Azure Bastion vs Plixer Scrutinizer comparison

Microsoft and Plixer are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Microsoft is ranked #23 with an average rating of 9.0, while Plixer is ranked #52 with an average rating of 8.0. Microsoft holds a 0.2% mindshare in NMS, compared to Plixer’s 0.4% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Microsoft users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Plixer users who would recommend it.

Azure Bastion

Read 12 Azure Bastion reviews

1,579 Views
347 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Plixer Scrutinizer

Read 15 Plixer Scrutinizer reviews

1,289 Views
877 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Azure Bastion

Plixer Scrutinizer

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 2024

Plixer Scrutinizer and Azure Bastion are solutions in the network management arena. Plixer Scrutinizer holds an edge for those needing detailed network traffic analysis, while Azure Bastion shines in environments integrated with Azure for secure remote access.

Features: Plixer Scrutinizer offers advanced network traffic analytics, detailed reporting, and in-depth logging capabilities. It provides tools for effective network performance monitoring and valuable insights into network behavior. Azure Bastion enables secure RDP/SSH connectivity without a public IP, seamless integration with Azure services, and a robust security model for remote access to virtual machines.

Room for Improvement: Plixer Scrutinizer could benefit from streamlined setup processes, enhanced user interface design, and improved scalability options. Azure Bastion might expand its feature set for non-Azure environments, provide more comprehensive usage analytics, and offer better support for complex network topologies.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Plixer Scrutinizer requires network configuration and can be complex, but boasts responsive customer service. Azure Bastion offers straightforward deployment for Azure infrastructure users, with support bolstered by the Azure platform, making it easier to deploy within the Azure ecosystem.

Pricing and ROI: Plixer Scrutinizer involves initial setup costs that might be substantial, but offers return on investment through enhanced network visibility and security. Azure Bastion's pricing aligns with Azure service models, providing predictable costs with good ROI for businesses leveraging Azure, benefiting from integration efficiencies and security improvements.

To learn more, read our detailed Azure Bastion vs. Plixer Scrutinizer Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Azure Bastion vs. Plixer Scrutinizer

September 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

Azure Bastion

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

23rd

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) (6th), Microsoft Security Suite (19th)

Plixer Scrutinizer

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

52nd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (11th)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Azure Bastion is 0.2%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Plixer Scrutinizer is 0.4%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Azure Bastion	0.2%
Plixer Scrutinizer	0.4%
Other	99.4%

Network Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

Aladin Steiner

Head of Value Stream Azure at SmartIT Services AG

Has good scalability and provides secure access to the virtual machines

The product improved the security posture of our organization. We don’t have open ports and connect them to servers using it. We can carry out two-factor authentication to protect the devices with conditional access features. It would be nice to have a feature to copy and paste the files into servers. I rate the product a nine out of ten.

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Ira Mulyanti

Sales Director at ARGA SOLUSI

An affordable product with great integration capabilities

Plixer Core Platform is a valuable feature and a good software. Plixer Scrutinizer uses NetFlow analysis to monitor whatever is there in a network. Price-wise, Plixer Scrutinizer is not an expensive product. Basically, Plixer Scrutinizer is an affordable product. Plixer Scrutinizer is a tool that allows for customization, especially in scenarios where customers need new product features. Plixer Scrutinizer is a tool that can integrate with any other brand or product in the market, so it is not an area of concern.

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 most significant advantage lies in its runbook features, particularly beneficial for our infrastructure team."

"The product's setup is easy."

"The connection to virtual machines is very useful."

"The interface is available in the edit portal."

"The solution's most valuable feature is that it is easy to use...It is modernized, so I can create complex infrastructures."

"Azure Bastion eliminates the need for a jump server by providing secure access to servers without hitting the public network."

"It provides all the security to us. Without getting on the internet, we can access our servers. We can access our desktop through our web browser. We don't need to run the mstsc command and login to the VM. All those things are not required."

"Overall, I had a very positive experience."

More Azure Bastion pros

"Visualization of the network traffic is the most valuable feature. It allows you to drill into information quite quickly."

