IBM SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM) vs Packetbeat comparison

IBM and Elastic are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. IBM is ranked #42 with an average rating of 7.5, while Elastic is ranked #66 with an average rating of 8.0. IBM holds a 1.0% mindshare in NMS, compared to Elastic’s 0.3% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Elastic users who would recommend it.

IBM SevOne Network Performa...

Read 54 IBM SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM) reviews

3,796 Views
1,974 Comparison Views

96% willing to recommend

Packetbeat

Read 2 Packetbeat reviews

378 Views
374 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM SevOne Network Performa...

Packetbeat

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between IBM SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM) and Packetbeat based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Zabbix, Auvik, Datadog and others in Network Monitoring Software.

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Network Monitoring Software

January 2026

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Helped 881,176 peers since 2012

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

IBM SevOne Network Performa...

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

42nd

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Server Monitoring (19th), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (40th), Log Management (44th), Cloud Monitoring Software (30th)

Packetbeat

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

66th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

2.5

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of IBM SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM) is 1.0%, down from 1.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Packetbeat is 0.3%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
IBM SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM)	1.0%
Packetbeat	0.3%
Other	98.7%

Network Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

reviewer1543041

Network monitoring engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees

Provides consistent infrastructure monitoring with excellent usability and support

The primary use case of IBM SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM) is network monitoring. It helps to maintain the infrastructure's availability and ensure that alerts are generated when needed The most valuable features of IBM SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM) are its stability,…

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Mohammed-Abdelalim

Assistant Vice President at QualityKiosk Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

Network analytics have delivered lightweight, integrated visibility for search, observability, and security

Packetbeat analyzes specific protocols and is not suitable for full capture of all network traffic and network flows. I recall that Packetbeat can cover a limited number of protocols including ICMP, but not as deeply as other solutions. It covers NetFlows and these types of flows, but not at the level of a deep packet capture that you can find in the market where it taps every single packet in the network. Packetbeat is more about bringing statistics about the packets, but it doesn't capture these packets. The development intention of Packetbeat appears to be to provide a window for application monitoring and performance analytics, and for that purpose, it is doing sufficiently well. However, if the vendor has another goal to build a similar network monitoring solution that exists in the market, which is outside of Elastic's business nature, Packetbeat is a sensor that needs to be improved to the level of deep packet capture where it loses no packets in the network. That improvement would take Elastic to another level.

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 a great solution for highlighting and discovering useful information regarding our network's elements."

"The most valuable feature is the NMS because that's the core of the system. Without the NMS, the other tools aren't that usable."

"We find that the reporting is particularly valuable in terms of not only communicating with our peer teams but also with the executives."

"The feature that I have found most valuable is the scale-up and scale-down. The scale-up is an operation where the CPU boosts-up and then the memory will boost-up. That works awesomely."

"SevOne has rich API capabilities, giving us the flexibility to control what we collect and customize the collection, creation, and manipulation of now metrics as necessary."

"The automation feature is good because if your CMDB is OK and it is already in sync, then the automation part is good to go."

"The comprehensiveness of this solution's collection of network performance and flow data is one of the basics in the field for what it does. It meets all of our needs. So for all those areas, for the most straightforward collection capabilities, right up to NetFlow and even telemetry, it meets all those demands. Not only just basic or fundamental SNMP collection capability, but the product also supports what we need for the future with telemetry streaming. So it's very comprehensive."

"I like the tool’s scalability and real-time reports. Earlier, we struggled to give real-time reports to clients. I also like the tool’s deployment model where we can deploy it either on-premises or in-house. We don’t have to carry the data all over the globe. Also, I am impressed with the tool's flow reporting and Wi-Fi."

More IBM SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM) pros

"The beauty of Packetbeat is that it is easy, free, and lightweight, while other solutions are expensive and will accumulate a huge amount of data."

"Elastic's scalability, in terms of cluster robustness, is definitely the most valuable feature."

Cons

"The reports are easy to configure but they are a bit outdated in terms of appearance and visualization."

"We previously have had discussions on some reporting enhancements. So, we raised a feature request, which was delivered from SevOne."

"Their virtualization solution is not compatible with our Kubernetes environment, which is one of the reasons we are ending our relationship with them."

"High-frequency polling is data-intensive because you're pulling more. If SevOne could figure out a way to manage the impact of high-frequency polling on the system, that would be very popular."

"Telemetry is hot these days, and IBM can improve SevOne's support for telemetry correction. Reporting is another feature that could be better. It provides the bare minimum functionality, which is good enough for most engineers, but the management isn't advanced. The new portal provides a much lighter view and better visualization, but the management is not so good."

"There is room for improvement in the integration with different vendors and the reporting capabilities."

