Fortra's Intermapper vs Observer GigaStor comparison

Fortra and Viavi Solutions are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Fortra is ranked #81, while Viavi Solutions is ranked #86. Fortra holds a 0.5% mindshare in NMS, compared to Viavi Solutions’s 0.4% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Fortra users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Viavi Solutions users who would recommend it.

Fortra's Intermapper

Read 4 Fortra's Intermapper reviews

1,037 Views
985 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Observer GigaStor

Read 7 Observer GigaStor reviews

1,238 Views
780 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Fortra's Intermapper

Observer GigaStor

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 2024

Fortra's Intermapper and Observer GigaStor are key players in the network monitoring solutions market. Observer GigaStor seems to have an advantage due to its advanced analysis capabilities tailored for comprehensive network diagnostics.

Features: Fortra's Intermapper focuses on real-time network mapping, providing proactive alerts and intuitive network visualization. Observer GigaStor offers deep packet inspection, comprehensive historical data analysis, and advanced troubleshooting tools, which contribute to its strong data analysis capabilities.

Room for Improvement: Fortra's Intermapper could enhance its historical data analysis, expand its packet inspection capabilities, and integrate more advanced diagnostic tools. Observer GigaStor might improve by simplifying its deployment process, reducing initial setup complexity, and offering more affordable pricing options.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Fortra's Intermapper is user-friendly, allowing straightforward deployment with intuitive configuration, providing quick implementation solutions. Observer GigaStor may involve a more complex deployment, yet it is backed by thorough customer support, assisting comprehensive installations. Fortra ranks high in customer support responsiveness, ensuring swift issue resolutions.

Pricing and ROI: Fortra's Intermapper offers a cost-effective solution with lower upfront costs and rapid ROI, making it attractive to budget-conscious businesses. Observer GigaStor, potentially priced higher, delivers significant ROI through its extensive diagnostic features, appealing to enterprises requiring in-depth network analysis despite the investment.

To learn more, read our detailed Fortra's Intermapper vs. Observer GigaStor Report (Updated: March 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Fortra's Intermapper vs. Observer GigaStor

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

Fortra's Intermapper

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

81st

Average Rating

8.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Observer GigaStor

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

86th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

8.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Troubleshooting (14th), Network Packet Broker (NPB) (9th)

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Fortra's Intermapper is 0.5%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Observer GigaStor is 0.4%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Fortra's Intermapper	0.5%
Observer GigaStor	0.4%
Other	99.1%

Network Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

Andrian Lubimov

SVP of Networking and Operations at Skywire Networks

It tremendously cuts down our troubleshooting timeframe, but needs advanced SLA monitoring and reporting

They can do a better job with SLA reporting. It does some basic reporting, but it really doesn't offer the ability to monitor devices by groups, customers, or carrier to give an overall health performance of specifically-defined environments. That's where HelpSystems Intermapper could have done a better job. I would love to see advanced SLA monitoring and reporting in this solution. They already have a lot of ingredients. They already have SNMP polling. It is really about what people are looking for from SLA monitoring, especially someone who looks at the network topology. You want to see your endpoints. You want to see half of your endpoints by simply analyzing ICMP or SNMP-based availability of your endpoints. Having an ability to define your group and how you bring devices into your group would be a huge benefit.

Read full review

Jeroen-Dubbelman

Director at Bitrate

Aids significantly in the threat-hunting process and provides a score-based evaluation of user experience

There are many valuable features, but understanding end-user response times stands out. It provides a score-based evaluation of user experience, helping customers quickly pinpoint whether issues originate from the network, server, client, or application. Additionally, it facilitates in-depth analysis of application dependencies. The retrospective network analysis capability of Observer GigaStor has been beneficial. It's a pivotal feature for network performance solutions. However, I prefer to consider the entire solution suite - GigaStor, along with GigaFlow and Apex - for comprehensive network visibility and monitoring. So, I prefer to integrate all three solutions to provide the best visibility. They complement each other well, with Apex aggregating and correlating data from both GigaStor and GigaFlow to enhance environmental understanding and troubleshooting efficiency.

