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ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer vs Wireshark comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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

ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer
Ranking in Network Troubleshooting
11th
Average Rating
9.6
Reviews Sentiment
3.9
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) (9th)
Wireshark
Ranking in Network Troubleshooting
4th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
63
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Network Troubleshooting category, the mindshare of ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer is 2.4%, up from 2.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Wireshark is 12.7%, down from 13.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Troubleshooting Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Wireshark12.7%
ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer2.4%
Other84.9%
Network Troubleshooting
 

Featured Reviews

Aneesh Mangla - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
DonniUgalde - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior I.T. Systems Engineer at Pro Techs MSP
Provides visibility into the network, and the GUI is easy to use
I wish the filters were a little bit more prepopulated. It would have been easy to hit a drop-down and select a filter. If I only wanted to look at DCP, UDP, or IP, it would be easy to filter it out. Advanced network knowledge is required to get a lot out of the tool. However, it's very easy to install and deploy. It would be nice if there were some handheld Android devices with a Wireshark-specialized application that would allow us to mirror a Cisco port. Then, we can just plug into the port and click the green start button, and it will start ingesting the packet capture. Then, we won’t be using a laptop. The only downside is that we must have a laptop and connect a network cable. Some new laptops don't have network ports, so we have to get another adapter. Having an all-in-one device, like NetAlly or Fluke, and some of their network devices would be cool.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer has detection capabilities for flow, event, and service flow."
"I give this solution a rating of 10 out of 10 and absolutely recommend it based on our experience."
"The most valuable feature of Wireshark is the ability to choose a destination of flow that has not been working as expected."
"The drill-down available for packet analysis is great. It gives a network security engineer insight into what is going on at the packet level and enables better troubleshooting."
"The solution is easy to install and use."
"The initial setup is simple."
"It has a good syntax to put the commands in and get information out of."
"Wireshark saves a lot of time, especially with network troubleshooting."
"I have found the most valuable feature you can design your sniffer the way you want to."
"I use the filters very often, to determine what type of traffic I am looking for. The use of filter allows traffic to be segmented so that a value can be looked at individually apart from the other traffic."
 

Cons

"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."
"Wireshark's UI isn't easy to handle and doesn't have as nice a view as Omnipeek."
"It would be better if they offered a hybrid version like My Cloud Control."
"A room for improvement in Wireshark is its ease of use for beginners. It could be better. Another room for improvement in the tool is for it to provide more details about the traffic load. At the moment, Wireshark is adequate for me, so there isn't anything I'd like added to it in its next version."
"I would like better control of bandwidth from the service provider."
"The solution has a steep learning curve. There are so many filters and features that are frequently being updated, it takes research, experience and familiarity to be able to use them. It could be a lot more user-friendly."
"Wireshark is restricted when any sort of encryption is involved, such as XSL encryption or DLX."
"The only thing that I don't like is sometimes there is an update, and something that I was using is either no longer there or it has changed."
"There is a disadvantage when it comes to sampling intervals. Additionally, I've heard from a colleague that Wireshark might be less effective in the voice domain."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"Wireshark is free of charge, and there's no license involved."
"I've never personally had to pay for it, making it a highly valuable internet resource that's accessible for use. While they offer some paid versions, our firm has utilized the free version for the past three years."
"It's free."
"Wireshark is an open-source product, so it's free to use."
"It's a stand-alone tool. If there is a commercial license for it I am unaware of it."
"Wireshark is open source and gives great value and functionality to the network investigation."
"The solution is open source so is free."
"The tool is free."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
20%
Educational Organization
14%
Construction Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
University
11%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
Government
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business31
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise27
 

Questions from the Community

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...
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.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Wireshark?
Wireshark is priced at a medium range, not too high, not too low. The pricing could be more flexible, and they might make it more expensive. That said, compared to other products, it is competitive.
What needs improvement with Wireshark?
The speed of the Internet could be improved, especially its performance. Performance can sometimes be a challenge due to numerous factors.
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Metro Rail, Micron21, Lotus F1 Team, Elizabeth Board of Education, Queen’s University Belfast, DHL, Praxair, Adventist Health, Wipro Infotech, Tropical Shipping USA
Comversion, ADP, Talbots
Find out what your peers are saying about ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer vs. Wireshark and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
879,455 professionals have used our research since 2012.