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 4.4% mindshare in NT, compared to NetAlly’s 10.1% 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 203 Auvik Network Management (ANM) reviews

11,706 Views
936 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

LinkRunner

Read 20 LinkRunner reviews

1,961 Views
1,961 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: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Auvik Network Management (ANM) vs. LinkRunner

December 2025

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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

203

Ranking in other categories

Network Monitoring Software (2nd), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (3rd), Cloud Monitoring Software (4th), 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 January 2026, in the Network Troubleshooting category, the mindshare of Auvik Network Management (ANM) is 4.4%, up from 2.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of LinkRunner is 10.1%, down from 20.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Troubleshooting Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Auvik Network Management (ANM)	4.4%
LinkRunner	10.1%
Other	85.5%

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

"The SNMP discovery features are impressive; few products are as robust in their abilities, and it discovered objects I didn't think it would."

"If it's purely network monitoring, it's absolutely brilliant. It shows ups and downs, and provides a lot more information than you generally need."

"The extensive personalization and customization options are great because it lets me do a lot. I can set up different permission structures, assign various staff members read-only access and others full access, and customize my notifications."

"Auvik offers free monitoring for all devices except routers and firewalls. This includes devices like network-attached devices, PCs, and printers, making it cost-effective for monitoring a wide range of assets."

"Remote accessibility of the network devices is the most valuable feature. I often have to log into switches and routers to make changes, and I can do so from any computer as long as I have an Internet connection. I don't need to have my laptop or a VPN. Auvik is faster."

"The topology map is good. It shows each device and whether it has a safe connection, how long it has been connected, and its activities. That's really helpful. Knowing the map helps our efficiency."

"With TrafficInsights, we can view the information and do something with it. In the past, we couldn't easily find that information."

"Auvik Network Management reduced the downtime and sped up the recovery."

More Auvik Network Management (ANM) pros

"Having the results sent directly, via email, from the LinkRunner itself makes it really great for logging different things that you're trying to document within your organization. You can have a paper trail of what your organization has as far as infrastructure goes."

"In terms of documenting ad hoc additions and other changes to wired ethernet connections, this product is very good. It keeps the information in the cloud and I have the ability to name it. This makes it very nice and easy to see."

"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."

"It is fast in providing results. It is pretty accurate."

"I like that LinkRunner is an all-in-one device with a touchscreen interface. You don't have to pair it with a phone or anything else to get the full functionality. The built-in tests are one of the most significant advantages. It will pull an IP, ping the gateway, ping out to the intra, and report everything on the screen. It will tell you when a test completes or fails and why."

"The auto-test feature is vital and does 90 percent of what I need on its own. It's fast and I can get there in just a few clicks. It does a good job and tells me everything I need to know. LinkRunner works pretty quickly and always seems to be accurate."

"It provides a way to test 10Gig connectivity. Previously, we had to hook up a switch. That was our only way. Now, with LinkRunner, we can test on the fly if an SFP is bad or if the switch has the right configuration on it."

"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."

Cons

"Auvik's network map along with its dashboard gives a real-time picture of our network. However, if a device is unreachable, there is no indicator for that, at least from what I have seen. If it is offline, there is an indicator for that, but if it is unreachable, there is no indicator."

"I've had some issues where the solution repeatedly discovers a device I don't want to manage and alerts me about it. This is probably me not using the tool correctly, or it could be Auvik recognizing the device in different ways."

"One drawback I found with Auvik was its inability to generate clear network diagrams."

"Automatic configuration backups would be an excellent feature for network devices and access points. The solution could take a backup of the configurations weekly and store that, which would be very nice."

"The solution's loading time could be improved because when you click on a switch, it usually takes some time before it has everything loaded."

"Most of the issues that I have had are related to the dashboard and wanting a bit more customization available through the dashboard because that's where you'll spend most of your time. Auvik is on the dashboard, and you can create and save these filters, which is great, but if I were to filter the map by all switches, the information below doesn't reflect the filter. I have to select the device within the filter, and then it starts to show the results. I can then see the dashboard of that device. If I were to filter by switches, I would like my top device utilization to only show me switches from my alerts and anything related to my map filter."