"One feature I found most valuable in Plixer Scrutinizer is the very extensive reporting. Reporting is very flexible, though sometimes you need a little bit of support from Plixer Scrutinizer to create custom-made reporting in a very short time. Reporting is a very strong feature of the product."

"There are other tools out there that will do what Scrutinizer does. But what I have found with Scrutinizer is that it does it very quickly. I've taken 25 million individual data fragments from the different sensors, and it has graphed that and mapped it and presented a picture within 30 seconds. It has a very efficient database algorithm that I am really impressed with."

"We have had many requests to understand in the network which devices are connected to others. Most people don't have this information or are able to establish a map of data flow everywhere around the network. Scrutinizer can really help with this. We are using it to understand who is talking to what, how, and which protocols can help us to improve security and analyze flow."

"The most valuable features of the solution are the ability to track what a device is doing and to go back historically. It is also able to go down to, and identify, very low levels of traffic."

"The solution helps to enrich the data context of our network traffic. It allows me to see what applications are most in use on a slightly historical basis, going back a day or week at tops. It allows me to tune QoS or traffic shaping around what's being used. It saves me from having to unnecessarily upgrade, if I don't need to."

"One of the most valuable features of Plixer Scrutinizer is the reporting, particularly how easy it is to drill down into the reports. Another valuable feature of the solution is its overall visibility. It's great. I also liked Plixer Scrutinizer in terms of deployment time and that it's very simple to set up. Once you get the appliance set up and connected, the customer starts to see results immediately, versus other solutions where that could take a while."

"The reporting and generating troubleshooting reports would be the best feature; our host-to-host conversation reporting."

More Plixer Scrutinizer pros

Cons

"While general support is valuable, having a detailed breakdown of the specific issues would contribute to a more streamlined and efficient resolution process."

"There are some challenges because Bastion is more compatible with Edge but not with the other browsers. As an organization, it doesn't make sense that we have to use only Edge. We should be able to access Bastion over Chrome, Mozilla, or Opera. It should be our choice."

"We are not able to copy and paste files directly into the server over the patch host. We have to transfer files over to Azure Storage."

"When you have a boot issue on Windows, you cannot use Azure Bastion to fix it. You have to use the Azure console or the VM console, and it is very limited."

"Currently, Azure Bastion does not allow for direct data transfer between desktops. A storage solution must be created to transfer data, and this requires additional permissions like ACL or NFS."

"The solution breaks down sometimes."

"Azure Bastion does its job. However, it would be nice to have the capability to cut and paste across desktops, similar to old-fashioned Remote Desktop emulation."

"You are charged for retrieving your own data."

More Azure Bastion cons

"In Plixer Scrutinizer, scalability is an area with minor concerns where improvements are required."

"There was a price lift because previously the product was privately owned, and now there is some external capital in the organization, so pricing could be lower, though, for Plixer Scrutinizer, there is almost no competition at this price point."

"The reporting structure, the front-end GUI, also needs some work. It needs some getting used to. It works fairly well, but it's a technical tool rather than a user tool. You have to understand the structure of the databases before you can really use it."

"They're working on the security areas, so it can provide more insight. What they have is still pretty much IP-concentric. If they were to make it IP and URL, they'd be a little bit ahead on that."

"Knowing that they're coming out with a new user interface, that is an area where there is room for improvement. There are so many variables. They should limit the variables in the user interface and create some classes, like "simple," "novice," and "expert" to narrow down the variables within it."

"The visual acuity of how it presents data can sometimes be confusing. It takes a bit for people to spin up how to look at the graphs."

"It would be useful if there was a way to back up the configuration information. E.g., if you wanted to deploy a new instance or disaster recovery, you could quite easily deploy and restore the config, as opposed to having to restore all the NetFlow data. If there was just a button that said "backup config information", that would be good."

"The solution creates a visual map of a particular location and how the network flows. You need to spend time to generate all those maps. If they could figure out a way to reduce the time needed to generate the maps, that would be great."

More Plixer Scrutinizer cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It does not save money for us."

"Azure Bastion's pricing is good."

"The pricing is a lower decision point than high-quality security for our organization. Better security comes at a cost, but it's worth it, and that's what we tell our customers."

"The tool is cheaply priced. I would say that the product is free to use."