"With the administrative management of the appliance, if some object appears from SevOne because something changed in the network or whatever, then as an administrator you will not be aware. If you are using this object in a report, this object will disappear from the report and you will not be aware of it. So, if you have 1,000 reports, you cannot always check these reports everyday to see if objects are missing or information has disappeared. We don't have any information on alerts, saying that something is happening there and maybe we need to take action. If an object was replaced by another one, or if a link was replaced by another one, then the graph needs to be changed because it doesn't exist in the graph anymore. However, we don't have this information."

"I would like to see live maps as an added feature. Also, build modules on AI and EML to provide better data insights that would proactively tell us what we should be looking after."

More IBM SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM) cons

"Packetbeat analyzes specific protocols and is not suitable for full capture of all network traffic and network flows."

"The scalability of the agent itself could be improved."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"There are different options available for licensing, with the per-device option being more expensive but more flexible."

"Although I don't have exact details in terms of cost, my experience has been that SevOne is willing to make a deal with the customer."

"Have a bank of licenses, because it is about the number of objects (RAM, ports, CPU, etc.)."

"For the value that you get from SevOne, it's worth the price. There are a lot of cheaper alternatives on the market, and even free options. But they require more staff, more resources, and engineers with more advanced knowledge of monitoring. That's what makes SevOne worth the price."

"A blocking point is the high upfront cost because it is challenging to get it accepted and the purchase approved."

"Many tools price things based on the number of KPIs that you're collecting around a device. In many cases, there could be hundreds of metrics that you need to collect. SevOne provides device-level pricing. That gives us the flexibility to turn on, and expand on, the metrics that we're collecting around those devices, without taking a financial hit."

"The pricing has not evolved with the market, which is one of the reasons we are moving to a new product."

"Prices per license are not huge, but they exist."

More IBM SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM) pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

14%

Computer Software Company

Performing Arts

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	6
Large Enterprise	45

No data available

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with SevOne Network Data Platform?

There is room for improvement in the integration with different vendors and the reporting capabilities. It would be beneficial to have out-of-the-box integration with third-party vendors and improv...

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What is your primary use case for SevOne Network Data Platform?

The primary use case of IBM SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM) ( /products/ibm-sevone-network-performance-management-npm-reviews ) is network monitoring. It helps to maintain the infrastru...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering SevOne Network Data Platform?

To compete with custom-built tools, IBM SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM) should accommodate the desired features and be timely in the delivery of feature updates. I would rate the overal...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Packetbeat?

Elastic is pretty cheap for large enterprises but unaffordable for small ones.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Packetbeat?

I think that the scalability of the agent itself could be improved. It is also a bit limited in terms of capabilities. When a customer needs to customize the collection, I think it's tougher there.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Packetbeat?

I've been using Packetbeat ( /products/packetbeat-reviews ) for call centers, for logs, for observability, network monitoring, and some search engine optimization.

See all answers

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Product Reports

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IBM SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM)

January 2026

IBM SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM) report

Download IBM SevOne Network Performance Management (NPM) product report

Buyer's Guide

Network Monitoring Software

January 2026

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Also Known As

SevOne

No data available

Overview

The IBM® SevOne Network Performance Management (IBM SevOne NPM) solution helps you spot, address, and prevent network performance issues early with machine learning-powered analytics from a single source. Boost network performance and improve your user application experience by proactively monitoring your multivendor end-to-end network across enterprise, communication, and managed service provider networks.

Transform raw network performance data into intelligent and actionable insights. The IBM SevOne NPM solution goes beyond detection, combining industry-leading expertise and advanced technology to help your IT team plan and optimize your network and act on what matters: improving network performance to provide an exceptional customer experience.

For further information, please visit www.ibm.com/cloud/sevo...

IBM

Packetbeat is an open-source real-time application monitoring tool designed to capture network packets and provide insights into application performance and network congestion.

Packetbeat allows IT professionals to monitor network traffic efficiently by collecting and analyzing packets. It provides valuable insights into network latency and helps identify performance issues. It is part of the Elastic Stack, making it easy to integrate with Elasticsearch, Logstash, and Kibana for sophisticated data analysis and visualization. Its open-source nature adds flexibility for customization, catering to specific monitoring needs.

What are the crucial features of Packetbeat?

Real-time packet capture: Enables immediate analysis and monitoring of network packets.
Protocol analysis: Supports analysis of various protocols like HTTP, DNS, and MySQL.
Seamless integration: Works efficiently with other Elastic Stack components.
Open-source: Offers customization and adaptability for IT requirements.

What benefits or ROI should be expected?

Cost efficiency: Leveraging open-source software reduces license costs.
Enhanced visibility: Provides detailed insights into network operations.
Scalability: Can be scaled to monitor expansive networks as needs grow.

In industries like finance and healthcare, where network uptime and data integrity are crucial, Packetbeat is implemented to monitor network performance and troubleshoot issues promptly. Its ability to analyze traffic in real-time ensures that potential bottlenecks are addressed swiftly, maintaining operational efficiency.

Elastic

Sample Customers

ATOS, Devereux, Spark New Zealand, Access4, Rogers Communication, Lumen (formerly known as CenturyLink)

Information Not Available

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