AirMagnet Survey vs Wireshark comparison

Read 63 Wireshark reviews

711 Views
433 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

AirMagnet Survey

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Download the report

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 11, 2024

Wireshark is a network protocol analyzer, while AirMagnet Survey is a wireless site survey software. Wireshark has the upper hand in data analysis with strong community support, whereas AirMagnet Survey excels in wireless-specific features, appealing to users needing detailed Wi-Fi analysis.

Features: Wireshark offers robust packet capture and analysis, depth in protocol inspection, and versatility. AirMagnet Survey provides advanced Wi-Fi planning, validation capabilities, and heatmapping and interference analysis.

Room for Improvement: Wireshark users often cite a steep learning curve, a lack of wireless-specific tools, and a need for enhanced user interface. AirMagnet Survey requires user interface enhancements, addresses occasional stability issues, and improves cost-effectiveness for some users.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Wireshark is generally easy to deploy with solid documentation, supported by community-driven customer service. AirMagnet Survey requires more complex deployment but benefits from responsive professional support, valuable for enterprise environments.

Pricing and ROI: Wireshark, being open-source and free, offers a high ROI for budget-conscious users. AirMagnet Survey, while more expensive, provides value through advanced features and professional support, justifying the investment for specific wireless needs.

To learn more, read our detailed AirMagnet Survey vs. Wireshark Report (Updated: April 2025).

AirMagnet Survey vs. Wireshark

Download the complete report

Helped 849,686 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

AirMagnet Survey

Ranking in Network Troubleshooting

8th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Modeling and Simulation (2nd)

Wireshark

Ranking in Network Troubleshooting

3rd

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Network Troubleshooting category, the mindshare of AirMagnet Survey is 6.9%, up from 5.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Wireshark is 13.9%, up from 11.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Troubleshooting

Featured Reviews

David Olofson

Manager at DD&P Services LLC

It fixes so many problems quickly that we don't regret spending more on high-end tools than most companies

It would be nice to have some more training resources for younger techs. We can use them if we need some assistance, but that usually requires one of us who knows what we're doing to calibrate the programs properly. There's one thing our nXG handhelds do that AirMagnet doesn't do out of the box. The nXG devices can analyze the wired and wireless networks simultaneously and map the networks out. We find it handy. However, if I have that plugged into our older OptiView XG tablets or our laptops, I have no way to analyze both the WiFi and the wired network at the same time and build a single picture with all that data. So far, that's something only our nXG handhelds can do. It would be nice if there were a way to integrate all the network discovery, troubleshooting, and mapping of the WiFi and the wired at the same time. There are almost no products that do that currently. If they managed to do that, they'd probably open up their market pretty quickly.

Read full review

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.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The benefit is with the ease of use of the software, I am able to show the customer, "Here is what your wireless coverage looks like." It is set up in a fashion that non-technical people can understand it."

"It allows us to prepare more real designs. Later, we validate them with actual surveys."

"It is reliable and easy to use (user-friendly). The heat mapping, passive network surveying, and doing the heat mapping of a building's wireless network allows me to see what level of coverage an area has."

"The most valuable feature is the predictive survey. The antennas' RF patterns are reflected correctly on the drawing when preparing predictive heat maps."

"The AirMagnet Survey allows you to see the list of APs in the live view. It only supports certain adapters, which can be limiting, but it's also beneficial because these adapters are more comparable to real-life devices like laptops. With Ekahau, Sidekick needs to be used for full features, but I find the Sidekick too strong, which can hamper results. Therefore, I prefer AirMagnet's approach because the adapters provide more realistic readings."

"Clear and easy to use maps."

"The most valuable features are the survey, spectrum analysis, and reporting."

"The predictive survey is the most valuable feature. I use it quite often."

More AirMagnet Survey pros

"Wireshark saves a lot of time, especially with network troubleshooting."

"It is a stable product. I would rate the stability a ten out of ten."

"I find Wireshark a very useful tool. Its best feature is that it allows me to deeply understand what's going on at the packet level, as well as any adverse signatures that I can analyze. When I need to create an IPS rule, I need to check the traffic deeply to get more insights about the actual traffic, what's the name of certain flags, etc., and I'm able to do all that through Wireshark. The tool is also user-friendly."

"The drill-down available for packet analysis is great. It gives a network security engineer insight into what is going on at the packet level and enables better troubleshooting."

"The options that are required to get the details for the packet drops are good."

"The session-level filtering features are valuable."

"I can save the traffic and analysis when I want to. Also, it's especially helpful to follow the stream (TCP, UDP, etc.)."

