LinkRunner vs ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer comparison

NetAlly and ManageEngine are both solutions in the Network Troubleshooting category. NetAlly is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.0, while ManageEngine is ranked #11 with an average rating of 9.5. NetAlly holds a 10.1% mindshare in NT, compared to ManageEngine’s 2.4% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of NetAlly users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of ManageEngine users who would recommend it.

LinkRunner

Read 20 LinkRunner reviews

1,961 Views
1,961 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer

Read 2 ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer reviews

461 Views
171 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

LinkRunner

ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between LinkRunner and ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Network Troubleshooting solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed LinkRunner vs. ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

LinkRunner vs. ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer

December 2025

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Helped 881,082 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

LinkRunner

Ranking in Network Troubleshooting

2nd

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

8.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer

Ranking in Network Troubleshooting

11th

Average Rating

9.6

Reviews Sentiment

3.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (9th)

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Network Troubleshooting category, the mindshare of LinkRunner is 10.1%, down from 20.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer is 2.4%, up from 2.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Troubleshooting Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
LinkRunner	10.1%
ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer	2.4%
Other	87.5%

Network Troubleshooting

Featured Reviews

Jesse_B

Manager of networks and infrastructure at a government with 5,001-10,000 employees

Impressive ease of use, gives comprehensive results in seconds, and saves a lot of time and resources

I've found the VLAN test feature to be most valuable. That's because not many devices do VLAN tests. Normally, I have to send a center technician to check a line and see if it's alive. If it's working, then I have to send a network technician out to log into a switch and see which port it's on and on which VLAN that port is. That's two persons and two separate visits. This device does all of this in a matter of seconds, and that has saved me a lot of time, troubleshooting, and resources. Its ease of use is very impressive. LinkRunner allows me to have my technicians run tests that are normally too complex and require a network specialist. AutoTest works with just one click. AutoTest does a lot of testing that would normally require a network specialist to log in to a switch and check out VLAN based on a port. My technicians don't have to log in to the switch anymore. They can just do AutoTest and information is provided online. So, I no longer have to send a specialist. I can have my technician run these very complex tests. It saves me on resources, time, and site visits. When it comes to troubleshooting, based on my experience, it has given very useful and very helpful information, especially for my field technicians. It has reduced my visits and the amount of presence because it gives a very comprehensive report on your network tests. It tests multiple variables and multiple parameters and gives a very informative report that makes it easy to pinpoint what is the root cause. There are many tools in this one solution. It's basically a bunch of toolkits or tool sets in one device, which makes it very powerful testing equipment.

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Aneesh Mangla

General Consultant at Computer Ware (India) Pvt. Ltd.

High cost-effectiveness and reliable alerting ensure proactive network management

Sometimes customers are unaware about their own network. For example, we need SMTP credentials for Layer 2 switches to do automatic discovery of network devices. Sometimes the network management teams are unaware of their SMTP credentials because the teams have been shuffled since the network was deployed. Or sometimes, when we support our government and defense customers, they don't have clearance to share these credentials with us. Some of the features, such as auto discoverability, get hampered if the customer is not aware of their own network or somehow can't share privileges and credentials with our tool for them to work properly. Not in ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer in particular, but there are other features of the OpManager suite that could afford to be updated. There is something called a CLI, command-line interface, that allows us to configure network devices such as switches. This is old technology. This product suite has CLI-based configurations, but as of last year, most network devices come with Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP). OpManager does not support this functionality, and we don't really have a timeline on when ZTP functionality will be available. In ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer, we have to set custom thresholds to get alerted if there is a problem in network connectivity. It would be helpful if we could automate the tool such that we don't have to set thresholds manually, and the tool automatically alerts us when it detects issues. When experts deploy this tool, we already know what thresholds should be normal. But customers in general may not have this skill set. For newer customers who need to adopt this product, an automated method of alerting would definitely be beneficial.

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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 like that LinkRunner is an all-in-one device with a touchscreen interface. You don't have to pair it with a phone or anything else to get the full functionality. The built-in tests are one of the most significant advantages. It will pull an IP, ping the gateway, ping out to the intra, and report everything on the screen. It will tell you when a test completes or fails and why."

"Having the results sent directly, via email, from the LinkRunner itself makes it really great for logging different things that you're trying to document within your organization. You can have a paper trail of what your organization has as far as infrastructure goes."

"Performance testing is the most valuable feature. It gives a brief summary of the information we're looking at, such as latency, jitter, and the available throughput."

"The LLDP decoding is better than on some of the other devices that we've used. Specifically, it goes beyond the minimum of the LLDP data to decode, and it shows the LLDP port descriptions. That makes it vastly simpler to identify which port you're connecting to on a switch that's patched back to some other building, rather than having to figure out an SNMP index or something else."

"The solution's ability to simplify network validation and configuration of copper and fiber Ethernet networks is very useful to me. Otherwise, I’m guessing. Having a tool that I can trust doesn't solve all problems, but for the problems it solves, I can trust that it has told me “yes” or “no.” I would rate it highly for that."

"I've found the VLAN test feature to be most valuable. That's because not many devices do VLAN tests. Normally, I have to send a center technician to check a line and see if it's alive. If it's working, then I have to send a network technician out to log into a switch and see which port it's on and on which VLAN that port is. That's two persons and two separate visits. This device does all of this in a matter of seconds, and that has saved me a lot of time, troubleshooting, and resources."

