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National Instruments (NI) Oscilloscopes vs Rohde & Schwarz 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

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
Rohde & Schwarz Oscilloscopes
Ranking in Oscilloscopes
5th
Average Rating
8.2
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Oscilloscopes category, the mindshare of National Instruments (NI) Oscilloscopes is 3.5%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Rohde & Schwarz Oscilloscopes is 11.7%, up from 6.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Oscilloscopes Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Rohde & Schwarz Oscilloscopes11.7%
National Instruments (NI) Oscilloscopes3.5%
Other84.8%
Oscilloscopes
 

Featured Reviews

AA
Senior Technical Officer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
I have saved almost 50 percent of my total budget for a project by using their products
The use of this solution does require a specific mindset. Some people are not tailored for it. Try it. The learning curve is really fast, so it's easy to use. We are measuring RF signals, one-sided analog signals, and control loops for system controls. We are not using this product to support connected devices nor are we planning to going forward.
BJ
Staff Transceiver Engineer at Xilinx, Inc.
With this machine, it's easier for us to debug or clarify where the noise source could be because of its accuracy
For the RF application, we care much about the crosstalk on our device and PCBs. Generally, what we can do with the other vendor's product is four-port measurement. It's a bit complicated for us and time consuming to combine all the crosstalk measurement together in a unified model. However, with this VNA, it is much easier because of its eight ports configuration. It's very stable because everything is done at the same time. This means within the test condition environment, everything is the same. This has increased accuracy and dramatically saved a lot of our time. We can do more experiments with this product than using other VNAs which have less ports.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I can automate a lot of testing very quickly. With just a push of a button, I can test hundreds of different scenarios without having to do all that manual testing myself."
"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."
"Because their view is a graphical user interface (GUI), it's very easy to program the tool."
"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 very good, easy to understand, and easy to operate."
"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."
"Go with their products."
"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."
"I have been able to do quality measurements that I have been unable to achieve with the equipment from some other vendors."
"The noise sensitivity: It has a low noise floor."
"It is a more efficient, easier way to do measurements."
"It has a very low noise floor."
"The most valuable features are its wide bandwidth and 8 ports."
"With this machine, it's easier for us to debug or clarify where the noise source could be because of its accuracy."
"The user interface is pretty good. Right now, it is more than what we expected. It's easy and fast to use."
"The instrument has a wide bandwidth. You can sweep across a wide range of frequencies."
 

Cons

"It took a good year until I felt proficient using the product, as it is a complex program."
"The software has room for improvement."
"I would like more competitive pricing."
"There is a learning curve."
"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."
"I would like to have more RF. They're going that way, but still there is some work that they have to do."
"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 them increase the productivity and auxiliary functions."
"It would be good if they would try to automate most things because it has more pressing buttons and repetitive work. If there were automation scripts that they could provide, that would improve things."
"The Rohde & Schwarz user interface is very oriented towards drop and drag functions on the screen. Some of those are just not obvious how to use. You have to have somebody get you over the hump."
"We would like to have autotracking and auto error tracking for regression testing. We would like to know what error happened, when it happened, and during what scenario (such as setup), because right now we have to manually look at when it happened."
"We would like to have autotracking and auto error tracking for regression testing. We would like to know what error happened, when it happened, and during what scenario (such as setup), because right now we have to manually look at when it happened."
"The user interface of this solution is not that intuitive."
"The size of the unit is too big, too heavy. It has to be made more portable and smaller."
"I'm against the Windows-based tools. Now everybody is running scopes, VNAs, and all their tools based on Windows. I don't want to see that in the future."
"It has good performance, reliability, and support, but it is too expensive."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"I would like more competitive pricing."
"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 cost of the equipment has room for improvement. The pricing could improve."
"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."
"The pricing is too high."
"The pricing is very expensive."
"The pricing is expensive, but very fair when you look at the technology that you are getting. These are higher-end pieces which have a ton of engineering in them that is not evident on the package. However, you could imagine the amount of time that the vendor has spent on the firmware, optimizing the internal layout, developing custom ICs, etc. They're releasing a mass produced product, but these things are built to last."
"When we chose this, the price was really reasonable, and it is a high-end product. It had a high price, but we understood that because it has 8 port, the same noise floor (as the competition) with double the measurement capabilities and a cheaper price."
"One of the things I liked less, not only me but also my company, was that Rohde & Schwarz are very expensive... There are solutions that are almost the same that sell at better prices."
"Buying Rohde & Schwarz gear is like buying a Mercedes. It raises eyebrows when you're asking for that level of performance."
"If we are looking to purchase a product, we ask for a loaner for a month or so to test it out. Then, we will make a decision."
"The pricing is very competitive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Manufacturing Company
17%
Government
10%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Computer Software Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Large Enterprise7
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise6
 

Also Known As

NI Oscilloscopes
RT Series
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about National Instruments (NI) Oscilloscopes vs. Rohde & Schwarz Oscilloscopes and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
893,311 professionals have used our research since 2012.