Kentik vs LiveNX comparison

Kentik and BlueCat are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Kentik is ranked #12 with an average rating of 8.8, while BlueCat is ranked #32 with an average rating of 9.0. Kentik holds a 1.7% mindshare in NMS, compared to BlueCat’s 1.0% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Kentik users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 81% of BlueCat users who would recommend it.

Kentik

Read 22 Kentik reviews

7,438 Views
6,471 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

LiveNX

Read 10 LiveNX reviews

5,216 Views
3,860 Comparison Views

81% willing to recommend

Kentik

LiveNX

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 1, 2026

LiveNX and Kentik are both prominent network performance monitoring tools. Despite LiveNX's competitive pricing and support, Kentik stands out with its comprehensive features, offering a significant advantage for detailed network analytics.

Features: LiveNX focuses on visual network traffic analysis, root cause identification, and performance optimization. Its strong points include end-to-end visibility, helping businesses monitor and manage traffic effectively. Kentik offers extensive data retention, enhanced anomaly detection, and robust traffic insights. The advanced analytics and customization capabilities of Kentik make it more suitable for in-depth traffic analysis.

Room for Improvement: LiveNX could benefit from enhanced customization options, more granular data retention capabilities, and advanced anomaly detection features. For Kentik, while its comprehensive analytics are beneficial, improvements in user interface simplification, more straightforward deployment processes, and expanded reporting options could enhance its usability further.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: LiveNX is praised for its straightforward deployment and solid support services that assist with network monitoring setup. However, Kentik's cloud-based implementation reduces infrastructure demands but may require more initial configuration effort. Despite this, Kentik's flexibility in deployment and customer-focused support gives it a slight advantage in adaptability over LiveNX.

Pricing and ROI: LiveNX is recognized for its accessible pricing, leading to quicker ROI through effective monitoring and resource allocation. Although Kentik involves a higher setup cost, its powerful analytics and long-term value justify the investment for detailed traffic analysis. Kentik's pricing matches its service offerings, delivering substantial long-term ROI potential.

To learn more, read our detailed Kentik vs. LiveNX Report (Updated: August 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Kentik vs. LiveNX

August 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

Kentik

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

12th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

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

LiveNX

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

32nd

Average Rating

7.2

Reviews Sentiment

5.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

IT Infrastructure Monitoring (35th)

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Kentik is 1.7%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of LiveNX is 1.0%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Kentik	1.7%
LiveNX	1.0%
Other	97.3%

Network Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

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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Ashwani Bansal

Senior Solution Consultant at Orange

Network management and diagnostics improved through effective monitoring and reporting capabilities

The solution is handy. I have not used that particular feature. Maintenance is required for the system. If you want to use something on the endpoints or end-user devices, then using LiveAction LiveNX in place of other tools would be quite beneficial. The solution impacts operational costs and resources. On a scale of 1-10, I rate LiveAction LiveNX a nine.

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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

"One of the valuable features is the intuitive nature of building out reports, and then triggering actions based on specific metrics from those reports. It has a really good UI and the ability to surface data through the reporting functions is pretty good. That's helped a lot in the security space."

"Good NetFlow visualization and analysis tools are valuable to anybody who needs to understand the traffic that flows in and out the network."

"Kentik has had a positive impact on my organization in terms of our network visibility because we leave our dashboard on a display screen, where the entire engineering team can see it."

"Overall, the ease of use and the fact that it meets client expectations are major positives."

"This product is easily the best network monitor that I’ve ever seen or heard about."

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

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

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

More Kentik pros

"There are many positive attributes, and it's the best of the best."

"LiveAction LiveNX provides valuable real-time and historical network traffic visualization capabilities that help monitor and analyze network performance."

"If you're looking for a tool that will solve your problems in a short period of time more effectively, LiveNX is the right tool."

"It is very good if you are a Cisco shop; it gives you reporting, latency, and bandwidth utilization for your applications, so you can do good capacity management planning."

"Its analytical capability is really good."

"One of the valuable features is the ability to create CLI scripts on the fly to fix any issues. We were using it for QoS modeling to ensure that we were properly modeling QoS, and it basically said here is what you need to fix to get this QoS done, whether it is ACL or something else. It would either push or recommend. If you have the right credentials, you could also push. It is very good if you are a Cisco shop. It gives you reporting, latency, and bandwidth utilization for your applications, so you can do good capacity management planning. There are a lot of pieces that LiveNX can give you. It is a total NPM solution for SD-WAN."

"We don't have any complaints about the software. According to my team, it's a very good tool that's very intuitive."

