SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer vs Wireshark comparison

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic ...

Read 63 Wireshark reviews

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98% willing to recommend

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer and Wireshark based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Darktrace, Auvik, Cisco and others in Network Traffic Analysis (NTA).

To learn more, read our detailed Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) Report (Updated: March 2026).

Network Traffic Analysis (NTA)

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Helped 886,349 peers since 2012

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

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic ...

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (4th)

Wireshark

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Troubleshooting (3rd)

Mindshare comparison

While both are Network Management solutions, they serve different purposes. SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is designed for Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) and holds a mindshare of 6.3%, up 5.4% compared to last year.
Wireshark, on the other hand, focuses on Network Troubleshooting, holds 15.0% mindshare, up 13.3% since last year.

Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer	6.3%
Darktrace	16.5%
Cisco Secure Network Analytics	10.1%
Other	67.1%

Network Traffic Analysis (NTA)

Network Troubleshooting Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Wireshark	15.0%
AirMagnet Survey PRO	9.8%
LinkRunner	7.2%
Other	68.0%

Network Troubleshooting

Featured Reviews

Raja Xabi

Technical Manager at APRAL

Improved bandwidth management and network visibility have resulted in financial benefits and streamlined operations

There is always room for improvement in SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer, such as implementing instant reporting based on business intelligence reports and more granular filters in their dashboard to improve the GUI view and reporting. The licensing model of SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is always an issue for users because competitors offer unlimited and perpetual licenses, and SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer's model is quite costly compared to other brands. If users are comfortable with SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer, they have to make the hard decision to invest, and it's suggested from a user's perspective that SolarWinds should improve their financial model and licensing to become competitive, especially for small to medium businesses.

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Vijay Duggal

Network Specialist at Squarepoint Capital

Provides detailed traffic analysis and helps troubleshoot issues

There is a disadvantage when it comes to sampling intervals. While the solution supports sampling as fine as one millisecond, it requires a copy at that interval. My Python script allows me to achieve a granularity of up to ten microseconds, but I can't go beyond that. When dealing with provisioning on both issues, it would be beneficial if I could go down to the microsecond level, if not the nanosecond. Additionally, I've heard from a colleague that Wireshark might be less effective in the voice domain.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"For managing the traffic, it provides you a response about whether the traffic is down, up, or heavy, which is a very powerful feature. It has a good response time. We have been using this solution for many years, and we don't have any problem with this solution."

"The program is scalable enough for our usage."

"For managing the traffic, it provides you a response about whether the traffic is down, up, or heavy, which is a very powerful feature."

"It is used on a daily basis and it is one of the key tools that we use to maintain our network and keep track of our infrastructure."

"The initial setup was straightforward."

"It allows us to pinpoint which protocol is overloading the link."

"The solution's most valuable feature is its traffic analysis."

"The most valuable feature is the ability to look for any increases in bandwidth over time so that we can plan before it becomes critical."

More SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer pros

"I have found the most valuable feature you can design your sniffer the way you want to."

"Packet-capture files can be hard to use due to their size. Wireshark has a tool called tshark that can parse the files with out opening them so that you can take large captures, say 2-10GB, and return only relevant information."

"The ability to decrypt traffic and the abundance of filters available are both valuable features."

"The strongest feature of this solution, is the ability it gives us to carry out deep-packet inspections on our network, particularly when a function isn't performing as it should."

"It gives us the ability to pinpoint problems and to communicate network problems with software and hardware vendors."

"It helps in analyzing if something looks suspicious, such as a brute force attack or scanning from somewhere."

"I use the filters very often, to determine what type of traffic I am looking for. The use of filter allows traffic to be segmented so that a value can be looked at individually apart from the other traffic."

"Wireshark is very user-friendly; even someone with basic IT knowledge can use it."

More Wireshark pros

Cons

"Technical support could be improved with quicker response times."

"One area that we struggle with is the price. Because the price of this solution is so high, we are largely unable to introduce it into the local market, and only the banking sector has the means to afford it."

"The price of the solution is a bit high for our clients. They should consider adjusting their price model."

"It's not a cheap product, so the pricing could be improved."

