Auvik Network Management (ANM) vs LinkRunner comparison

Auvik and NetAlly are both solutions in the Network Troubleshooting category. Auvik is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.6, while NetAlly is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.0. Auvik holds a 4.8% mindshare in NT, compared to NetAlly’s 8.1% mindshare. Additionally, 98% of Auvik users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 90% of NetAlly users who would recommend it.

Auvik Network Management (ANM)

Read 208 Auvik Network Management (ANM) reviews

12,779 Views
1,022 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

LinkRunner

Read 20 LinkRunner reviews

1,992 Views
1,992 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

Auvik Network Management (ANM)

LinkRunner

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 11, 2024

LinkRunner and Auvik are two network management tools used to optimize IT environments. Auvik seems to have the upper hand due to its extensive network discovery functions and automated network mapping.

Features: LinkRunner's valuable features include its basic diagnostic tools, practical functionalities, and reliability in quickly identifying network issues. Auvik offers expansive network discovery functions, automated network mapping, and consistent network performance monitoring.

Room for Improvement: LinkRunner needs more advanced analytics, real-time monitoring capabilities, and in-depth network analysis tools. Auvik could benefit from enhanced user-friendliness, simpler interface, and reduced complexity for less technical staff.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: LinkRunner is straightforward in terms of deployment, with a plug-and-play nature. Auvik, requiring more initial configuration, provides comprehensive support which is often rated higher by users during deployment and beyond.

Pricing and ROI: LinkRunner is generally perceived as more cost-effective with a faster return on investment especially in smaller environments. Auvik tends to be pricier, but its extensive features and scalability make the investment worthwhile for users valuing comprehensive network management.

To learn more, read our detailed Auvik Network Management (ANM) vs. LinkRunner Report (Updated: March 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Auvik Network Management (ANM) vs. LinkRunner

March 2026

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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

Auvik Network Management (ANM)

Ranking in Network Troubleshooting

1st

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

208

Ranking in other categories

Network Monitoring Software (2nd), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (3rd), Cloud Monitoring Software (3rd), Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (2nd)

LinkRunner

Ranking in Network Troubleshooting

2nd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

8.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Network Troubleshooting category, the mindshare of Auvik Network Management (ANM) is 4.8%, up from 3.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of LinkRunner is 8.1%, down from 20.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Troubleshooting Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Auvik Network Management (ANM)	4.8%
LinkRunner	8.1%
Other	87.1%

Network Troubleshooting

Featured Reviews

HardeepSingh2

Senior operation command center Engineer at a real estate/law firm with 10,001+ employees

Centralized dashboard and real-time picture of the network improve efficiency

We have integrated Auvik Network Management with PRTG and our ServiceNow ticketing tool through API. It automatically creates notifications and sends them to Teams and our ticketing tool. It saves a lot of time. It saved 40% to 50% of our time. Auvik Network Management's network map, together with the dashboard, gives me a real-time picture of my network. It allows me to see the inventory under all sites and devices. My company has 55 sites. Whenever I want to go to a site, I can navigate the network path, and it provides me with the topology directly from source to destination. It shows all events, such as downtime or critical warnings, in an easy-to-use manner. It provides information about device interfaces, device bandwidth, latency, etc. I just need to click to view more detailed information. I have never found a scenario where Auvik Network Management did not allow me to find my site or any device. I can use global search to find my device or site and get the information easily. However, proper configuration within Auvik is critical for accurate reporting, covering all interfaces and their utilization. Using the automated documentation capabilities of Auvik Network Management is very easy. Over the last year, I have been continuously exploring this, finding that the API integration with our other platforms is straightforward, as it just requires configuration on both ends for proper communication. I didn't find any issue so far. It has been awesome. The network map dashboard of Auvik Network Management gives me full visibility into my network, making it easy to troubleshoot issues with inbuilt tools such as traceroute, ping, and SNMP. It helps diagnose problems quickly without having to type commands manually. Real-time performance insights from Auvik Network Management are very critical for my organization as we currently manage 55 sites with over 2,000 devices, and we need to keep track of numerous services such as Active Directory, DNS, and many protocols, so Auvik is essential as it consolidates everything on one dashboard. Auvik Network Management has decreased our mean time to resolution by 40% to 50%. It allows us to see traffic flow in real time without needing to guess. I can just log into the Auvik dashboard and quickly get results. Auvik Network Management helps my organization troubleshoot network issues proactively by providing alerts and monitoring. Instead of waiting for user feedback, we receive alerts on issues such as high latency or device failures directly on the dashboard. The impact of Auvik Network Management on reducing business disruptions related to network issues is significant. It reduces our downtime, improves security, and simplifies complex tasks into straightforward ones, making it the best tool for managing our complex network. We have configured multiple notification channels. We get alerts through email or integrated platforms such as Teams, which helps streamline communication. It makes it easy to collect information from various devices. We just need to configure the collector, IP addresses, and connections, and get approval from both ends. It creates a unique ID, and it can communicate with those devices.

