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National Instruments (NI) Oscilloscopes vs Tektronix Oscilloscopes comparison

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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 October 2026, in the Oscilloscopes category, the mindshare of National Instruments (NI) Oscilloscopes is 4.8%, up from 1.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Tektronix Oscilloscopes is 14.7%, down from 17.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Oscilloscopes Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Tektronix Oscilloscopes14.7%
National Instruments (NI) Oscilloscopes4.8%
Other80.5%
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

"Using this product is helpful, so I would recommend it to people at any other company."
"Go with their products."
"It helps us to save on our investment with a lot of the stuff that we buy, as we can find defects quickly."
"Because their view is a graphical user interface (GUI), it's very easy to program the tool."
"It makes programming simpler."
"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 chose this solution because it integrates a lot of functionality in one piece of equipment."
"Most of the features are on the screen itself. The naming convention makes it very easy to understand what is needed."
"The sensitivity of the trigger and the reliability are the most valuable features, and the scopes were extremely reliable."
"The most valuable feature is the automation component in setting up some of these measurements."
"We have multiple systems for manufacturing tests, and it's critical for our support. The support increases our productivity."
"They provide a great partnership with us."
"Tektronix is robust and reliable. It's a hammer-resistant machine, a fact which is most important on our manufacturing floor."
"Because it can detect both frequency and time domains simultaneously, if I want to check I send a command to the device and I can look at the frequency output."
"It has a good user interface. It's easy to use, easy to read. It's intuitive."
"Technical support is great."
 

Cons

"There is a learning curve. It might take a year if you're not well-versed with it."
"There is a learning curve."
"I would like to have more RF."
"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."
"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 competitive pricing."
"There are other devices out there which are more capable, offering more features, with as good quality tech support."
"On the source side, their AWGs don't have enough bandwidth. They need to increase the bandwidth of their AWGs, meaning they have to have a faster sample rate."
"We are looking for an Intel platform with the newest chipset."
"I use microservices, but you cannot really probe it, since the technology is not really there."
"I would like to see an app from this company for test fixtures."
"The ruggedness could be improved."
"I want the system to have a wider bandwidth because high-speed continues to move faster, so there is more bandwidth to cover."
"There is room for improvement when it comes to the screen size. I don't really have a lot of complaints but screen size would be the biggest thing."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"The pricing was good. Compared to the others, it was very good."
"These products are a very low-cost, effective alternative to traditional Big Iron ATE hardware."
"I have saved almost 50 percent of my total budget for a project by using their products."
"It's a bit expensive. However, you get the entire package, not just the box. It's a box which supports older releases."
"I would like more competitive pricing."
"The pricing is very expensive."
"It's cost-effective... It might cost a lot of money, but if we need it we buy it."
"It is a great price for a great product."
"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."
"Pricing could be lower. I would want to buy it for an extremely, low price, but Tektronix is a high-end product."
"The pricing is not too high and not too low."
"The prices are compatible with what they offer. Going forward, I would like them to become more competitive and dominant with their pricing in the market."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Legal Firm
25%
Construction Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
15%
University
10%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

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: September 2026.
917,884 professionals have used our research since 2012.