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National Instruments (NI) Oscilloscopes vs Tektronix 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
Tektronix Oscilloscopes
Ranking in Oscilloscopes
3rd
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the Oscilloscopes category, the mindshare of National Instruments (NI) Oscilloscopes is 3.3%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Tektronix Oscilloscopes is 17.7%, up from 14.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Oscilloscopes Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Tektronix Oscilloscopes17.7%
National Instruments (NI) Oscilloscopes3.3%
Other79.0%
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.
HC
Sr Engineer at a tech company with 5,001-10,000 employees
B-scan is its most valuable feature. However, we are looking for an Intel platform with the newest chipset.
Try it if it is within your budget. It is a good product. The learning curve is very quick. It takes about one or two days. While we have plans to use this product to support connect devices, we are not currently doing so. We are currently measuring signals from 3.0 and 4.0, and looking for 5.0.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Because their view is a graphical user interface (GUI), it's very easy to program the tool."
"It took us less than a week to get integrated into the solution, which is very fast."
"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."
"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."
"The learning curve was really fast, which was also the reason for saving a lot on the budget."
"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."
"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 is a very capable instrument; it really does the job."
"Technical support is great."
"It has digital scopes with a high bandwidth and digitized signal. It can do whatever you want with the signal. Since its user-friendly software allows you to work with the signal, which is pretty cool."
"I like to use it and it does what I need it to do."
"It is easy to handle, so everyone likes to use it."
"The user interface is excellent, the GUI is so self-explanatory and there are the same knobs everywhere; the design is a standard design line."
"The most valuable features are everything they do. We primarily use the O-scopes and they help us figure out what's going wrong with our scope out signals."
"It provides you the best way to view information without opening multiple applications, like a single solution."
 

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 to have more RF."
"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."
"I would like more competitive pricing."
"I would like more speed and a reduction in size."
"The price is a little steep."
"There was a learning curve, which was a little tricky at times. Getting used to the GUI took time because we had to learn the different features."
"We would like more features for the CAN bus decoding, such as importing DDC files, which allows us to take the raw data and convert it into engineering units."
"If they could make the user interface even more intuitive that would help. If they could make it easier to read, to know where the buttons are, that's all I need."
"If they could make the user interface even more intuitive that would help."
"I would like if they could have more customer support engagement."
"I would like to see more integration into machine learning because that's what we try to apply it to."
"It needs one button and every time you push it, you get whatever you need."
"The power of the computer inside is weak. Sometimes I send a lot of data and I'll feel the lag... I would like to see them improve the processing power."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's a bit expensive. However, you get the entire package, not just the box. It's a box which supports older releases."
"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 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."
"The cost of the equipment has room for improvement. The pricing could improve."
"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."
"The pricing was good. Compared to the others, it was very good."
"Pricing could be lower. I would want to buy it for an extremely, low price, but Tektronix is a high-end product."
"We demoed the product before purchasing it."
"It could always be cheaper."
"It's available on the low-end scopes for free, but on the higher-end scopes, it is expensive. Therefore, it's a bit more difficult to make stuff work."
"The pricing is not too high and not too low."
"I would like to see a lower price."
"The pricing is okay. It was within our budget."
"Isolated probes are good to have, as most of the scopes don't have it. It drives up the cost when you have to buy isolated probes."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Manufacturing Company
14%
University
11%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Educational Organization
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Large Enterprise7
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise19
 

Also Known As

NI Oscilloscopes
TBS Series, TDS Series, MDO Series, MSO Series
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about National Instruments (NI) Oscilloscopes vs. Tektronix Oscilloscopes and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
890,071 professionals have used our research since 2012.