Ixia Hawkeye vs Nmap comparison

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Ixia Hawkeye

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 2024

Nmap and Ixia Hawkeye compete in the network analysis and monitoring domain. Nmap has a slight advantage in security scanning due to its comprehensive capabilities, while Ixia Hawkeye stands out with its real-time network performance insights.

Features: Nmap provides robust port scanning, network discovery, and security auditing, offering flexibility in exploring networks. Ixia Hawkeye focuses on detailed performance metrics, end-to-end monitoring, and proactive analysis, enhancing network reliability and efficiency.

Room for Improvement:Nmap could improve in areas like real-time performance monitoring and insight delivery. Its user interface can become more intuitive for enhanced usability. More integration with performance-focused tools could increase its effectiveness. Ixia Hawkeye may benefit from advancing its security scanning capabilities. Streamlining its interface for easier navigation could be helpful. Additionally, reducing the complexity in data interpretation might enhance its usability for less technical users.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Nmap is straightforward to deploy due to its open-source nature, allowing easy customization and integration. Ixia Hawkeye offers a comprehensive deployment model with extensive customer support, appealing to organizations requiring detailed assistance during setup.

Pricing and ROI: Nmap, being open-source, incurs no setup costs, offering significant ROI for budget-conscious entities focused on security scanning. Ixia Hawkeye, with higher initial setup costs, provides substantial ROI through its network optimization features, improving performance and operational efficiency.

To learn more, read our detailed Ixia Hawkeye vs. Nmap Report (Updated: September 2025).

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Ixia Hawkeye vs. Nmap

September 2025

Helped 869,771 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

Ixia Hawkeye

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

37th

Average Rating

9.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Unified Communications Monitoring (3rd), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (36th)

Nmap

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

10th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Ixia Hawkeye is 0.3%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Nmap is 0.6%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Nmap	0.6%
Ixia Hawkeye	0.3%
Other	99.1%

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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AntoSebastin

Cyber Security Consultant - APAC at Logon Software

Scans the network and identifies vulnerabilities on each machine

Nmap is mostly helpful during compliance checks. We run the scanner to see how many devices are on our network and find vulnerabilities in those that aren't compliant. We also use it monthly to scan our network and identify devices that aren't connected properly. This helps us detect any issues related to the operating systems of these devices. The tool's most valuable feature is its vulnerability scanning. It allows us to scan a specific range of IP addresses and discover devices within that range. This makes it easy to identify devices and view their details. Port scanning is crucial for network management tasks. It helps us identify vulnerabilities by finding open ports that may be unused or misconfigured. This tool makes it easy to detect such issues. The OS detection feature is great. Unlike other tools, Nmap provides accurate information about asset vulnerabilities, helping us easily detect and address them. Using Nmap provides value to the company, especially during compliance audits. It helps generate reports on assets, updates on workstations, and insights into network activities and potential attacks. Additionally, Nmap detects vulnerabilities and provides port details, allowing us to close unused ports on the client machines.

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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

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

"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."

"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."

"It enables us to delve deeper and identify the services and open ports on the system and visualize this information on a dashboard automatically."

"Nmap is easy to use. It's a command-line interface, and the output is quite good."

"The scanning procedure includes UDP ports which sets it apart from competitors."

"The initial setup was simple."

"The most valuable feature of the solution for security audits stems from the fact that it serves as a powerful tool with the ability to scan a large number of ports."

"The solution detects the operating systems, which makes testing the software much easier before making the payload."

"Nmap has a powerful command line tool and a set of diagnostic features."

"It helps us secure the network infrastructure."

More Nmap pros

Cons

"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."

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

"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."

"The price is high and could be cheaper."

"They should deliver Playtech's username and password."

"The solution is not that easy for a beginner to learn."

"Nmap major operates through the CLI; there's no GUI component, and that's where the challenge is."

"Customization is not very user-friendly in Nmap."

"Since I started using Nmap, it has been completely based on the command prompt and I think it would help other users if they implemented a decent GUI as well."

"There are concerns with the stability of the product, making it an area where improvements are required."

"It takes a bit of time to get familiar with the solution and its options."

More Nmap 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 solution is free of cost, but there are specific services that we have to buy."

"I am using the standard free version of Nmap."

"The solution is free of cost."

"It's an open-source product, and I haven't seen any premiums. Options are available for those who purchase, but for my use case, everything I need is available in the community and forums."

"Nmap is an open-source product. You don't need a license to install it."

"It's an open-source solution. Commerically, only the support service is available."

"The solution is open source so it is free."

"The product's pricing is fine. The licensing options for Nmap include perpetual licenses and volume-based licenses. For perpetual licenses, once you purchase it, there's no need to invest in renewals. And for volume-based licenses, enterprise companies can use it multiple times based on the number of users or devices they need to scan. It's a pay-as-you-go model, similar to how you pay for what you use."

More Nmap pricing and cost advice

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869,771 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

University

Manufacturing Company

14%

Computer Software Company

10%

Retailer

10%

Educational Organization

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	9
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	11

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Ixia Hawkeye?

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.

What needs improvement with Ixia Hawkeye?

Improvements in network performance are essential.

What is your primary use case for Ixia Hawkeye?

Our objective is to evaluate the performance of GPON and DOCSIS networks which involves considering factors such as pricing, sales, and the technical aspects of conducting tests. To achieve this, v...

What do you like most about Nmap?

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Nmap?

I am using the free version of Nmap.

What is your primary use case for Nmap?

Nmap is used for network scanning to map the network, identify devices, and assess their status. It helps determine open ports and services running on a particular endpoint or server within an ente...

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Product Reports

Network Monitoring Software

October 2025

Download Ixia Hawkeye product report

Download Nmap product report

September 2025

Overview

Hawkeye quickly and effectively validates network performance, isolates problems, and proactively detects issues by running scheduled verification tests. Using a combination of hardware and software agents called Performance Endpoints, Hawkeye simulates application traffic and sends key performance metrics to a central console for fast action.

Keysight Technologies

Nmap ("Network Mapper") is a free and open source (license) utility for network discovery and security auditing. Many systems and network administrators also find it useful for tasks such as network inventory, managing service upgrade schedules, and monitoring host or service uptime. Nmap uses raw IP packets in novel ways to determine what hosts are available on the network, what services (application name and version) those hosts are offering, what operating systems (and OS versions) they are running, what type of packet filters/firewalls are in use, and dozens of other characteristics. It was designed to rapidly scan large networks, but works fine against single hosts. Nmap runs on all major computer operating systems, and official binary packages are available for Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X. In addition to the classic command-line Nmap executable, the Nmap suite includes an advanced GUI and results viewer (Zenmap), a flexible data transfer, redirection, and debugging tool (Ncat), a utility for comparing scan results (Ndiff), and a packet generation and response analysis tool (Nping).

Sample Customers

EMA

Lockheed Martin, Eastern Bank Boston, Perspecta, Harris Corporation, Discovery Communication