AirMagnet Survey PRO vs Wireshark comparison

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AirMagnet Survey PRO

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 14, 2025

Wireshark and AirMagnet Survey PRO are direct competitors in network analysis and wireless infrastructure management. AirMagnet Survey PRO seems to hold an upper hand with its specialized tools for wireless network planning and analysis, valued for its comprehensive feature set, even though Wireshark is a more budget-friendly option.

Features: Wireshark allows for granular packet-level network diagnostics with support for numerous protocols, deep packet inspections, and export features for analysis. AirMagnet Survey PRO offers advanced tools for wireless site surveys, network planning, and RF measurements, along with predictive heat maps for efficient wireless network deployment.

Room for Improvement: Wireshark could benefit from improved GUI accuracy and enhanced insight into the wireless packet details. AirMagnet Survey PRO might enhance support for different radio types, expand its device compatibility, and streamline its user interface for a more intuitive experience.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Wireshark, being open-source, is easy to deploy with strong community support for troubleshooting. AirMagnet Survey PRO, while more complex, offers structured deployment options and professional customer support crucial for large-scale projects.

Pricing and ROI: Wireshark is a free tool with high ROI for budget-conscious users. AirMagnet Survey PRO requires significant investment, around $36,000, but offers specialized wireless analysis capabilities that enhance network performance, delivering strong ROI over time.

To learn more, read our detailed AirMagnet Survey PRO vs. Wireshark Report (Updated: February 2026).

AirMagnet Survey PRO vs. Wireshark

February 2026

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Helped 882,160 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 PRO

Ranking in Network Troubleshooting

5th

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

4th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Network Troubleshooting category, the mindshare of AirMagnet Survey PRO is 10.0%, up from 6.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Wireshark is 12.3%, down from 13.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Troubleshooting Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Wireshark	12.3%
AirMagnet Survey PRO	10.0%
Other	77.7%

Network Troubleshooting

Featured Reviews

Mark Witherspoon

Wireless Services Manager at Veritas Managed Solutions

A solution for site verifications and enhanced with adapters that provide more realistic readings, but needs to support Wi-Fi 6E

Ekahau and AirMagnet Survey have their own pros and cons, in my opinion. For example, the APs are not visible in Ekahau but AirMagnet Survey allows us to see what APs and channels are being used in a live view, which Ekahau lacks. In Ekahau, the signal from the AP it's capturing at that time is visible which is a bit of an inconvenience. The predictive planner of AirMagnet's is better. However, Ekahau has advantages over AirMagnet because it groups all the SSIDs into one AP, whereas with AirMagnet, one needs to group them manually. Ekahau also supports Wi-Fi 6E, but its licensing is restrictive and more costly.

Read full review

DonniUgalde

Senior I.T. Systems Engineer at Pro Techs MSP

Provides visibility into the network, and the GUI is easy to use

I wish the filters were a little bit more prepopulated. It would have been easy to hit a drop-down and select a filter. If I only wanted to look at DCP, UDP, or IP, it would be easy to filter it out. Advanced network knowledge is required to get a lot out of the tool. However, it's very easy to install and deploy. It would be nice if there were some handheld Android devices with a Wireshark-specialized application that would allow us to mirror a Cisco port. Then, we can just plug into the port and click the green start button, and it will start ingesting the packet capture. Then, we won’t be using a laptop. The only downside is that we must have a laptop and connect a network cable. Some new laptops don't have network ports, so we have to get another adapter. Having an all-in-one device, like NetAlly or Fluke, and some of their network devices would be cool.

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

"Clear and easy to use maps."

"Customer service is great."

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

"The heat maps are quite good, and some features are easy to use."

"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."

"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."

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

"Using the products to ensure the safety of our equipment that we have a lot invested in."

More AirMagnet Survey PRO pros

"The most valuable feature is the traffic gate, which shows which IPs are getting more bandwidth or traffic."

"The product is simple to implement."

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

"Wireshark is a good tool to start with network analyzing and packet capturing."

"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."

"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."

"Wireshark helps us to understand network traffic."

"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."

More Wireshark pros

Cons

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

"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."

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

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

"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."

"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 moment, you can filter by channel or SSID, but grouping all those SSIDs together is a difficult task."

"Less time consumed doing the real surveys."

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

More AirMagnet Survey PRO cons

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

"It needs the ability to follow multiple interfaces for specific traffic from different network zones/virtual networks. It would help to understand how any packet is going through the network."

"I wish the filters were a little bit more prepopulated."

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

"Whenever we select one of the packets, in terms of the number of bytes, for example, there are three planes, and in the detailed plane, I have to count the number of bytes manually."

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

"Wireshark's UI isn't easy to handle and doesn't have as nice a view as Omnipeek."

"Wireshark could be improved by adding more monitoring features."

More Wireshark cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"The pricing needs improvement."

"The tool's pricing is medium."

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

"This product is very expensive."

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

"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."

"It is an open-source solution."

"The tool is free."

"The solution is open source so is free."

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

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

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

"Wireshark is open-source and free of charge."

"This is an open-source product that can be used free of charge."

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.

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882,160 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

Government

Retailer

University

10%

Financial Services Firm

Computer Software Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	21
Midsize Enterprise	14
Large Enterprise	10

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

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.

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Product Reports

Download AirMagnet Survey PRO product report

AirMagnet Survey PRO

February 2026

Download Wireshark product report

January 2026

Overview

AirMagnet Survey PRO provides efficient wireless network surveying and design capabilities, optimizing access point placement with dual passive-active surveys, spectrum integration, and real-time analysis.

AirMagnet Survey PRO offers comprehensive tools for wireless coverage optimization. It facilitates accurate SNR/RSSI data collection and features multi-floor planning with robust reporting capabilities. The software enables efficient spectrum analysis, predictive mapping, and simultaneous 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz surveys, saving significant time. Users appreciate its intuitive interface, which aids technical assessments and visual displays. However, they suggest improvements in multi-floor integration, file import options, and a more dynamic license system. Enhanced cloud storage support, improved auto-placement features, and better device compatibility are also on the wishlist.

What are the key features of AirMagnet Survey PRO?

Dual Passive-Active Surveys: Streamline access point placement with dual survey types.
Antenna Customization: Tailor antenna parameters for optimal performance.
Predictive Mapping: Visualize potential coverage areas before deployment.
Spectrum Integration: Analyze interference and optimize signal paths.
Simultaneous 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Surveys: Conduct faster, comprehensive surveys across frequency bands.

What benefits should users look for in reviews of AirMagnet Survey PRO?

Accurate Data Collection: Highly precise SNR/RSSI measurements improve network assessments.
Time Efficiency: Reduce survey duration with dual-band simultaneous assessments.
User-Friendly Interface: Simplifies complex tasks with intuitive visual tools.
Comprehensive Reporting: Offers detailed analysis and insights into network performance.
Cost Savings: Efficient planning and troubleshooting lead to reduced deployment costs.

In industries like hospitality, education, and healthcare, AirMagnet Survey PRO is instrumental in wireless network surveying and design. These sectors rely on the software for precise Wi-Fi coverage assessments, spectrum analysis, and real-time signal checks, using heat maps to identify dead zones for pre and post-installation verifications. Some opt for alternatives to support newer technologies like Wi-Fi 6E.

NetAlly

Wireshark is the world's foremost network protocol analyzer.

Sample Customers

Houston Methodist Hospital, Love's Travel Stops

Comversion, ADP, Talbots