriber to the content provider and vice versa, from the content provider to the subscriber.I can also determine whether it is symmetric or asymmetric traffic, and if it goes through any provider that has some kind of bottleneck. That is very important. Regarding the security part, which is also possible to handle through Kentik, you can configure it in a way that makes the network more secure and reduces the amount of dirty traffic or attacks received. Kentik has had a high positive impact on my organization. Besides the cost reduction, it has been possible to perform troubleshooting more effectively, and also regarding DDoS-related attacks. In addition to cost reduction, we had a more reliable connection. Since the moment we identified that it was possible to have a direct connection with content providers like CDN77, Cloudflare, and Akamai, we established a direct connection there through a PNI with these content providers, making the network less dependent on an IP transit provider.

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Jeroen-Dubbelman

Director at Bitrate

Aids significantly in the threat-hunting process and provides a score-based evaluation of user experience

There are many valuable features, but understanding end-user response times stands out. It provides a score-based evaluation of user experience, helping customers quickly pinpoint whether issues originate from the network, server, client, or application. Additionally, it facilitates in-depth analysis of application dependencies. The retrospective network analysis capability of Observer GigaStor has been beneficial. It's a pivotal feature for network performance solutions. However, I prefer to consider the entire solution suite - GigaStor, along with GigaFlow and Apex - for comprehensive network visibility and monitoring. So, I prefer to integrate all three solutions to provide the best visibility. They complement each other well, with Apex aggregating and correlating data from both GigaStor and GigaFlow to enhance environmental understanding and troubleshooting efficiency.

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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

"Kentik has had a positive impact on my organization in terms of our network visibility because we leave our dashboard on a display screen, where the entire engineering team can see it."

"Kentik has positively impacted my organization significantly, as it serves as our main monitoring system."

"Kentik answers the flow question: what are my flows, where are they are going, and what can I do to better optimize my connectivity."

"We're also using Kentik to ingest metrics. It's a useful feature, and its response time, whenever we're pulling back the data, is higher than our on-prem solution."

"Collecting that data and having those metrics first-hand, in real-time, allows us to make an educated decision, versus an uneducated guess."

"The biggest thing Kentik has given us is the amount of visibility we have into our own network now and knowing what's going on at a given time."

"Having the API access allows us to do a great deal of automation around a lot of our reporting and management tools."

"Monitoring operational efficiency is easy."

More Kentik pros

"This solution allows us to see exactly what is going on in the network and we can very quickly solve issues with users."

"I also have the ability to see an application's performance, to see what's going on, why a network is slow, why this program for this user is experiencing a delay or some network issue"

"Industry-leading line rates, packet-capture technology and data-mining capabilities are the most valuable features."

"It can help to write your rules, organize firewalls, your block, and also your protocols and IP address to come in or out of your network."

"It's able to capture packets and, after a long time, you can come and use that information; to check, to analyze - everything you would want to do. So it's very good and helpful if you want to protect your data. It is stored in a certain place where you can access it every time you want to analyze it."

"Enables us to go back in time to capture an issue and analyze it for a solution, and this after the fact analysis is key to overcoming the bump in the night issues."

"Go take a look at it. It's a great product and has great capabilities."

"The ability to capture packets. It is not only for monitoring. That is very important for a company that wants to keep an eye on the packets, the transactions, the flows..."

More Observer GigaStor pros

Cons

"I've checked out the V4 version of the interface and it's still a little bit clunky for me to use."

"In recent months, I've noticed that while the industry is trending towards AI, Kentik has room for improvement in this area."

"Perhaps a better explanation would be to see how tagging is captured and a method of comparing my tagged interfaces on Kentik’s side."

"My experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing shows that the prices are quite high."

"The only downside to Kentik, something that I don't like, is that it's great that it shows you where these anomalies lie, but it's not actionable. Kentik is valuable, don't get me wrong, but if it had an actionable piece to it..."

"Sometimes, the tool has complications, so we must deal with the additional support from the tool's end."

"Version 4 of the platform is good and going in the right direction."

"It also detects anomalies proactively, but the same is not so true when it comes to real network problems, since they tend to just happen."

More Kentik cons

"Graphics need improvement. Because a lot of the information there you have to input first in some case to have full potential. It could be more automated."

"The interface is pretty complex, so for the average user, it takes a while to get up to speed with it. I would like it to be more user-friendly."

"There are some issues, in our environment that puts processing restraints on the Gigastor when turning on trending data to be sent to APEX."

"The Observer Console UI is consistent and stable, but could use some updating to be more modern."

"I would like to have more than 4TB of storage available in the portable version of this solution."

"GigaStor feeds into Apex. So, the area where there could be improvement would be in artificial intelligence. For example, the incorporation of more advanced machine learning or AI capabilities could enhance its functionality."

