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Broadcom Network Flow Analysis vs LinkRunner comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 11, 2024

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

Broadcom Network Flow Analysis
Ranking in Network Troubleshooting
11th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
6
Ranking in other categories
Network Management Applications (26th), Network Monitoring Software (79th)
LinkRunner
Ranking in Network Troubleshooting
5th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
8.2
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Network Troubleshooting category, the mindshare of Broadcom Network Flow Analysis is 4.9%, down from 5.4% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of LinkRunner is 5.9%, down from 12.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Troubleshooting Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
LinkRunner5.9%
Broadcom Network Flow Analysis4.9%
Other89.2%
Network Troubleshooting
 

Featured Reviews

Purneswara Rao - PeerSpot reviewer
Principal Consultant at KyndleIT Consulting
A stable tool that helps identify the complete flow analysis in a network
The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that the complete flow analysis can be identified through the tool. The classification of each protocol and how the bandwidth utilization is happening with the protocols while managing to get SLAs, IP protocols, and QoS metrics is possible because of the product.
Jesse_B - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The custom report is the most valuable feature."
"For supporting flow-traffic monitoring, this product is the best option."
"Despite the low level of support, I would still fully recommend this product, because even when not all the features are used, the advantage of having such a wealth of useful information about the network traffic in real time, together with such flexibility of its presentation, is undeniable."
"It is an overall stable solution."
"This solution has helped our organization by allowing us to have visibility. We deal with cybersecurity, so visibility is very important."
"Anomaly Detector - This detects the anomaly flows in infra environment and makes job easy to analyze issue."
"Something that would normally take me an hour is done in less than a minute."
"The auto-test feature is vital and does 90 percent of what I need on its own."
"From everything I've seen, it's a 10 out of 10."
"I like the fact that I can tell the equipment to stop at a certain point during the test of a cable, to see whether or not there is basic connectivity. I can stop it before it starts pinging the outside world, such as Google or, perhaps, our core network switch. Those basic results—do I have a basic connection and power—finish up fast and I can move on."
"You want more information and reduce time troubleshooting? This device is an all-in-one solution for troubleshooting network connectivity issues."
"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."
"In terms of network validation, and copper and fiber Ethernet configuration, I can't imagine life without LinkRunner devices. The minute I got the 10G, everybody was fighting over it. They had never used such a device before and it was just breathtaking for them to very quickly see the validation you can gain from these devices."
"This is an invaluable tool for testing/troubleshooting network cable switch connections and for cable evaluation."
 

Cons

"I would like to see more security features, like a lost protection package."
"Enhanced support should be given with APIs that work to maintain collected information."
"If one is able to find it at all, the documentation is often no help."
"Sometimes the custom report jammed in the MYSQL database."
"Currently, Broadcom Network Flow Analysis does not support high-availability solutions, making it an area that needs improvement."
"Prefer this product only if the scope of flow analysis is vast and for a limited scope I don’t prefer this product since the product licenses are very costly and it is a waste of money."
"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."
"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."
"Compared to another company's product, LinkRunner is cheaper, but it's still about $1,000 too expensive, considering that the operating system is a free operating system."
"The cost of this device is very expensive, especially with the NetAlly Care on top of the costs."
"Having to go back up in a lift to use the interface and then go back down again can be cumbersome."
"I would like the ability to save screenshots for the switch and cable test."
"It is a great tool, but in the long-term, they can make its processor more powerful to do more functions."
"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"
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"If you make a DX NetOps-based purchase and the complete suite of products that fall under DX NetOps from Broadcom, then you get Network Flow Analysis along with DX NetOps Performance Management and DX Spectrum."
"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."
"The cost of this device is very expensive, especially with the NetAlly Care on top of the costs. It is not for personal use and would be very expensive for smaller businesses."
"They offer one price. I do like paying for support because I get software updates that way."
"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."
"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."
"It's reasonably priced in my market. It provides good value for money. The device is competitively priced as compared to other solutions. It gives you a lot of functionality and saves you a lot of time and resources. I see it as a good buy and good value for money. I stand for it."
"Compared to another company's product, LinkRunner is cheaper, but it's still about $1,000 too expensive, considering that the operating system is a free operating system. The OS has just been tweaked to give you a graphical interface. I don't think it's priced right."
report
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Comms Service Provider
15%
Construction Company
13%
Outsourcing Company
10%
Healthcare Company
8%
Manufacturing Company
15%
University
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Healthcare Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise8
Large Enterprise7
 

Also Known As

CA NetQoS Reporter Analyzer, CA NFA, CA Network Flow Analysis
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Empowered, BCBST
Philips Healthcare, HCA Healthcare, University of South Dakota, Memorial Hermann, Baltimore County Public Schools, Aaramrak.
Find out what your peers are saying about Broadcom Network Flow Analysis vs. LinkRunner and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
915,341 professionals have used our research since 2012.