LinkRunner vs NetBrain comparison

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75% willing to recommend

LinkRunner

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 11, 2024

LinkRunner and NetBrain are two widely used network management tools. NetBrain offers superior features and functionality, making it worth the higher price despite LinkRunner's advantages in pricing and customer support.

Features:LinkRunner is praised for its simplicity and efficiency in performing basic network testing tasks. It also provides straightforward utility and quick results. On the other hand, NetBrain offers advanced automation features, comprehensive diagnostics, and superior visualization. Users value NetBrain's enhanced mapping capabilities, making it more desirable for complex network management tasks.

Room for Improvement:Users suggest LinkRunner could enhance advanced diagnostics, provide better integration capabilities, and expand on feature depth. For NetBrain, improvements are recommended in user onboarding, documentation clarity, and simplifying its complex features to reduce the learning curve.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service:LinkRunner is often highlighted for its straightforward deployment process and reliable customer service. In contrast, NetBrain's deployment is more complex due to its extensive capabilities but is well-supported by comprehensive customer service. Despite this, users prefer LinkRunner for quicker setup times.

Pricing and ROI:LinkRunner is considered cost-effective with a straightforward ROI. NetBrain, while more expensive, is deemed worth the investment due to its advanced feature set. Users note that NetBrain's overall value justifies the higher setup cost in the long term.

To learn more, read our detailed LinkRunner vs. NetBrain Report (Updated: April 2025).

LinkRunner vs. NetBrain

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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

LinkRunner

Ranking in Network Troubleshooting

1st

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

8.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

NetBrain

Ranking in Network Troubleshooting

13th

Average Rating

7.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Automation (6th)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Network Troubleshooting category, the mindshare of LinkRunner is 17.8%, down from 23.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of NetBrain is 2.9%, up from 1.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

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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Deborah Gamelin

Vice President at Asset Track for Cloud, LLC

Good monitoring and troubleshoot capabilities, improves overall network traffic visibility

In my organization, we had 130,000 network devices that needed to be brought into the solution and mapped. NetBrain can handle the scale but the engineers that manage those devices have to go in and update all of them to allow NetBrain permission to poll them. It can get a little stressful for everybody when you're trying to roll out new stuff when you've got other issues that have to be addressed with other devices. In some cases, our devices had no automation at all. One example is the Cisco 3650. Right now, if you went through the inventory list, you see that we have different versions running. Some are on one version, whereas others are on another version. The problem with upgrading them is that they need to be done overnight because we don't want to disrupt any network traffic during business hours. Consequently, it could take us years to upgrade the versions before we can even get them onto these new tools. This may be an internal issue but it's a big one when you have a lot of devices. Even if you had 10,000 devices, it's still an issue. You have to consider the compatibility of the device against the tool, and being able to use certain commands to upgrade it.

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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 most valuable feature is the end-to-end testing with the "dart," as they call it, where you can test for faults in the cable or if they've been terminated properly."

"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."

"It is fast in providing results. It is pretty accurate."

"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."

"In terms of network validation, and copper and fiber Ethernet configuration, I can't imagine life without LinkRunner devices. The minute I got the 10G, everybody was fighting over it. They had never used such a device before and it was just breathtaking for them to very quickly see the validation you can gain from these devices."

"The AutoTest feature makes it easy for you on both ends. It's an excellent feature, especially if you're by yourself. You plug one end in and you hit AutoTest. It sits and waits for you to plug in the other end and it starts testing."

"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."

"In terms of documenting ad hoc additions and other changes to wired ethernet connections, this product is very good. It keeps the information in the cloud and I have the ability to name it. This makes it very nice and easy to see."

Cons

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

"I wish they had software that could create continuous streams of traffic. I'm not sure if that's possible with LinkRunner, but it would be very helpful in some of the test case scenarios that clients are looking for, in regards to quality of service"

"One area where LinkRunner could be improved is the battery life. Depending on which tests are run, it gets a decent six to eight hours. However, sometimes we need to do back-to-back shifts to meet a deadline, and we need access to an outlet to keep it plugged in and charging. It takes about an hour or two to charge."

"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 runs tests quickly, but it takes a while to boot up. It's somewhat disappointing that LinkRunner takes some time to turn on. When I arrive in the space, I usually spend the first two minutes waiting."

"If it weren't for the battery, it would probably get an eight out of 10. But because of the battery, it's infuriating and it's not reliable."

"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."

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"I would buy another one if I had a chance but they're too expensive. If they made it a bit cheaper, I think a lot of network engineers and network administrators would immediately jump onto it."

"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."

"Its pricing is all right. Of course, from the business point of view, the cheaper it is, the better it is, but I prefer to spend a bit more money to get a quick response, which is helpful especially when we are onsite or in a very critical situation. We are not only paying for the product. We are paying for the people behind the product in terms of developers and technical support. When you need some help, they will be behind it, and they'll support you. There are no additional costs other than the standard licensing fee."

"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."

"They offer one price. I do like paying for support because I get software updates that way."

"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."

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

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

University

11%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Government

11%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

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Product Reports

LinkRunner

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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

Managing today’s networks with yesterday’s manual processes is no longer a viable solution. NetBrain’s network automation platform provides actionable insights into your network to help you make better and faster decisions - particularly when you’re troubleshooting, securing, and making changes to the network.

Sample Customers

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

CompuCon, TD Ameritrade, Move Inc.

LinkRunner vs. NetBrain