Ixia Hawkeye vs Kentik comparison

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Ixia Hawkeye

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 2024

Kentik and Ixia Hawkeye compete in network monitoring and performance management. Kentik's pricing and support are more favorable, while Ixia Hawkeye's features justify its higher cost.

Features: Kentik offers real-time traffic analysis, anomaly detection, and customizable dashboards. Ixia Hawkeye provides synthetic testing, service assurance, and proactive monitoring, focusing on comprehensive performance insights.

Room for Improvement:Kentik could enhance its advanced reporting capabilities, expand integration options, and improve error debugging. Ixia Hawkeye may benefit from simplified deployment options, better user interface, and enhanced scalability for smaller networks.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Kentik has a straightforward deployment model and responsive customer service focused on resolving queries. Ixia Hawkeye's deployment is complex, but its dedicated technical support is highly regarded for expertise.

Pricing and ROI: Kentik's pricing supports faster ROI due to lower setup costs and ease of deployment. Ixia Hawkeye's higher setup costs include sophisticated features that improve long-term ROI for businesses needing detailed analytics.

To learn more, read our detailed Ixia Hawkeye vs. Kentik Report (Updated: September 2026).

Ixia Hawkeye vs. Kentik

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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

Ixia Hawkeye

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

83rd

Average Rating

9.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Unified Communications Monitoring (5th), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (66th)

Kentik

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

13th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Protection (7th)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Ixia Hawkeye is 0.5%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Kentik is 1.5%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Kentik	1.5%
Ixia Hawkeye	0.5%
Other	98.0%

Network Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

José Enrique Cano Rodriguez

Assistant Consultant at Tata Consultancy

A valuable tool for optimizing network performance and security with comprehensive network monitoring capabilities, user-friendly interface, and flexibility for scripting

Distinguishing itself from network management systems like SolarWinds Orion and Dataminer, Hawkeye offers a distinctive feature. It empowers network administrators to access specialized and detailed views for specific tests, including video streaming and performance related to specific applications like video games. In contrast, SolarWinds and Dataminer typically offer a more general evaluation of network health. Hawkeye's unique capability enables a detailed analysis of network performance through specific tests, allowing administrators to identify areas in need of improvement and take precise actions to enhance network performance.

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Gcecilio

Network Engineer at a media company with 51-200 employees

Traffic insights have reduced transit costs and support secure, direct connections with providers

The best features that Kentik offers are the ability to identify traffic end-to-end and to know which transit is used, if it goes through any other transit, to see the entire flow, from the subscriber to the content provider and vice versa, from the content provider to the subscriber.I can also determine whether it is symmetric or asymmetric traffic, and if it goes through any provider that has some kind of bottleneck. That is very important. Regarding the security part, which is also possible to handle through Kentik, you can configure it in a way that makes the network more secure and reduces the amount of dirty traffic or attacks received. Kentik has had a high positive impact on my organization. Besides the cost reduction, it has been possible to perform troubleshooting more effectively, and also regarding DDoS-related attacks. In addition to cost reduction, we had a more reliable connection. Since the moment we identified that it was possible to have a direct connection with content providers like CDN77, Cloudflare, and Akamai, we established a direct connection there through a PNI with these content providers, making the network less dependent on an IP transit provider.

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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

"I would recommend Ixia Hawkeye because there are some KPIs that are very useful."

"Our customer was happiest with the price of this product."

"The ease of setup is the most valuable aspect of this solution. It's easy to set up and run tests."

"The most valuable feature is the deployment because it's very easy to deploy real flow through the network."

"So far, this product is doing exactly what it is promised to do."

"It empowers network administrators to access specialized and detailed views for specific tests, including video streaming and performance related to specific applications like video games."

"Honestly, it is one of those products that I would suggest to almost any network operator."

"We haven't seen anything else that comes even close to Kentik's real-time visibility across our network infrastructure, and we've demo'ed everything under the sun."

"Collecting that data and having those metrics first-hand, in real-time, allows us to make an educated decision, versus an uneducated guess."

"We're also using Kentik to ingest metrics. It's a useful feature, and its response time, whenever we're pulling back the data, is higher than our on-prem solution."

"Kentik excels in telemetry within data centers and works well in multi-vendor environments."

"Having the API access allows us to do a great deal of automation around a lot of our reporting and management tools."

"I really love the Data Explorer. I use it all the time to go in and craft exactly what I need to see. I'm able to then take that story and explain it to the executives. I've done that a couple of times and it is helpful."

"I can say that I am so happy with this platform because it is very useful for us."

More Kentik pros

Cons

"The customization of tests and even the results can be improved."

"Improvements in network performance are essential."

"Ixia has one flaw, which is that they do not print the license code on the paper licenses that are shipped to the customers."

"You can't delete more than one thing at a time. It would be great to be able to highlight three out of five things and delete them, whether it's a test or an actual report."

"Currently, the way I'm configuring it uses reactive alerts, which means alerts are triggered when an issue occurs. I would prefer more proactive alerts in the future."

"The product could strive for more improvements to become closer to perfect."

"Perhaps a better explanation would be to see how tagging is captured and a method of comparing my tagged interfaces on Kentik’s side."

"They're moving more in a direction where they are saying, "Hey, here's information that you may be interested in or may a need," before the question has to explicitly be asked. Continuing to move in that direction would be a good thing."