"We recently bought a license upgrade, so we will integrate more exporters. We upgraded from a 25 exporter license to a 50 exporter license. Therefore, there will be more flows, and this will be an extension. I don't know when we will purchase a faster server, because the server that we have is quite new."

"There are no extra costs. It's about $8,000 a year. The bang for the buck (cost) is definitely a plus."

"Our entire solution, amortized over five years, is in the vicinity of $40,000 to $50,000 a year."

"The license is per device. We have 50 devices."

"We have increased the license over time. We have added more licenses as the network has grown."

"The licensing cost for Plixer Scrutinizer is in the middle. It's not the cheapest, but it's not the most expensive. Its licensing model is based on how many exporters, how many devices export information to the system. Plixer Scrutinizer has different modules you could add such as the security module which would cost extra."

"Currently, the license for Plixer Scrutinizer is subscription-based and at a yearly fee. The price would depend on the amount of traffic you pull in. For example, there are several blocks from a 10K flow, a 40K flow, and a 100K flow, and based on the number of devices that you receive the flows from, that's the license, and it is not a per-interface pricing model, so that is a very strong, very competitive pricing feature of Plixer Scrutinizer. Licensing for the product is also not based on the number of storage, compared to some competing products that are priced based on the amount of storage you need, particularly based on the retention and the amount of data. Plixer Scrutinizer licensing is based on the device, and it's more in the direction of $10,000 because, with just $1,000, you don't have anything."

"Compared to some of the other tools we have, it's incredibly reasonably priced."

More Plixer Scrutinizer pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

18%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	6

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	8

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Azure Bastion?

Azure Bastion makes it easy to provide quick virtual machine access to our customers.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Bastion?

Microsoft's pricing is on the higher side and could be more competitive. Startups and small organizations often prefer AWS ( /products/amazon-aws-reviews ) or GCP due to their lower costs, while la...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Azure Bastion?

Azure Bastion does its job. However, it would be nice to have the capability to cut and paste across desktops, similar to old-fashioned Remote ( /products/remote-reviews ) Desktop emulation. I am u...

See all answers

What do you like most about Plixer Scrutinizer?

Plixer Scrutinizer is an affordable product. Plixer Scrutinizer is a tool that allows for customization, especially in scenarios where customers need new product features.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Plixer Scrutinizer?

I rate Plixer Scrutinizer's price a three on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price or affordable, and ten is high price or expensive.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Plixer Scrutinizer?

I don't have deep enough knowledge to comment on what requires improvements in Plixer Scrutinizer. In Plixer Scrutinizer, scalability is an area with minor concerns where improvements are required.

See all answers

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Compared 28% of the time

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Compared 27% of the time

Kentik vs Plixer Scrutinizer

Compared 23% of the time

PRTG Network Monitor vs Plixer Scrutinizer

Compared 22% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Azure Bastion

October 2025

Download Azure Bastion product report

Buyer's Guide

Plixer Scrutinizer

September 2025

Download Plixer Scrutinizer product report

Overview

Azure Bastion is a service you deploy that lets you connect to a virtual machine using your browser and the Azure portal. The Azure Bastion service is a fully platform-managed PaaS service that you provision inside your virtual network. It provides secure and seamless RDP/SSH connectivity to your virtual machines directly from the Azure portal over TLS. When you connect via Azure Bastion, your virtual machines do not need a public IP address, agent, or special client software.

Microsoft

The Scrutinizer incident response system leverages network traffic analytics to provide active monitoring, visualization, and reporting of network and security incidents. The system quickly delivers the rich forensic data needed by IT professionals to support fast and efficient incident response.

Plixer

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Oxford Networks, Squaw Valley Ski Holdings, UltiSat, Wipro, West Aurora School District 129, SUNY Geneseo College, Bloomington Public Schools, First National Bank of Pennsylvania, Kitsap Credit Union, Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County Houston Texas, Carilion Clinic, Banner Health, IDEXX Laboratories, Phibro Animal Health Corporation, Goodwill Industries, Parmalat, Armstrong Coal Company, Flybe, James Walker

Buyer's Guide

Azure Bastion vs. Plixer Scrutinizer

September 2025

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