SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer vs Wireshark comparison

"This solution gives us important information about the utilization of protocols, particularly in terms of how often they are used."

"The program is scalable enough for our usage."

"The software management tools are very useful for our customers."

"The integration with other SolarWinds products is good."

"It doesn't cost too much."

"The monitoring is perfect, showing you the details for the utilization of resources and network bandwidth."

"I can point out the exact root cause 'why.' If there is a slowness, I can point out what was before the issue or before the slowness, what it is, and what is now."

"The dashboard alerts me when a critical device goes off the network."

"The best part about Wireshark, in my opinion, is its ability to analyze packet capture files."

"It has a good syntax to put the commands in and get information out of."

"The GUI is easy to use."

"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."

"Wireshark's best feature is that it's adaptive, which means it's the go-to tool for network-related developers."

"I like the filtering feature as we can filter data easily. This feature is also available in tcpdump, but it's a simple piece of software. Wireshark is more advanced and has many features. It allows you to filter a lot of things. The output can be filtered easily. The most important feature is colorization. If I say, "Okay, this particular SMB protocol in red, it will show me red." It's easy to identify that protocol or capture data."

"The product is simple to implement."

"What's best about Wireshark is that it doesn't require installation. It supports cards and monitoring permissions and is sufficient for appending and capturing activities. You won't need to install other tools to use Wireshark, so this saves you time. You can capture packets at any time from your laptop through Wireshark."

"This solution does not do a very good job when I am trying to look deeper into my internal network, in particular with respect to individual ports."

"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."

"SolarWinds' technical support is ok, but it could be faster and more knowledgeable."

"Currently, it shows only the top ten applications or ports in use, while the remaining data appears as 'remaining traffic,' causing confusion."

"There are some areas for improvement in SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer. There are some challenges with the solution when compared to other monitoring tools such as difficulty in operations and difficulty with backup installation. My team is currently trying out different solutions but would need to see how it goes."

"I'm expecting to see a little bit more artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms. They need a bit more sophistication in that."

"Technical support needs improvement."

"The problem is that SolarWinds is trying to bolt in too much and that can leave bugs, which you have to then sort out, leaving the product unstable. SolarWinds needs to try and slow down and improve the stability of the product, as opposed to bringing out more and more features."

"In the future, it would be nice to see color coding. It is just black and white."

"The product has been using the same GUI for many years."

"The solution has a steep learning curve. There are so many filters and features that are frequently being updated, it takes research, experience and familiarity to be able to use them. It could be a lot more user-friendly."

"With Wireshark, you cannot download and utilize the packet in automation."

"Wireshark could make the filtering rules easier to apply and offer a drag-and-drop option as opposed to type and text."

"The initial setup depends upon the basics. You need to have a clear understanding of the basics."

"It would be better if they offered a hybrid version like My Cloud Control."

"The average person would probably find Wireshark hard to use. When I first installed it, I was overwhelmed by all the data it was shooting out. It doesn't make sense until you start doing some research and figure out what everything means. It isn't the most user-friendly tool. It just provides so much information."

"The pricing is really good."

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

"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."

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

"The pricing is reasonable."

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

"The licensing for this solution is based on the number of nodes."

"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."

"It is free to download and install. It runs on multiple platforms, so how can you go wrong?"

"It's a stand-alone tool. If there is a commercial license for it I am unaware of it."

"Wireshark is open source and gives great value and functionality to the network investigation."

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

"It's free."

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

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

"It is an open-source solution."