"Deployment needs improvement. The process is complicated, requiring attention to infrastructure settings and installation of components like the origin application server, platform, close storage, and policy agents."

"What needs improvement in SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is performance because sometimes, my team struggles too much for the solution to perform correctly for a specific deployment in my organization. Having a more detailed view in SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is another area for improvement, but that's more part of the protocol than the actual solution."

"NTA's documentation for the implementation phase needs some enhancement."

"There is a lack of documentation ......as well as a lack of dashboards."

More SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer cons

"You need some basic knowledge to work with Wireshark. Maybe it could be more user-friendly just for new users. Just for the new generation."

"DNS could be improved."

"The Wireshark search function shows green for a correct search and red for an incorrect search."

"It’s helpful only if you have the basic knowledge of networking."

"Wireshark could be improved with a delay option when getting data automatically."

"This product needs to improve the UI."

"Bigger memory footprint."

"Wireshark gets stuck when it is a larger file."

More Wireshark cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The price of this solution is exceptional."

"We pay yearly, and we are happy with its price."

"The solution's licensing is high-priced."

"For our environment, we pay approximately $25,000 USD yearly."

"SolarWinds' pricing structure is the primary reason why some customers opt for another solution such as ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer. In NTA, you are charged per port, meaning that if you have a 24-port switch you will be charged for 24 individual nodes. ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer, on the other hand, charges per switch, such that if you add a switch, the entire switch will count as one single node."

"I don't have information on the licensing cost for SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer because it's bundled with another SolarWinds solution. My organization has seven different models and pays for the license yearly. My organization also had to deploy additional pollers, but the cost wasn't very expensive, though I can't give the exact numbers."

"Licensing for SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is paid yearly, and there are no additional costs that you need to pay apart from the standard licensing fees because you don't need to purchase another solution to make SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer work. Pricing for SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is more expensive than other solutions."

"While the pricing is fair, it could be better."

More SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer pricing and cost advice

"We are using a freeware version of this solution, so there are no licence costs involved."

"We're using the free version of Wireshark."

"The tool is free."

"Wireshark is an open-source product, so it's free to use."

"Wireshark is free software, so you can download it and use it for free with no licensing fees."

"Wireshark is free of charge, and there's no license involved."

"I've never personally had to pay for it, making it a highly valuable internet resource that's accessible for use. While they offer some paid versions, our firm has utilized the free version for the past three years."

"It is free."

More Wireshark pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) solutions are best for your needs.

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886,349 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

16%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Healthcare Company

Construction Company

University

10%

Financial Services Firm

Healthcare Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	13
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	26

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	31
Midsize Enterprise	11
Large Enterprise	27

Questions from the Community

What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?

I have worked from 1973 with all kind of systems in large enterprises across the world. And have experience with all kind of software in monitoring from infra to end to end, it depends on the funct...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer?

The licensing model of SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is always an issue for users because competitors offer unlimited and perpetual licenses, and SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer's model i...

What needs improvement with SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer?

Regarding improvement, the application monitoring capabilities are not exceptional. If SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer could improve in that area, it would be helpful. It is less AIOps driven a...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Wireshark?

Wireshark is priced at a medium range, not too high, not too low. The pricing could be more flexible, and they might make it more expensive. That said, compared to other products, it is competitive.

What needs improvement with Wireshark?

The speed of the Internet could be improved, especially its performance. Performance can sometimes be a challenge due to numerous factors.

What is your primary use case for Wireshark?

We are using Wireshark for inspecting the vertical line to know the data flow in and out of the cables. This is to determine if there is real traffic flow through the physical connections or not. A...

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Product Reports

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

Download SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer product report

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer report

Download Wireshark product report

Also Known As

Netflow Traffic Analyzer

No data available

Overview

SolarWinds Netflow Traffic Analyzer enables you to capture data from continuous streams of network traffic and convert those raw numbers into easy-to-interpret charts and tables that quantify exactly how the corporate network is being used, by whom, and for what purpose.

SolarWinds

Wireshark is the world's foremost network protocol analyzer.

Sample Customers

Oceaneering International, Asia Pacific Network Information Centre, 335th Signal Command, Immofori

Comversion, ADP, Talbots

Network Traffic Analysis (NTA)