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Jesse_B

Manager of networks and infrastructure at a government with 5,001-10,000 employees

Impressive ease of use, gives comprehensive results in seconds, and saves a lot of time and resources

I've found the VLAN test feature to be most valuable. That's because not many devices do VLAN tests. Normally, I have to send a center technician to check a line and see if it's alive. If it's working, then I have to send a network technician out to log into a switch and see which port it's on and on which VLAN that port is. That's two persons and two separate visits. This device does all of this in a matter of seconds, and that has saved me a lot of time, troubleshooting, and resources. Its ease of use is very impressive. LinkRunner allows me to have my technicians run tests that are normally too complex and require a network specialist. AutoTest works with just one click. AutoTest does a lot of testing that would normally require a network specialist to log in to a switch and check out VLAN based on a port. My technicians don't have to log in to the switch anymore. They can just do AutoTest and information is provided online. So, I no longer have to send a specialist. I can have my technician run these very complex tests. It saves me on resources, time, and site visits. When it comes to troubleshooting, based on my experience, it has given very useful and very helpful information, especially for my field technicians. It has reduced my visits and the amount of presence because it gives a very comprehensive report on your network tests. It tests multiple variables and multiple parameters and gives a very informative report that makes it easy to pinpoint what is the root cause. There are many tools in this one solution. It's basically a bunch of toolkits or tool sets in one device, which makes it very powerful testing equipment.

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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

"People typically use Auvik to look at NetFlow data, but we went for it because we wanted a convenient cloud-based platform to collect data that we don't have to host locally. We like that having space available is not our problem. You can deploy an agent on your network through a virtual machine running on a secure Linux operating system. It's a secure product, and the data we need is available in the cloud."

"It's hard to say that one feature is my favorite, but I like Auvik's ability to map networks using SNMP. It maps the network, so I can look at all the devices and set them to provide alerts or automatically create tickets when outages occur. If clients need it, I can export all of the data into an Excel spreadsheet."

"The most valuable features of Auvik are the alerting and monitoring. Those functions mean it easily more than pays for itself. I have it integrated with Slack with multiple channels set up for our IT office. When just about any part goes down that I have assigned in the alerting portion, it will let the right people know within minutes."

"From a product perspective, it's a 10 out of 10."

"The monitoring and management functions of Auvik are as easy as they can be for the functions they do. It's definitely the easiest product I've ever used."

"The most valuable features for me are network monitoring and alerting."

"The TrafficInsights feature not only shows me network bandwidth usage without the need for expensive, in-line traffic decryption, but it gives me which device is using the most traffic. It ranks devices by which are using the most CPU, memory, storage, and it keeps those up to date, non-stop."

"Auvik's cloud SaaS model saves money because we don't need to maintain devices or pay for overhead on our end."

More Auvik Network Management (ANM) pros

"From everything I've seen, it's a 10 out of 10."

"Without such a tool, I have to spend time training engineers, but with LinkRunner 10G we are able to have an SOP for troubleshooting, everything is standardized, all the reports are clear, everyone follows the same steps, and it improves the quality of our jobs and provides a more efficient way of doing them."

"The most valuable feature is the end-to-end testing with the "dart," as they call it, where you can test for faults in the cable or if they've been terminated properly."

"LinkRunner makes the configuration of the copper and fiber Ethernet networks a lot simpler."

"The auto-test feature is vital and does 90 percent of what I need on its own."

"We have achieved an ROI of 90%."

"This is an invaluable tool for testing/troubleshooting network cable switch connections and for cable evaluation."

"AutoTest is very helpful. It's very streamlined and it's very easy to set up and very easy to identify what we want to achieve. It's probably the feature we use the most. It provides us with LLTD, which is very useful."