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

"It's all today portal-based which is a good feature for us."

"The graphical alerting with the ability to obtain a quick overview of a monitored device is my favorite feature."

"What is really cool about HelpSystems InterMapper is that because of its SNMP base, you can integrate all different makes and models on the same map. You, of course, can have more than one map, but you have an option to have visibility into the entire network from one centralized system. You can monitor IPs, routers, radios, DC power plants, and UPS. You can do it all from one network management and monitoring solution. That's what really makes HelpSystems Intermapper great. Another great thing about HelpSystems InterMapper is that you can really bundle different probes under one device. You can have a bundled device. You can monitor the physical status of a host based on the IP availability. You can also monitor services and actually see if anything happens. You can quickly determine whether it is the application layer, host layer, or network layer. HelpSystems Intermapper gives such a unique representation of a network. Ever since we started using HelpSystems InterMapper, we don't have to document everything in a detailed format and store it somewhere. Right now, it is really a combination of network topology, network monitoring, and network analyzing. So, in my opinion, it is awesome. When you have your SNMP topology defined, you don't require a dedicated NMS engineer to manage your system, which is another great thing about HelpSystems InterMapper. I see how our operators get so excited by having the ability to map a device or interface and connect interfaces together. HelpSystems InterMapper is also very operator friendly; not just user friendly, but also operator friendly. This is a unique feature, and it works really great."

"It's a nice graphical interface, a nice map, that relates Layer 1 to Layer 3, virtually instantly, to the Helpdesk support staff. It provides a default place to get critical information so we can deploy our staff."

"Right now, it is really a combination of network topology, network monitoring, and network analyzing, so, in my opinion, it is awesome."

"The solution has a couple of features which are really interesting; it's not a fancy or expensive solution but we wanted to have a cost effective one and it's doing its job pretty well."

"The most valuable features are its: log history, real-time monitoring capabilities, accuracy - the number of false positives is very low, and the mapping features."

"Put Intermapper in as your base to start from, hands-down."

"Enables us to go back in time to capture an issue and analyze it for a solution, and this after the fact analysis is key to overcoming the bump in the night issues."

"There are many valuable features, but understanding end-user response times stands out. It provides a score-based evaluation of user experience, helping customers quickly pinpoint whether issues originate from the network, server, client, or application. Additionally, it facilitates in-depth analysis of application dependencies."

"I have no regrets using this product, I am very satisfied for what I paid for it and for the things I am able to do with the product."

"Go take a look at it. It's a great product and has great capabilities."

"This solution allows us to see exactly what is going on in the network and we can very quickly solve issues with users."

"The ability to capture packets. It is not only for monitoring. That is very important for a company that wants to keep an eye on the packets, the transactions, the flows..."

"If you have the opportunity, I would strongly encourage you to get it, because it makes the IT experience easier and more flexible, by providing the ability to see things in your networks like the directory packet label."

"This solution allows us to see exactly what is going on in the network and we can very quickly solve issues with users."

More Observer GigaStor pros

Cons

"I'd love to see more of the network management side of it coming back into it. If we were able to run scripts to bounce ports on switches, that would be great. It's asking a lot, but it's actually very doable because I do it through scripting into other products. If we could incorporate that directly into Intermapper, that would be fantastic."

"It's a smaller solution so tools are not as advanced as you would find in a larger solution"

"They can do a better job with SLA reporting. It does some basic reporting, but it really doesn't offer the ability to monitor devices by groups, customers, or carrier to give an overall health performance of specifically-defined environments. That's where HelpSystems Intermapper could have done a better job. I would love to see advanced SLA monitoring and reporting in this solution. They already have a lot of ingredients. They already have SNMP polling. It is really about what people are looking for from SLA monitoring, especially someone who looks at the network topology. You want to see your endpoints. You want to see half of your endpoints by simply analyzing ICMP or SNMP-based availability of your endpoints. Having an ability to define your group and how you bring devices into your group would be a huge benefit."

"It's a smaller solution so tools are not as advanced as you would find in a larger solution"

"I'd love to see more of the network management side of it coming back into it."

"I have seen instances where Intermapper does not seem to recover from network changes."

