Ixia Hawkeye vs Nmap comparison

Keysight Technologies and Nmap are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Keysight Technologies is ranked #83, while Nmap is ranked #9 with an average rating of 8.8. Keysight Technologies holds a 0.5% mindshare in NMS, compared to Nmap’s 0.7% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Keysight Technologies users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Nmap users who would recommend it.

Ixia Hawkeye

Read 4 Ixia Hawkeye reviews

1,047 Views
691 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Nmap

Read 22 Nmap reviews

1,820 Views
1,638 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Ixia Hawkeye

Nmap

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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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: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Ixia Hawkeye vs. Nmap

December 2025

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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 (6th), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (63rd)

Nmap

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

9th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

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 Ixia Hawkeye is 0.5%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Nmap is 0.7%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Nmap	0.7%
Ixia Hawkeye	0.5%
Other	98.8%

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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MoshiurRahman Khan

CEO at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

Improves network monitoring and offers insights into traffic, including VPNs

The real-time reporting feature of Nmap is particularly valuable. It generates detailed reports on the source and destination IP addresses, the protocols used, and the types of traffic. This feature is crucial for law enforcement agencies to monitor and analyze network connectivity effectively. It also has traffic analysis. For example, assessing bandwidth usage and configuring the tool to track specific types of traffic is crucial. Unlike SolarWinds, which requires configuration for this, Nmap has built-in functionality that allows it to check all 4,000 computer ports. It identifies the type of traffic each port is using and can easily generate reports on network communications between computers, whether there are 100 or 1000 in the network.

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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

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

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

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

"The real-time reporting feature of Nmap is particularly valuable. It generates detailed reports on the source and destination IP addresses, the protocols used, and the types of traffic."

"The most important function, according to me, is the capability to use some arguments in the scanning. The solution's capability to go figure and do a deep dive, discovering information on specific aspects."

"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."

"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."

"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's performance is great, and I've never noticed any issues in this respect. It really doesn't put a heavy load on the machine when using it."

More Nmap pros

Cons

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

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

"Improvements in network performance are essential."

"The tool's license limits the number of scans it can perform. Improving the license model could benefit customers by allowing more scans for compliance and other purposes."

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

"The solution's initial setup could be better."

"The solution should increase the number of features under a free license."

"The challenge often lies in finding suitable courses and professional resources."

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

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

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

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."

"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."

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

"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."

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

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

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

"The solution is free of cost."

"Nmap is an open-source and free product."

More Nmap pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

Outsourcing Company

Computer Software Company

University

Manufacturing Company

14%

Government

University

Retailer

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

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What do you like most about Nmap?

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 sca...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Nmap?

I am using the free version of Nmap.

See all answers

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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Comparisons

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ThousandEyes vs Ixia Hawkeye

Compared 11% of the time

VMware Aria Operations for Applications vs Ixia Hawkeye

Compared 10% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Network Monitoring Software

January 2026

Download Ixia Hawkeye product report

Buyer's Guide

Nmap

January 2026

Download Nmap product report

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).

Nmap

Sample Customers

EMA

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

Buyer's Guide

Ixia Hawkeye vs. Nmap

December 2025

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