"Implementing a configurable dashboard for the network map would enhance user experience in this regard."

"The Auvik interface, while functional, doesn't feel as intuitive as some competing products."

More Auvik Network Management (ANM) cons

"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 runs tests quickly, but it takes a while to boot up. It's somewhat disappointing that LinkRunner takes some time to turn on. When I arrive in the space, I usually spend the first two minutes waiting."

"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."

"They should allow firmware updates even if you don't have an AllyCare contract. 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. You almost want to just throw it out the window because they're not supporting their product unless you have an AllyCare contract."

"It doesn't turn off automatically, but the toning function goes to sleep. It seems to stop toning after five or six minutes if you don't find the cable. It could be up to ten minutes, but if you don't find the cable that you're trying to tone quick enough, you'll have to go back and restart the tone. So, it doesn't turn itself off, but while toning, it turns itself off."

"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"

"It's a little bit tough getting used to at first, but once you get the hang of it, and once you start using it more, like anything, it gets easier. The difficult part, at first, is knowing where to find each test and how to use the tests."

"It is very stable. That being said, there is one feature that is not quite as stable as the rest of the product. You can leave it plugged into a location where you're doing some work and connect to it remotely by a program called VNC... sometimes that function breaks down, if you've been running for a couple of days... if you're remotely controlling it, you're probably not right next to it. That can be modestly annoying."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"For small businesses with many devices, the tool is potentially unaffordable. Auvik Networks Inc. is competing with other companies offering very expensive products. Still, there's a gap in the market and potentially a lot of lost revenue for smaller customers, especially those with complex IT environments."

"I'd say Auvik's price is reasonable. I don't know how much we paid for the old one, so I can't compare the two. But I think it's a good value, considering all the time saved and the information you can get from it."

"Auvik Network Management is moderately priced."

"They're very competitive on the pricing front. They may not be the least expensive, but they're certainly not the most expensive. They're right in a sweet spot. For our organization, at least, it was right within the budget."

"Auvik isn't cheap. There are two tiers: Essentials and Performance. We're still on the Essentials plan, but we may upgrade to Performance, which is double the price."

"I don't know how much the solution costs, but the fact that we've moved almost all of our customers over to it means it must be worth the value. Our platforms are costly, but we switched to Auvik, so the company must see it as cost-effective."

"While Auvik's pricing was attractive, we ultimately had to make budget cuts."

"I would like it to be more cost-effective or affordable. It's not the most expensive one, but it's also not the cheapest solution out there. You pay month to month. It is what it is. It is not for everyone, but it depends on what you're looking for in your budget."

More Auvik Network Management (ANM) pricing and cost advice

"I didn't have to buy it, but if I was going to have my choice, I wouldn't buy it just because of the price point. It works pretty well to do one thing. For the cost, it is definitely not worth it. There are other products out there that can do the same thing for probably 70% less. I am not aware of any additional costs."

"It's an expensive device. Don't expect it to be cheap. But the pricing is good. It certainly seemed in line with anything else I was looking at at the time."

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

"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."

"It was difficult to sell this to my management because the price is really high compared to other testing tools. However, we've seen a pretty good return on investment considering our outcomes and the time we have saved. The first year has been great."

"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."

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

"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

10%

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

15%

University

10%

Healthcare Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	141
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) pricing or licensing is about 2,500 per year for approximately 4,000 endpoints, which is quite reasonable.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Auvik?

I think the interface is a little clunky at times, and I've definitely had some frustrations with it over the years. One thing that was kind of a big issue was that if you were trying to go to a ra...

See all answers

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Auvik Network Management (ANM)

January 2026

Download Auvik Network Management (ANM) product report

Buyer's Guide

LinkRunner

January 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 AT 3000 & 4000. Next Generation Copper and Fiber Ethernet AutoTester. Fast and comprehensive validation of network links and powerful copper and fiber network connectivity troubleshooting. Tests from 10Mbps to 10Gbps, PoE, VLAN, switch port, path analysis, packet capture, topology mapping and so much more!

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

December 2025

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