"The interface is pretty complex, so for the average user, it takes a while to get up to speed with it. I would like it to be more user-friendly."

"There are some issues, in our environment that puts processing restraints on the Gigastor when turning on trending data to be sent to APEX."

"I would like to have more than 4TB of storage available in the portable version of this solution."

"Maybe the graphical user interface could be simplified to allow people to use it more easily."

"Graphics need improvement. Because a lot of the information there you have to input first in some case to have full potential. It could be more automated."

"As of this moment, the graphics might need some improvement, because a lot of the information there must be input first to have full potential."

"The Observer Console UI is consistent and stable, but could use some updating to be more modern."

"Maybe the graphical user interface could be simplified to allow people to use it more easily. It's already good, but they can work more on it to make it even easier."

More Observer GigaStor cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"It depends on the requirements you have. There are three types of license. There's the updates license, the work group license, and the workstation license."

"It's quite expensive."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Government

19%

Construction Company

11%

University

Recreational Facilities/Services Company

Construction Company

20%

Financial Services Firm

14%

Wholesaler/Distributor

Computer Software Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Large Enterprise	3

Questions from the Community

Ask a question

Earn 20 points

What do you like most about Observer GigaStor?

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Observer GigaStor?

I would rate the pricing a ten out of ten. It's quite expensive.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Observer GigaStor?

GigaStor feeds into Apex. So, the area where there could be improvement would be in artificial intelligence. For example, the incorporation of more advanced machine learning or AI capabilities coul...

See all answers

Comparisons

SolarWinds VoIP & Network Quality Manager vs Fortra's Intermapper

Compared 23% of the time

ConnectWise RMM vs Fortra's Intermapper

Compared 18% of the time

Nmap vs Fortra's Intermapper

Compared 13% of the time

Zabbix vs Fortra's Intermapper

Compared 7% of the time

SolarWinds NPM vs Fortra's Intermapper

Compared 6% of the time

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Wireshark vs Observer GigaStor

Compared 14% of the time

Viavi Observer Platform vs Observer GigaStor

Compared 8% of the time

Gigamon Deep Observability Pipeline vs Observer GigaStor

Compared 8% of the time

IxChariot vs Observer GigaStor

Compared 7% of the time

NetBeez vs Observer GigaStor

Compared 6% of the time

More Observer GigaStor Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Network Monitoring Software

March 2026

Download Fortra's Intermapper product report

Buyer's Guide

Observer GigaStor

March 2026

Download Observer GigaStor product report

Also Known As

HelpSystems Intermapper

No data available

Overview

Fortra's software frees you up to focus on what matters most, aligning IT and business goals to help organizations build a competitive edge. Intermapper is network monitoring software for organizations who want to monitor their IT infrastructure in real time.

With Intermapper, you can visualize all your physical and virtual network components on a live map and get up-to-date performance data on its availability. Powerful and user-friendly, Intermapper helps leading businesses prevent costly outages and maximize uptime for 24/7 availability of network resources.

Features include flexible monitoring for anything with an IP address, free probes to monitor different types of equipment from various vendors, dynamic network mapping, bandwidth monitoring, real-time alerts, and remote access. Our add-on integration with Automate allows you to remediate network failures and conduct network self-healing.

Intermapper runs on Mac, Windows, and Linux.

Fortra

Observer GigaStor is a network analysis tool that comes in a variety of form factors, including rack mount, portable, and virtual. Capable of storing up to a petabyte of traffic for later analysis, GigaStor helps ensure optimal network and application performance.

Viavi Solutions

Sample Customers

Greater Media Detroit, University of British Columbia, Don's Farm Supply

Cisco Systems, Hawaiian Telecom, Renown Health, State of Nevada, U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, Allstate Insurance, Jack Henry & Associates, United States Airforce, US Bank, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Chicago Board Options Exchange

Buyer's Guide

Fortra's Intermapper vs. Observer GigaStor

March 2026

Free Report: Fortra's Intermapper vs. Observer GigaStor

Find out what your peers are saying about Fortra's Intermapper vs. Observer GigaStor and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.

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