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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 March 2026, in the Oscilloscopes category, the mindshare of Rohde & Schwarz Oscilloscopes is 11.1%, up from 6.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Tektronix Oscilloscopes is 17.8%, up from 14.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Oscilloscopes Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Tektronix Oscilloscopes17.8%
Rohde & Schwarz Oscilloscopes11.1%
Other71.1%
Oscilloscopes
 

Featured Reviews

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.
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 product is quite reliable and straightforward to use. Typically, there are no households that we have to set up."
"The user interface is pretty good. Right now, it is more than what we expected. It's easy and fast to use."
"The noise sensitivity: It has a low noise floor."
"The most valuable features are the accuracy and repeatability."
"It has a very low noise floor."
"I have been able to do quality measurements that I have been unable to achieve with the equipment from some other vendors."
"The instrument has a wide bandwidth. You can sweep across a wide range of frequencies."
"The sensitivity of the trigger and the reliability are the most valuable features."
"The user interface is good."
"It takes 35 to 45 minutes to get acclimated to the solution."
"The most valuable feature is the automation component in setting up some of these measurements."
"The Tektronix user interface is like an Apple iPhone, but for oscilloscopes. It is simple to use."
"I trust Tektronix for its accuracy. The probes of solution fit my application. E.g., the speed of probes, the way that it is using probes with designs, and the probes' size."
"When I was looking for a scope for that lab, that five subdivisions per division was important."
"It has very fast response with deep memory."
 

Cons

"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."
"Sometimes, it's difficult to find menus on the user interface."
"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'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."
"The size of the unit is too big, too heavy. It has to be made more portable and smaller."
"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."
"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."
"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 are other devices out there which are more capable, offering more features, with as good quality tech support."
"I know you can get the Bit Masks but it's generally really expensive to get the eye diagrams and Bit Masks with it. I wish they were included or cheaper."
"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 am not utilizing the full bandwidth of this product."
"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."
"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."
"I would like to see an app from this company for test fixtures."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."
"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."
"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."
"The pricing is very expensive."
"Tecktronix pricing tends to be pretty fair and reasonable with current market trends. They don't usually bump up the price too much."
"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."
"The cost has room for improvement. Though compared to other companies, it's okay."
"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."
"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's cost-effective... It might cost a lot of money, but if we need it we buy it."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
18%
Government
10%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
15%
University
11%
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.
883,692 professionals have used our research since 2012.