"The auto-test feature is vital and does 90 percent of what I need on its own. It's fast and I can get there in just a few clicks. It does a good job and tells me everything I need to know. LinkRunner works pretty quickly and always seems to be accurate."

"It provides a way to test 10Gig connectivity. Previously, we had to hook up a switch. That was our only way. Now, with LinkRunner, we can test on the fly if an SFP is bad or if the switch has the right configuration on it."

Cons

"Being really nitpicky about the LinkRunner G2, I wish the form factor was a little bit smaller. However, I'm sure that the size of the unit is compromised by the fact that the battery is large. If that were to mean having less battery life, I would not change it."

"It does take a little while to boot up if it's turned off."

"A feature that I would like to see is the ability to send a tone down the cable. That would be great. I have to use a separate tool for that. If I'm trying to troubleshoot a cable that is not plugged into a network switch, I need the ability to tone."

"It doesn't turn off automatically, but the toning function goes to sleep. It seems to stop toning after five or six minutes if you don't find the cable. It could be up to ten minutes, but if you don't find the cable that you're trying to tone quick enough, you'll have to go back and restart the tone. So, it doesn't turn itself off, but while toning, it turns itself off."

"One of the things I'd like to see in future versions of LinkRunner is a wireless dongle embedded into the product so that I don't need to have a separate wireless dongle. It should be built into that."

"They should allow firmware updates even if you don't have an AllyCare contract. I'm in a situation right now where they've released firmware for bug fixes, but we cannot access those, which makes the device almost useless. You almost want to just throw it out the window because they're not supporting their product unless you have an AllyCare contract."

"It's a little bit tough getting used to at first, but once you get the hang of it, and once you start using it more, like anything, it gets easier. The difficult part, at first, is knowing where to find each test and how to use the tests."

"It's a bit bulky. It would be nicer if it were a little bit smaller and packed with all its features. I would also like it if the screen were a bit bigger."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost of this device is very expensive, especially with the NetAlly Care on top of the costs. It is not for personal use and would be very expensive for smaller businesses."

"Compared to another company's product, LinkRunner is cheaper, but it's still about $1,000 too expensive, considering that the operating system is a free operating system. The OS has just been tweaked to give you a graphical interface. I don't think it's priced right."

"It was difficult to sell this to my management because the price is really high compared to other testing tools. However, we've seen a pretty good return on investment considering our outcomes and the time we have saved. The first year has been great."

"It's expensive but you definitely get what you pay for. I would buy another one if I had to."

"The 10Gig ones are quite expensive, and we have only two of them, but I know that this option was cheaper than the other 10Gig option we looked at, and we're very happy with it."

"The price was fine. You pay for the unit, and there are no licensing or maintenance fees."

"It's reasonably priced in my market. It provides good value for money. The device is competitively priced as compared to other solutions. It gives you a lot of functionality and saves you a lot of time and resources. I see it as a good buy and good value for money. I stand for it."

"The area where the product could be improved is by having a lower cost so that I could have more than one. The price is competitive, but everybody would always like to see the price go down. I'd buy another one if it were cheaper."

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

15%

University

10%

Healthcare Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

19%

Educational Organization

13%

Construction Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	3
Midsize Enterprise	8
Large Enterprise	7

No data available

Questions from the Community

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer?

The price is lower compared to alternatives.

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What needs improvement with ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer?

ManageEngine's product has some performance issues. It runs very slowly when the system is large and does not support high availability for big flow and high-level operations. The product needs imp...

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What is your primary use case for ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer?

I use ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer for detecting the root cause when the database and application run very slow. I have not yet used the traffic shaping feature of ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer.

See all answers

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

LinkRunner

January 2026

Download LinkRunner product report

Buyer's Guide

Network Troubleshooting

January 2026

Download ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer product report

Overview

LinkRunner AT 3000 & 4000. Next Generation Copper and Fiber Ethernet AutoTester. Fast and comprehensive validation of network links and powerful copper and fiber network connectivity troubleshooting. Tests from 10Mbps to 10Gbps, PoE, VLAN, switch port, path analysis, packet capture, topology mapping and so much more!

NetAlly

ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer a complete traffic analytics tool, leverages flow technologies to provide real time visibility into the network bandwidth performance. NetFlow Analyzer, primarily a bandwidth monitoring tool, has been optimizing thousands of networks across the World by giving holistic view about their network bandwidth and traffic patterns. NetFlow Analyzer is a unified solution that collects, analyzes and reports about what your network bandwidth is being used for and by whom. NetFlow Analyzer is the trusted partner optimizing the bandwidth usage of over a million interfaces worldwide apart from performing network forensics and network traffic analysis.

ManageEngine

Sample Customers

Philips Healthcare, HCA Healthcare, University of South Dakota, Memorial Hermann, Baltimore County Public Schools, Aaramrak.

Metro Rail, Micron21, Lotus F1 Team, Elizabeth Board of Education, Queen’s University Belfast, DHL, Praxair, Adventist Health, Wipro Infotech, Tropical Shipping USA

Buyer's Guide

LinkRunner vs. ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer

December 2025

Free Report: LinkRunner vs. ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer

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