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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
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Oscilloscopes category, the mindshare of National Instruments (NI) Oscilloscopes is 4.2%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Tektronix Oscilloscopes is 15.9%, down from 16.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Oscilloscopes Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Tektronix Oscilloscopes15.9%
National Instruments (NI) Oscilloscopes4.2%
Other79.9%
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

"I chose this solution because it integrates a lot of functionality in one piece of equipment."
"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."
"Most of the features are on the screen itself. The naming convention makes it very easy to understand what is needed."
"Because their view is a graphical user interface (GUI), it's very easy to program the tool."
"The integrated lateral view makes it easier to develop your test systems and test software flow."
"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."
"We haven't need technical support yet because all documentation is well done and there."
"The user interface is very good, easy to understand, and easy to operate."
"This solution provides high confidence in the data being presented in the measurement to inform a design decision going forward."
"I like to use it and it does what I need it to do."
"For this introductory electrical engineering lab, it's pretty well-suited to my needs."
"The most valuable features are its ease of use, user interface, and PAM-4. The user interface is good and easy to use."
"The sensitivity of the trigger and the reliability are the most valuable features, and the scopes were extremely reliable."
"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."
"B-scan is its most valuable feature."
"Technical support is great."
 

Cons

"I would like to have more RF."
"I would like more speed and a reduction in size."
"I would like to see them increase the productivity and auxiliary functions."
"There is a learning curve. It might take a year if you're not well-versed with it."
"I would like more competitive pricing."
"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."
"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."
"I would like to see more integration into machine learning because that's what we try to apply it to."
"I use microservices, but you cannot really probe it, since the technology is not really there."
"If you are dealing with time domain measurement, I strongly recommend using a vendor other than this company."
"They need to add more memory to this machine because at this time the machine can support random simulation to the power of 15 but realistically, in requests from our customers, we need it to the power of 31."
"They ended up having to replace the front panel which contains the circuitry on all of those scopes. That was a little disappointing."
"Tektronix Oscilloscopes are really expensive for small businesses."
"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."
"I want the system to have a wider bandwidth because high-speed continues to move faster, so there is more bandwidth to cover."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"I have saved almost 50 percent of my total budget for a project by using their products."
"It's reasonably priced for what we spend our money on in the lab. It's one of the lower-end purchases."
"These products are a very low-cost, effective alternative to traditional Big Iron ATE hardware."
"I would like more competitive pricing."
"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."
"It's a bit expensive. However, you get the entire package, not just the box. It's a box which supports older releases."
"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."
"I would like to see a lower price."
"Tektronix Oscilloscopes are really expensive for small businesses. The low-end scopes don't really compare performance-wise to what the other companies provide, like RIGOL . Mostly that just has to do with the software options."
"It costs a quarter of a million. This technology is not cheap."
"It could always be cheaper."
"In the 100 gigabit Ethernet and 400 gigabit Ethernet category, everything is in the multi-hundred thousand dollar range, so it was fair pricing because everything is expensive."
"They're all pretty expensive. If everything costs that much, I suppose the pricing is fair."
"Pricing could be lower. I would want to buy it for an extremely, low price, but Tektronix is a high-end product."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Legal Firm
28%
Construction Company
11%
University
9%
Media Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
15%
University
11%
Comms Service Provider
8%
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: June 2026.
909,099 professionals have used our research since 2012.