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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 March 2025, in the Oscilloscopes category, the mindshare of Keysight Oscilloscopes is 10.7%, down from 19.4% 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 accurate, fast, has high bandwidth, and the PLTS is pretty convenient."
"I use the serial decoder for the serial interfaces, which helps me debug my product quickly."
"The user interface is very user-friendly. You can use a lot of functions in their scope and will provide them for you. You can update the scope's software by asking Keysight to update the software when you want."
"The user interface has never been better. They improved it a few years ago with a more modern oscilloscope interface and it's easier to use, even for more junior people in our lab."
"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 Keysight Ecal feature has made it very easy for me to do calibrations."
"Its versatility and accuracy are the most valuable features."
"The technical support is good, and it has very strong customer support. They sent an engineer to us who gave us some training and tutorials."
"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."
"Because their view is a graphical user interface (GUI), it's very easy to program the tool."
"The user interface is very good. Their boards are reliable. We buy boards from them, they are reliable, and we don't have problems with them."
"The user interface is very good, easy to understand, and easy to operate."
"Most of the features are on the screen itself. The naming convention makes it very easy to understand what is needed."
"We haven't need technical support yet because all documentation is well done and there."
"It helps us to save on our investment with a lot of the stuff that we buy, as we can find defects quickly."
"The integrated lateral view makes it easier to develop your test systems and test software flow."
 

Cons

"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."
"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."
"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."
"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 them to build in more high-speed functions, such as FEC or PCIe, built into the array. PERT to be built-in for more specific product call. These would make our lives much easier."
"Some of the models have only two ports. It takes much longer to use a two-port. If they had a four-port, it would be much better."
"If the simulation runs for a long time, it will suddenly crash. If they can debug that, the product would be better."
"In terms of additional capabilities, I would like to see more touchscreen and a larger screen. That would help."
"I would like more speed and a reduction in size."
"I would like to see them increase the productivity and auxiliary functions."
"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."
"There is a learning curve. It takes one to two months to get acclimated to the tool."
"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."
"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 have more RF. They're going that way, but still there is some work that they have to do."
"The software has room for improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's very expensive because this type of equipment is not so common. For a company buying it, this is a big investment."
"It would be good if it were a little bit cheaper, of course."
"They're not cheap."
"The pricing is always high."
"Our solution is upgradable. However, upgrading depends on how much money the company is willing to spend, because each upgrade will take a million dollars."
"The price is affordable for us, but for smaller companies, probably not."
"Pricing always is very expensive. There's no free lunch."
"Keysight is on the high side. If they could make the price lower without sacrificing the quality that would be great."
"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."
"The pricing was good. Compared to the others, it was very good."
"The cost of the equipment has room for improvement. The pricing could improve."
"I would like more competitive pricing."
"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."
"It's a bit expensive. However, you get the entire package, not just the box. It's a box which supports older releases."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
17%
University
10%
Legal Firm
7%
Computer Software Company
6%
Legal Firm
33%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Healthcare Company
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
 

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.
842,651 professionals have used our research since 2012.