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Keysight Oscilloscopes vs National Instruments (NI) Oscilloscopes comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

Keysight Oscilloscopes
Ranking in Oscilloscopes
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
National Instruments (NI) O...
Ranking in Oscilloscopes
7th
Average Rating
8.6
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Oscilloscopes category, the mindshare of Keysight Oscilloscopes is 10.7%, down from 18.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of National Instruments (NI) Oscilloscopes is 0.8%, down from 1.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Oscilloscopes
 

Featured Reviews

KR
Helps us ensure our materials' performance and DKDF measurements
I would definitely recommend trying this product. It's a really reliable and high-performance machine. In terms of a learning curve on the equipment, I had some training on the VNA before we purchased it, so for me training was done within a week or so. It was not really hard. But for colleagues, it took them some time to learn it. Upgrades are always welcome. Apart from VNA, we need to purchase all the fixtures, other equipment to connect to VNA. They are very expensive tools, and that's part of upgrading what we are doing in the lab. The solution, performance-wise is a ten out of ten. Price-wise, it's a six out of ten.
SeniorEn6bfd - PeerSpot reviewer
The integrated lateral view makes it easier to develop your test systems and test software flow
The application space that this solution targets is 5G and high-speed systems. 5G is where we are developing some chips to test whether it prequalifies for a necessary requirement before we embed it into our box. Then, in high-speed systems, we're still figuring out how exactly we're going to test this out, but it should be also on prequalification. We are not using this product to support connected devices for IoT development nor are we planning to going forward. We are measuring millimeter wave signals. My colleague deals with the automation of the test systems. The user interface is okay.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It's easier to automate and connect with multiple devices, and at the same time with laptops."
"The user interface is very simple. Everyone can use it."
"The product's functionality makes things easier for my partner, who is doing the PCIe design. He is able measure the product's usage and bit error rate."
"The user interface is simple and straightforward, so I can easily measure frequency, time, and other complex measurements."
"The Keysight Ecal feature has made it very easy for me to do calibrations."
"I use the serial decoder for the serial interfaces, which helps me debug my product quickly."
"It's accurate, fast, has high bandwidth, and the PLTS is pretty convenient."
"It can go up to a very high frequency, up to 120 gigahertz. And the user interface is really good. It's really easy to navigate."
"The integrated lateral view makes it easier to develop your test systems and test software flow."
"It helps us to save on our investment with a lot of the stuff that we buy, as we can find defects quickly."
"The user interface is absolutely great. It creates an easy working environment because it has well-integrated hardware and software. So, it is easy to use."
"It saves me a lot of time. You can click a button and walk away, basically doing a week's worth of work in 20 minutes, it's a pretty good time saver."
"It took us less than a week to get integrated into the solution, which is very fast."
"We haven't need technical support yet because all documentation is well done and there."
"It makes programming simpler."
"The user interface is very good, easy to understand, and easy to operate."
 

Cons

"The user interface has a load of features that come with it, which is why it is an eight out of ten."
"I would like more customized functions, so we can do the programming and definitions ourselves. There is an automation flow to capture this signal, and we would like to do this ourselves."
"Everybody is looking for more automation support, so that if they can incorporate more protocols. It makes it easier."
"Sometimes, it's quite hard to get the technical support to come onsite. If we run into a hardware, measurement, or software issue, we may have to wait a long time for them to come."
"We tried to connect multiple computers with a KVM switch but we could not do that using Keysight VNA. Keysight VNA comes with the PC inside it. We have other equipment as well, and we tried to combine it so that we had one monitor to control everything. With Keysight we could not do it. That's something of an inconvenience."
"There is room for improvement with some of the features of the scope. I would like them to make it a bit more simplistic... For example, if I want to look at what the total jitter is, they should make it simpler to find that, with different tabs."
"I would like to see the possibility of interacting with the software, new features for software post-processing. For example, once you're done measuring, it would be nice to be able to generate some data starting from the measurement data."
"The user interface is not that good. It's not very intuitive. It's functional, but it's not designed for ease of operation. It's designed for functionality."
"I would like to see more of a tasking user base and documentation inside the instrument itself, rather than having to go online for it."
"I would like to see them increase the productivity and auxiliary functions."
"National Instruments needs to be focusing on its 5G RF applications. They are aware of this, and that's where most of their R&D is going."
"There is a learning curve. It takes one to two months to get acclimated to the tool."
"I would like more speed and a reduction in size."
"The software has room for improvement."
"There is a learning curve. It might take a year if you're not well-versed with it."
"It took a good year until I felt proficient using the product, as It is a complex program. Their newest version has a less steep learning curve, but back closer to 15 years ago, it was a lot less user-friendly."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Pricing always is very expensive. There's no free lunch."
"The price is affordable for us, but for smaller companies, probably not."
"We are looking at $600,000 and it's obviously expensive, but compared to others, everybody is in the same ballpark."
"While I don't have transparency on the pricing, it works within my budget."
"It would be good if it were a little bit cheaper, of course."
"The cost is always a struggle. We always wish that we could do more for less."
"It's expensive, but the quality matters."
"The pricing is very expensive."
"The cost of the equipment has room for improvement. The pricing could improve."
"The pricing was good. Compared to the others, it was very good."
"It's a bit expensive. However, you get the entire package, not just the box. It's a box which supports older releases."
"The price is a little steep. A lot of people, like our customers, use a different machine because of the price. The price has to come down a bit so we can do other tests without paying the equipment's high costs."
"I have saved almost 50 percent of my total budget for a project by using their products."
"They have an initial investment cost, which is quite high. But, along the way, there is so much behind it that the product is really invaluable."
"These products are a very low-cost, effective alternative to traditional Big Iron ATE hardware."
"It's reasonably priced for what we spend our money on in the lab. It's one of the lower-end purchases."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
17%
University
11%
Legal Firm
7%
Educational Organization
6%
Legal Firm
34%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
8%
Healthcare Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Also Known As

InfiniiVision Series, Infiniium Series
NI Oscilloscopes
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Nokia Bell Labs
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Keysight Oscilloscopes vs. National Instruments (NI) Oscilloscopes and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
848,207 professionals have used our research since 2012.