"The only downside to Kentik, something that I don't like, is that it's great that it shows you where these anomalies lie, but it's not actionable. Kentik is valuable, don't get me wrong, but if it had an actionable piece to it..."

"There is a large difference between BGP and normal nodes. I don't think this plays out to the best for the customer or Kentik."

"Kentik can be improved by enhancing the alerting system, especially the way templates work and the hierarchy of these alerts."

"It also detects anomalies proactively, but the same is not so true when it comes to real network problems, since they tend to just happen."

More Kentik cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It cost us approximately 25,000 for two years. This is cheaper than ThousandEyes."

"In larger networks, the costs for licenses tend to be more reasonable, but for smaller networks, it appears relatively costly."

"The tool is cheaply priced."

"We have an annual contract with Kentik that we renew each year for a set number of licenses. We also have some burstable licenses which we can spin up and spin down, and those are paid as they are used."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Outsourcing Company

18%

Comms Service Provider

12%

Construction Company

11%

University

Comms Service Provider

15%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Media Company

Construction Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	10

Questions from the Community

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Kentik?

My experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing has been limited because I was not responsible for that in my company, but I have spoken with my boss, and he reported that the licensing mode...

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What needs improvement with Kentik?

Kentik can be improved by enhancing the alerting system, especially the way templates work and the hierarchy of these alerts.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Kentik?

My main use case for Kentik is as a network monitoring system and flow analysis tool. A specific example of how I use Kentik for network monitoring is monitoring devices or services that go down an...

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Comparisons

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Compared 7% of the time

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Compared 7% of the time

SolarWinds NPM vs Ixia Hawkeye

Compared 6% of the time

ThousandEyes vs Ixia Hawkeye

Compared 5% of the time

Zabbix vs Ixia Hawkeye

Compared 5% of the time

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Compared 6% of the time

DX Spectrum vs Kentik

Compared 5% of the time

SolarWinds NPM vs Kentik

Compared 5% of the time

Auvik Network Management (ANM) vs Kentik

Compared 4% of the time

vRealize Network Insight vs Kentik

Compared 4% of the time

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Product Reports

Network Monitoring Software

Download Ixia Hawkeye product report

Download Kentik product report

Overview

Ixia Hawkeye provides network administrators with specialized tools for video streaming and application performance analysis, offering a straightforward deployment with efficient test scheduling and performance insights.

Ixia Hawkeye is a powerful tool for detailed network performance analysis, focusing on GPON and DOCSIS networks. It facilitates tests like traceroute, STP, and video streaming assessments crucial for proof of concept and service validation in industries such as telecom. Though cost-effective, there is potential for improving test customization, graph features, and making license codes more accessible. Users leverage its throughput test to gain insights into bandwidth, latency, and packet loss while also identifying areas needing improvements such as customizable outputs and enhanced comparison tools.

What are the most important features?

Specialized Views: Offers insights into video streaming and applications.
Performance Analysis: Provides detailed results on bandwidth, latency, and packet loss.
Graph Clarity: Easy-to-read visual data representations.
Cost-Effectiveness: Competitive pricing.

What benefits or ROI should be considered?

Efficiency: Simplifies test scheduling and execution.
Visibility: Enhances network and application performance insights.
Accessibility: Streamlined network performance assessments.
Verification: Validates internet services with real-world applications.

In the telecom industry, solution providers employ Ixia Hawkeye for enhanced network visibility and proof of concept. Network engineers and IT specialists utilize it for conducting performance tests and generating traffic, aiding clients in sectors like telecom with comprehensive performance assessments.

Keysight Technologies

Kentik provides real-time visibility into network infrastructure, focusing on monitoring, data visualization, and flow analysis to manage traffic patterns efficiently.

With robust analytics capabilities, Kentik offers insights into BGP peering status, aids in DDoS detection, and allows for detailed telemetry through its intuitive interface. The platform's SaaS nature simplifies operations by eliminating server maintenance concerns. Multi-vendor support and synthetic testing enhance network security and performance by simulating customer scenarios, while its API offers automation for querying and reporting tasks.

What are the key features of Kentik?

Real-Time Visibility: Monitors network infrastructure effectively.
Data Visualization: Offers powerful tools for viewing complex data.
Flow Analysis: Analyzes traffic flow for optimal management.
BGP Peering Insights: Provides in-depth peering status checks.
DDoS Alerting: Notifies about potential DDoS threats.
Data Explorer: Aids in understanding traffic patterns.
Synthetic Testing: Simulates scenarios to enhance security and performance.

What benefits can be found in user reviews?

Automation: Users value the flexibility of its API for automating tasks.
Ease of Use: SaaS model streamlines user engagement, eliminating server maintenance.
Flexibility: Report customization and query settings are highly appreciated.
Enhanced Observability: Telemetry and multi-vendor support increase oversight.

Industries implement Kentik for network monitoring, traffic management, and flow data analysis across both on-prem and cloud setups. It proves valuable for detecting DDoS events, managing peering relationships, and optimizing costs, besides managing CDN configurations and performing synthetic tests in diverse environments.

Sample Customers

EMA

Pandora, Yelp, Neustar, Box, University of Washington, Zoom, Tata, and Cogent.

Ixia Hawkeye vs. Kentik