LinkRunner vs Observer GigaStor comparison

NetAlly and Viavi Solutions are both solutions in the Network Troubleshooting category. NetAlly is ranked #2 with an average rating of 8.0, while Viavi Solutions is ranked #14. NetAlly holds a 10.1% mindshare in NT, compared to Viavi Solutions’s 3.2% mindshare. Additionally, 90% of NetAlly users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Viavi Solutions users who would recommend it.

LinkRunner

Read 20 LinkRunner reviews

1,961 Views
1,961 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

Observer GigaStor

Read 7 Observer GigaStor reviews

964 Views
145 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

LinkRunner

Observer GigaStor

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 11, 2024

LinkRunner and Observer GigaStor are network testing and performance evaluation tools. Observer GigaStor stands out with its extensive features, making it worth the higher price despite user concerns about cost.

Features: LinkRunner is praised for its straightforward, essential network testing capabilities. Observer GigaStor offers detailed traffic analysis, long-term storage, and advanced functionalities.

Room for Improvement: LinkRunner users suggest enhancing the reporting capabilities, expanding the feature set, and improving user interface. Observer GigaStor's feedback points to a need for a more intuitive setup process, better documentation, and streamlined configuration options.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: LinkRunner is known for its quick and simple deployment with responsive customer service. Observer GigaStor requires more time and expertise to deploy, although its customer service is still well-regarded.

Pricing and ROI: LinkRunner offers good value for its price, showing a positive return on investment. Observer GigaStor is more expensive, but users acknowledge that its comprehensive features justify the higher cost, leading to a satisfactory ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed LinkRunner vs. Observer GigaStor Report (Updated: December 2025).

Buyer's Guide

LinkRunner vs. Observer GigaStor

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

Observer GigaStor

Ranking in Network Troubleshooting

14th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

8.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Monitoring Software (89th), Network Packet Broker (NPB) (11th)

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 Observer GigaStor is 3.2%, up from 1.5% 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%
Observer GigaStor	3.2%
Other	86.7%

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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Jeroen-Dubbelman

Director at Bitrate

Aids significantly in the threat-hunting process and provides a score-based evaluation of user experience

There are many valuable features, but understanding end-user response times stands out. It provides a score-based evaluation of user experience, helping customers quickly pinpoint whether issues originate from the network, server, client, or application. Additionally, it facilitates in-depth analysis of application dependencies. The retrospective network analysis capability of Observer GigaStor has been beneficial. It's a pivotal feature for network performance solutions. However, I prefer to consider the entire solution suite - GigaStor, along with GigaFlow and Apex - for comprehensive network visibility and monitoring. So, I prefer to integrate all three solutions to provide the best visibility. They complement each other well, with Apex aggregating and correlating data from both GigaStor and GigaFlow to enhance environmental understanding and troubleshooting efficiency.

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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'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."

"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 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."

"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."

"AutoTest is very helpful. It's very streamlined and it's very easy to set up and very easy to identify what we want to achieve. It's probably the feature we use the most. It provides us with LLTD, which is very useful."

"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."

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

"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."

Cons

"It is very stable. That being said, there is one feature that is not quite as stable as the rest of the product. You can leave it plugged into a location where you're doing some work and connect to it remotely by a program called VNC... sometimes that function breaks down, if you've been running for a couple of days... if you're remotely controlling it, you're probably not right next to it. That can be modestly annoying."

"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"

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

"Unlike using an application like Wireshark, this device gives us no way to see network packets specifically to look at what's going on. It doesn't have the capability."

"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."

"It is a great tool, but in the long-term, they can make its processor more powerful to do more functions. They can upgrade the hardware to make it run faster and more efficiently from the process point of view. That'll be beneficial because the technology is evolving and the network traffic is going higher and higher. We have to leverage better spec products to handle the traffic load."

"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 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."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"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's an expensive device. Don't expect it to be cheap. But the pricing is good. It certainly seemed in line with anything else I was looking at at the time."

"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."

"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."

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

"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."

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

"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."

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

15%

University

10%

Healthcare Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

17%

Computer Software Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

Wholesaler/Distributor

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Large Enterprise	3

Questions from the Community

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What do you like most about Observer GigaStor?

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Observer GigaStor?

I would rate the pricing a ten out of ten. It's quite expensive.

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What needs improvement with Observer GigaStor?

GigaStor feeds into Apex. So, the area where there could be improvement would be in artificial intelligence. For example, the incorporation of more advanced machine learning or AI capabilities coul...

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

LinkRunner

January 2026

Download LinkRunner product report

Buyer's Guide

Observer GigaStor

January 2026

Download Observer GigaStor 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

Observer GigaStor is a network analysis tool that comes in a variety of form factors, including rack mount, portable, and virtual. Capable of storing up to a petabyte of traffic for later analysis, GigaStor helps ensure optimal network and application performance.

Viavi Solutions

Sample Customers

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

Cisco Systems, Hawaiian Telecom, Renown Health, State of Nevada, U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, Allstate Insurance, Jack Henry & Associates, United States Airforce, US Bank, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Chicago Board Options Exchange

Buyer's Guide

LinkRunner vs. Observer GigaStor

December 2025

Free Report: LinkRunner vs. Observer GigaStor

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