Cons

"The interface is good yet could be improved. There are many elements that could be changed in the interface itself."

"Sometimes we get a generic device, then we can't tell what it is quickly from the details. Just having a better knowledge-based integration for determining what devices are, what they're make and models are, would be helpful."

"There is room for improvement on the development side. As new devices and models come out from different manufacturers, they aren't always supported by Auvik right away."

"It sometimes lags, especially in larger deployments."

"When we deal with larger networks, the current interface is difficult to navigate around the network map because of the volume of devices."

"The pricing model could also be improved, as the unlimited selection isn't unlimited. The billing work on the build devices and components, and I've tried to set up the solution in a few different configurations, resulting in multiple build devices each time. Therefore, I question the cost-effectiveness for a business of our size."

"Its interface is very sluggish, and that's probably its biggest impediment."

"For new users, the initial setup and customization of Auvik Network Management can be a bit complex, especially for those without sufficient experience in network or IT tools."

More Auvik Network Management (ANM) cons

"I wish they had software that could create continuous streams of traffic. I'm not sure if that's possible with LinkRunner, but it would be very helpful in some of the test case scenarios that clients are looking for, in regards to quality of service"

"A feature that I would like to see is the ability to send a tone down the cable. That would be great. I have to use a separate tool for that. If I'm trying to troubleshoot a cable that is not plugged into a network switch, I need the ability to tone."

"It is a great tool, but in the long-term, they can make its processor more powerful to do more functions. They can upgrade the hardware to make it run faster and more efficiently from the process point of view. That'll be beneficial because the technology is evolving and the network traffic is going higher and higher. We have to leverage better spec products to handle the traffic load."

"It's a bit bulky. It would be nicer if it were a little bit smaller and packed with all its features. I would also like it if the screen were a bit bigger."

"I'm in a situation right now where they've released firmware for bug fixes, but we cannot access those, which makes the device almost useless."

"One of the things I'd like to see in future versions of LinkRunner is a wireless dongle embedded into the product so that I don't need to have a separate wireless dongle. It should be built into that."

"One area where LinkRunner could be improved is the battery life."

"It is a great tool, but in the long-term, they can make its processor more powerful to do more functions."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Auvik's pricing falls within an acceptable range for us."

"The price is reasonable."

"The pricing is kind of steep, but it's worth the price. There's no beating around the bush. It's an expensive solution, but it's really the best solution there is for us."

"The pricing is good, but I haven't looked at the pricing in a while. So, I don't know if it has changed or not. As far as I know, the pricing is still where it should be. I have no issues with it."

"I appreciated the way Auvik's pricing scaled with the size of my network. We're a non-profit, and they gave us a non-profit discount. I didn't do an exhaustive comparison, but I felt their pricing was pretty reasonable. I'm a cheap guy when it comes to spending in a non-profit, but I did feel that what I was getting out of them was a good value for my dollar."

"For the size of our school, it is expensive, but I understand the reason behind the pricing."

"I believe that our bill is somewhere around the $600 range per month. We're monitoring about 63 machines. Most of them are servers. So, $10 to monitor it for an entire month is amazing. You couldn't get somebody in India for that cheap."

"While their pricing aligns with competitors, the benefit of having these additional devices monitored for free makes Auvik a compelling option."

More Auvik Network Management (ANM) pricing and cost advice

"We... decided to go with NetAlly for the price and the bang for the buck."

"They offer one price. I do like paying for support because I get software updates that way."

"The 10Gig ones are quite expensive, and we have only two of them, but I know that this option was cheaper than the other 10Gig option we looked at, and we're very happy with it."

"I would buy another one if I had a chance but they're too expensive. If they made it a bit cheaper, I think a lot of network engineers and network administrators would immediately jump onto it."

"Its pricing is all right. Of course, from the business point of view, the cheaper it is, the better it is, but I prefer to spend a bit more money to get a quick response, which is helpful especially when we are onsite or in a very critical situation. We are not only paying for the product. We are paying for the people behind the product in terms of developers and technical support. When you need some help, they will be behind it, and they'll support you. There are no additional costs other than the standard licensing fee."

"The area where the product could be improved is by having a lower cost so that I could have more than one. The price is competitive, but everybody would always like to see the price go down. I'd buy another one if it were cheaper."