"We provide a tool for our customers to manage their reports. It's an extremely highly featured platform capable of producing a lot of data. We spent quite a long time working with customers and LiveAction to create template reports, and they're very good and configurable. You get a lot of data if you don't configure them."

More LiveNX pros

Cons

"Sometimes, the tool has complications, so we must deal with the additional support from the tool's end."

"I've checked out the V4 version of the interface and it's still a little bit clunky for me to use."

"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."

"I believe they're already working on this, but I would love for them to create better integrations from network flow data to application performance — tracing — so that we could overlay that data more readily. With more companies going hybrid, flow logs and flow data, whether it be VPC or on-prem, matched with application performance and trace data, is pretty important."

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

"We had faced some issues during an outage and were not able to get the desired results from Kentik tools. It took time to resolve these issues, which is why I give them eight points."

"There is room for improvement around the usability of the API. It's a hugely complex task to call it and you need a lot of backing to be able to do it. I should say, as someone who's not in networking, maybe it's easier for people who are in networking, but for me that one part is not very user-friendly."

"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."

More Kentik cons

"The only downside to this software is the price; it's a very pricey solution and very expensive, and it requires a good amount of resources in terms of server memory."

"Improved documentation and more responsive customer support can help in addressing issues faster."

"This is a horrible solution and I think everything needs to be improved."

"It is not as robust as other NPM solutions. For instance, there is a problem while labeling specific applications. It works well with well-known applications, but when you have to put in new applications that are not very known and set them up with names, ports, URLs, or some protocols, it is not as intuitive."

"The tool crashes sometimes when we try to pull reports simultaneously."

"Maintenance is required for the system."

"My advice to others would be to run away from it. This is a slight exaggeration but this is more because the application is horrible, the stability is horrible, the performance is horrible and the support is horrible."

"Sometimes the solution does not register devices properly and that is a bug."

More LiveNX cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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."

"The solution is fairly expensive compared to other products."

"We use the free version."

"It's very expensive."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Comms Service Provider

15%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Construction Company

Media Company

Manufacturing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Outsourcing Company

Government

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	1
Large Enterprise	9

Questions from the Community

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?

I do not currently use Kentik's anomaly detection. I had communication with Kentik's technical support through a WhatsApp group. When I faced any issues or there were problems with my Kentik collec...

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What is your primary use case for Kentik?

I'm using Kentik for my own internal use. My primary use case is to monitor our equipment and to get a more detailed view of where our inbound and outbound traffic is going.

See all answers

What needs improvement with LiveAction LiveNX?

The solution could be enhanced by implementing custom patterns for each customer.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for LiveAction LiveNX?

The customers use LiveAction LiveNX for network monitoring and management purposes.

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering LiveAction LiveNX?

I work as an integrator with LiveAction LiveNX. Most customers prefer deploying it on premises rather than in the cloud. The advanced diagnostics capabilities, including flow-based surveillance and...

See all answers

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Kentik

August 2026

Download Kentik product report

Buyer's Guide

LiveNX

August 2026

Download LiveNX product report

Also Known As

No data available

LiveNX

Overview

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.

Kentik

LiveNX enables real-time network monitoring with a graphical interface, offering detailed reports and advanced integration for comprehensive analysis and efficient network management.

LiveNX provides intuitive tools for real-time issue identification and resolution, leveraging advanced integration with platforms like Cisco SD-WAN to enhance network performance analysis. Through features such as visual analytics and QoS modeling, LiveNX supports capacity management planning and operational efficiency, although it requires improvements in pricing, resource efficiency, and web interface functionality. Users value its insights into traffic patterns, enabling optimization and proactive issue resolution.

What are the key features of LiveNX?

Real-Time Monitoring: Facilitates immediate issue identification.
Graphical Interface: Enhances user experience with detailed visualization.
Integration Capabilities: Supports platforms like Cisco SD-WAN for comprehensive analysis.
Visual Analytics: Provides insights into traffic patterns.
QoS Modeling: Aids in planning and maintaining service quality.
Custom Templates: Offers personalized network management tools.

What benefits should users look for?

Proactive Issue Resolution: Enables early detection and solving of network problems.
Comprehensive Analysis: Assists in understanding and managing network performance.
Operational Efficiency: Enhances overall network management processes.
Traffic Optimization: Improves service quality and network utilization.

Industries use LiveNX to monitor and troubleshoot network performance, manage traffic, and ensure QoS across on-premises and cloud environments. It is particularly valued for its ability to visualize and optimize network traffic, which is crucial for maintaining service quality.

BlueCat

Sample Customers

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

Tampa Electric, Digital First Media, Allscripts, Boxwood Technology

Buyer's Guide

Kentik vs. LiveNX

August 2026

Free Report: Kentik vs. LiveNX

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