"Maybe the graphical user interface could be simplified to allow people to use it more easily. It's already good, but they can work more on it to make it even easier."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The tool is cheaply priced."

"We have an annual contract with Kentik that we renew each year for a set number of licenses. We also have some burstable licenses which we can spin up and spin down, and those are paid as they are used."

"It's quite expensive."

"It depends on the requirements you have. There are three types of license. There's the updates license, the work group license, and the workstation license."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Comms Service Provider

15%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Media Company

Construction Company

18%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Outsourcing Company

10%

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	10

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Large Enterprise	3

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Kentik?

My experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing has been limited because I was not responsible for that in my company, but I have spoken with my boss, and he reported that the licensing mode...

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What needs improvement with Kentik?

Kentik can be improved by enhancing the alerting system, especially the way templates work and the hierarchy of these alerts.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Kentik?

My main use case for Kentik is as a network monitoring system and flow analysis tool. A specific example of how I use Kentik for network monitoring is monitoring devices or services that go down an...

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Kentik

September 2026

Download Kentik product report

Buyer's Guide

Observer GigaStor

September 2026

Download Observer GigaStor product report

Overview

Kentik provides real-time visibility into network infrastructure, focusing on monitoring, data visualization, and flow analysis to manage traffic patterns efficiently.

With robust analytics capabilities, Kentik offers insights into BGP peering status, aids in DDoS detection, and allows for detailed telemetry through its intuitive interface. The platform's SaaS nature simplifies operations by eliminating server maintenance concerns. Multi-vendor support and synthetic testing enhance network security and performance by simulating customer scenarios, while its API offers automation for querying and reporting tasks.

What are the key features of Kentik?

Real-Time Visibility: Monitors network infrastructure effectively.
Data Visualization: Offers powerful tools for viewing complex data.
Flow Analysis: Analyzes traffic flow for optimal management.
BGP Peering Insights: Provides in-depth peering status checks.
DDoS Alerting: Notifies about potential DDoS threats.
Data Explorer: Aids in understanding traffic patterns.
Synthetic Testing: Simulates scenarios to enhance security and performance.

What benefits can be found in user reviews?

Automation: Users value the flexibility of its API for automating tasks.
Ease of Use: SaaS model streamlines user engagement, eliminating server maintenance.
Flexibility: Report customization and query settings are highly appreciated.
Enhanced Observability: Telemetry and multi-vendor support increase oversight.

Industries implement Kentik for network monitoring, traffic management, and flow data analysis across both on-prem and cloud setups. It proves valuable for detecting DDoS events, managing peering relationships, and optimizing costs, besides managing CDN configurations and performing synthetic tests in diverse environments.

Kentik

Observer GigaStor provides detailed network visibility and data capture for efficient troubleshooting and analysis. It's a robust tool designed to manage today’s complex network environments, offering reliability and performance insights.

Observer GigaStor specializes in long-term network traffic capture, delivering comprehensive forensic analysis capabilities. It stands as a trusted resource for IT departments aiming to resolve network performance issues swiftly. By capturing and storing packets with high precision, it aids in identifying both current and past anomalies, ensuring network health and performance continuity through proactive monitoring.

What are the key features of Observer GigaStor?

Long-term Data Capture: Enables storage of vast amounts of data for extensive historical analysis.
Comprehensive Protocol Support: Offers support for diverse protocols, enhancing troubleshooting accuracy.
Retrospective Analysis: Provides the ability to trace issues back to their origin point, improving issue resolution speed.
Scalability: Adapts to network growth without sacrificing performance capabilities.

What benefits and ROI can be expected from reviews?

Increased Troubleshooting Efficiency: Provides quicker resolution times, reducing network downtime.
Enhanced Network Visibility: Improves understanding of network performance and traffic patterns.
Reduced Operational Costs: Limits the need for manual troubleshooting, saving on labor costs.
Improved Decision Making: Data insights aid in strategic planning for infrastructure improvements.

Observer GigaStor's implementation spans across various industries, from telecommunications to finance, where maintaining robust and secure network performance is crucial. Its ability to analyze and retrieve historical network data supports compliance and operational stability demands in these sectors.

Viavi Solutions

Sample Customers

Pandora, Yelp, Neustar, Box, University of Washington, Zoom, Tata, and Cogent.

Cisco Systems, Hawaiian Telecom, Renown Health, State of Nevada, U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, Allstate Insurance, Jack Henry & Associates, United States Airforce, US Bank, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Chicago Board Options Exchange

Buyer's Guide

Kentik vs. Observer GigaStor

September 2026

Free Report: Kentik vs. Observer GigaStor

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