"The price was fine. You pay for the unit, and there are no licensing or maintenance fees."

"It's expensive but you definitely get what you pay for. I would buy another one if I had to."

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Comms Service Provider

11%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Computer Software Company

Manufacturing Company

15%

University

11%

Government

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	146
Midsize Enterprise	32
Large Enterprise	23

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	3
Midsize Enterprise	8
Large Enterprise	7

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Auvik?

The most valuable feature for us in Auvik is the network topology.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Auvik?

Auvik Network Management (ANM) licensing is very simple, and I feel the pricing was appropriate to the service they provide.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Auvik?

As of right now, I haven't run into any issues where I can see an improvement for Auvik Network Management (ANM). Everything has been running pretty smoothly, and any issues I have had have already...

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Auvik Network Management (ANM)

March 2026

Download Auvik Network Management (ANM) product report

Buyer's Guide

LinkRunner

March 2026

Download LinkRunner product report

Overview

Auvik Network Management provides comprehensive network monitoring with competitive pricing, offering advanced features and free management of non-critical devices.

Auvik Network Management is known for its intuitive interface and real-time network visibility. Users benefit from features like automated network discovery, mapping, alerting, and TrafficInsights for cost-effective bandwidth monitoring. Its integration with ConnectWise and ticketing systems enhances device inventory updates, SNMP monitoring, and network troubleshooting. However, improvements are needed in reporting, integration capabilities, network map accuracy, customization, and alert configuration. Users suggest expanding device support and improving navigation and monitoring features.

What are Auvik's most important features?

Automated Network Discovery: Seamless identification and mapping of network devices.
Real-Time Visibility: Immediate insights into network performance and health.
Configuration Management: Automated backups and configuration control.
TrafficInsights: Monitor bandwidth use without expensive decryption.
Remote Access: Efficient remote management and troubleshooting.

What benefits should users look for in Auvik reviews?

Cost-Effectiveness: Pay only for critical devices, manage others for free.
Integration: Works with ConnectWise and ticketing systems for streamlined management.
Ease of Use: User-friendly design for quick deployment and operation.
Proactive Alerting: Identify and address network issues swiftly.
Rapid Deployment: Quick setup and immediate use across networks.

Auvik Network Management is widely used by managed service providers and enterprises for network monitoring across industries. It enables efficient management of firewalls, switches, routers, and ensures connectivity over multiple locations. This solution aids in identifying issues, automating backups, and facilitating remote access, offering critical insights on network traffic and device performance. Companies leverage its features to enhance network management and performance.

Auvik

LinkRunner offers network engineers a fast, comprehensive tool for validating network links and troubleshooting copper and fiber connectivity issues, suitable for today's demanding environments.

Designed for network technicians, LinkRunner combines speed and precision for effective network link validation and diagnostics. The AT 1500 and 3000 models provide frontline engineers with powerful troubleshooting tools for both copper and fiber networks, while the advanced AT 4000 model supports Multigigabit NBASE-T and fiber Ethernet networks with detailed network discovery capabilities.

What key features does LinkRunner offer?

Efficient AutoTest: Offers instant diagnostics and efficient network validation.
LLDP Decoding: Simplifies port identification beyond minimum requirements.
Cloud Integration: Results are auto-saved to the cloud, facilitating easy access.
PoE Testing: Provides thorough Power over Ethernet evaluations.
Latency and Throughput: Performs comprehensive performance testing.

What benefits should be considered?

Ease of Use: A streamlined interface enhances user experience.
Time Efficiency: Reduces IT staff time with quick diagnostics and swift troubleshooting capabilities.
Improved Access: Cloud integration allows convenient access to diagnostic results.
Multi-environment Compatibility: Offers robust performance in both wired and wireless setups.

Network analysts and engineers leverage LinkRunner for tasks like testing fiber optic links, network discovery, and cable installation validation. Industries favor its PoE testing and bandwidth checks, ensuring reliable switch connectivity and thorough performance evaluations, effectively addressing network troubleshooting and performance testing requirements.

NetAlly

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Philips Healthcare, HCA Healthcare, University of South Dakota, Memorial Hermann, Baltimore County Public Schools, Aaramrak.

Buyer's Guide

Auvik Network Management (ANM) vs. LinkRunner

March 2026

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