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Rohde & Schwarz 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

Rohde & Schwarz Oscilloscopes
Ranking in Oscilloscopes
5th
Average Rating
8.2
Number of Reviews
12
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 February 2026, in the Oscilloscopes category, the mindshare of Rohde & Schwarz Oscilloscopes is 10.4%, up from 6.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Tektronix Oscilloscopes is 17.8%, up from 15.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Oscilloscopes Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Tektronix Oscilloscopes17.8%
Rohde & Schwarz Oscilloscopes10.4%
Other71.8%
Oscilloscopes
 

Featured Reviews

AM
Power Integrity Lead at Elton Designs
The ability to have both the time domain and frequency domain, where the frequency domain is a very broad spectral plot, is extremely valuable
There is certainly a learning curve. Finally, watching YouTube videos on using the instrument got me over the hump, as well as a sit down session with one of the oscilloscope experts. 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. My understanding is they have a newer user interface, but I haven't gotten around to upgrading the firmware on my scope in some time, so I'm not familiar with it yet. In comparison, I love the LeCroy interface. Recently, I've learned that there are ways to adapt these instruments to become a Vector Network Analyzer (VNA), which is of interest to me. If I can use probes that are not in the 50 ohm domain, which is what you would have with a normal Vector Network Analyzer, then doing power applications for me, this would be a lot safer. Using a traditional communications type Vector Network Analyzer in the 50 ohm domain and having these high DC potentials (adding the DC blocks is adding air to the test method), then having an oscilloscope type front-end which is lot more tolerant of overload, it is a lot safer. The vector network analysis that I need to do is well under a gigahertz, and the other instruments that I have sort of stop at 40 megahertz. Trying to get past 40 megahertz into the mid-hundreds of megahertz and have high impedance probes that will tolerate DC, that is really of interest to me.
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

"It is easy to connect with, accurate, reliable, and hardly fails."
"The most valuable features are the accuracy and repeatability."
"It is a more efficient, easier way to do measurements."
"The most valuable features are its wide bandwidth and 8 ports."
"The characterization of RF channels was helpful... The user interface was very simple to operate and there were a lot of tutorials."
"The noise sensitivity: It has a low noise floor."
"It has a very low noise floor."
"The product is quite reliable and straightforward to use. Typically, there are no households that we have to set up."
"It takes 35 to 45 minutes to get acclimated to the solution."
"The Tektronix user interface is like an Apple iPhone, but for oscilloscopes. It is simple to use."
"The most valuable features are its ease of use, user interface, and PAM-4. The user interface is good and easy to use."
"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."
"Valuable features include that it's multi-channel... and has bandwidth filtering. The user interface is good."
"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."
"It has a good user interface. It's easy to use, easy to read. It's intuitive."
"B-scan is its most valuable feature."
 

Cons

"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."
"There was a learning curve. Their use interface and the way that their products work are not intuitive to somebody who switches from other vendors."
"In the next release, I would like to see report generation. It would make it a lot easier to refer back to and, when doing final testing, seeing what went on during the pre-test would help."
"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."
"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 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 size of the unit is too big, too heavy. It has to be made more portable and smaller."
"The user interface could be improved, e.g., the documentation on the menus. I have to open a separate document to figure out the functionality sometimes."
"I would like to see an app from this company for test fixtures."
"I would like to see some WiFi capabilities. I would like to upgrade equipment, and if I was in the U.S., I could do that with WiFi capabilities."
"I want the system to have a wider bandwidth because high-speed continues to move faster, so there is more bandwidth to cover."
"The ruggedness could be improved."
"I would like if they could have more customer support engagement."
"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."
"I use microservices, but you cannot really probe it, since the technology is not really there."
"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

"The pricing is too high."
"The pricing is way too expensive."
"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."
"The pricing is very competitive."
"The pricing is very expensive."
"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."
"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."
"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."
"Pricing could be lower. I would want to buy it for an extremely, low price, but Tektronix is a high-end product."
"Tecktronix pricing tends to be pretty fair and reasonable with current market trends. They don't usually bump up the price too much."
"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."
"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."
"They're all pretty expensive. If everything costs that much, I suppose the pricing is fair."
"We demoed the product before purchasing it."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
17%
Government
10%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Computer Software Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
14%
University
12%
Educational Organization
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise6
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise19
 

Also Known As

RT Series
TBS Series, TDS Series, MDO Series, MSO Series
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Rohde & Schwarz Oscilloscopes vs. Tektronix Oscilloscopes and other solutions. Updated: February 2026.
882,207 professionals have used our research since 2012.