"The most valuable feature of Wireshark is the ability to choose a destination of flow that has not been working as expected."

More Wireshark pros

Cons

"The throughput should be more advanced in the future. They need to add more versions of WiFi than just one."

"It would be nice to have some more training resources for younger techs. We can use them if we need some assistance, but that usually requires one of us who knows what we're doing to calibrate the programs properly."

"It'd be nice if it was cheaper, however, you get value for your money."

"But it's definitely a more expensive solution than other ones."

"When you conduct an active survey and then want to use it for design work, it's actually not very useful."

"AirMagnet Survey doesn't cover certain devices in the system."

"I would say some of our newer techs that are going out to job sites can be a little bit intimidated by the interface."

"Printouts are JPEG printouts. The AirMagnet software is proprietary. I can't send my customers a file, because it is AirMagnet file, even for building projects. I can only send JPEGs or screenshots of heat maps."

More AirMagnet Survey cons

"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."

"A room for improvement in Wireshark is its ease of use for beginners. It could be better. Another room for improvement in the tool is for it to provide more details about the traffic load. At the moment, Wireshark is adequate for me, so there isn't anything I'd like added to it in its next version."

"Sometimes I need to use tcpdump when I need to check the packets on CLI."

"The product is great but I wish there were more of an emphasis on the command line tools."

"You need good network connectivity to download during the setup, otherwise, it might take a while."

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

"DNS could be improved."

"I have not used Wireshark to an advanced point where I could provide a detailed opinion on improvements needed."

More Wireshark cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"This product is very expensive."

"The moment we began needing more of the vendor's support, the cost became very high; we switched to another solution."

"There is an annual cost of the solution. There are some additional charges, such as support and maintenance."

"The licensing of AirMagnet Survey is different when compared to Ekahu. It is a third of the cost of Ekahau but there are no dedicated laptops to the Sidekick. AirMagnet allows you to license an adapter and share that adapter."

"The tool's pricing is medium."

"For technical support, you need an annual license, but it is not worth it."

"The pricing needs improvement."

"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."

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

"The tool is free."

"I am using the free version of this solution."

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

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

"The solution is open source so is free."

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

More Wireshark pricing and cost advice

See which vendors are best for you

Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Network Troubleshooting solutions are best for your needs.

See recommendations

849,686 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Educational Organization

Government

Manufacturing Company

University

11%

Computer Software Company

10%

Government

10%

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about AirMagnet Survey?

We use the solution for Wi-Fi and networks.

What needs improvement with AirMagnet Survey?

AirMagnet Survey needs to support Wi-Fi 6E otherwise they can lose to the competition. They also need to allow better grouping of SSIDs to one AP, removing the need to filter manually. At the momen...

What is your primary use case for AirMagnet Survey?

We use AirMagnet Survey, for site verifications after the wireless system has been installed. We conduct pre and post-install surveys with it. We have reduced the use since now our customers requir...

What do you like most about Wireshark?

The GUI is easy to use.

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.

Ekahau Site Survey vs AirMagnet Survey

Comparisons

Compared 81% of the time

iBwave Wi-Fi vs AirMagnet Survey

Compared 6% of the time

AirCheck G3 vs AirMagnet Survey

Compared 4% of the time

Aruba Wireless vs AirMagnet Survey

Compared 3% of the time

More AirMagnet Survey Competitors

Microsoft Network Monitor vs Wireshark

Compared 21% of the time

Colasoft Capsa vs Wireshark

Compared 14% of the time

SolarWinds NPM vs Wireshark

Compared 13% of the time

Zabbix vs Wireshark

Compared 9% of the time

Observer GigaStor vs Wireshark

Compared 4% of the time

More Wireshark Competitors

Product Reports

AirMagnet Survey

Download AirMagnet Survey product report

Download Wireshark product report

Overview

AirMagnet Survey PRO enables network professionals to design, deploy, and validate Wi-Fi 6 networks for optimal performance, security, and compliance. It also calculates the ideal quantity, placement, and configuration of APs for a successful wireless LAN deployment. AirMagnet Survey PRO goes beyond simply verifying RF coverage by plotting actual end-user network performance in terms of connection speed, throughput, and packet statistics by allowing you to use any Wi-Fi adapter or AirMapper™ Site Survey on the AirCheck™ G2 and EtherScope® nXG. Survey PRO helps you get Wi-Fi installations right the first time, preventing costly rework and user complaints.

NetAlly

Wireshark is the world's foremost network protocol analyzer.

Sample Customers

Houston Methodist Hospital, Love's Travel Stops

Comversion, ADP, Talbots

AirMagnet Survey vs. Wireshark