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National Instruments (NI) Oscilloscopes vs Tektronix Oscilloscopes comparison

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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

National Instruments (NI) O...
Ranking in Oscilloscopes
7th
Average Rating
8.6
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Tektronix Oscilloscopes
Ranking in Oscilloscopes
3rd
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Oscilloscopes category, the mindshare of National Instruments (NI) Oscilloscopes is 4.4%, up from 1.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Tektronix Oscilloscopes is 15.3%, down from 16.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Oscilloscopes Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Tektronix Oscilloscopes15.3%
National Instruments (NI) Oscilloscopes4.4%
Other80.3%
Oscilloscopes
 

Featured Reviews

AA
Senior Technical Officer at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
I have saved almost 50 percent of my total budget for a project by using their products
The use of this solution does require a specific mindset. Some people are not tailored for it. Try it. The learning curve is really fast, so it's easy to use. We are measuring RF signals, one-sided analog signals, and control loops for system controls. We are not using this product to support connected devices nor are we planning to going forward.
HC
Sr Engineer at a tech company with 5,001-10,000 employees
B-scan is its most valuable feature. However, we are looking for an Intel platform with the newest chipset.
Try it if it is within your budget. It is a good product. The learning curve is very quick. It takes about one or two days. While we have plans to use this product to support connect devices, we are not currently doing so. We are currently measuring signals from 3.0 and 4.0, and looking for 5.0.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Most of the features are on the screen itself. The naming convention makes it very easy to understand what is needed."
"It makes programming simpler."
"The user interface is very good, easy to understand, and easy to operate."
"The learning curve was really fast, which was also the reason for saving a lot on the budget."
"Using this product is helpful, so I would recommend it to people at any other company."
"I chose this solution because it integrates a lot of functionality in one piece of equipment."
"Go with their products."
"It saves me a lot of time. You can click a button and walk away, basically doing a week's worth of work in 20 minutes, it's a pretty good time saver."
"Tektronix is robust and reliable. It's a hammer-resistant machine, a fact which is most important on our manufacturing floor."
"The user interface is good."
"It works really well for general lab stuff, general testing, prototype and measurement."
"The most valuable features are its ease of use, user interface, and PAM-4. The user interface is good and easy to use."
"The most valuable feature is the automation component in setting up some of these measurements."
"This solution provides high confidence in the data being presented in the measurement to inform a design decision going forward."
"The technical support is great; they come in, they show us how to use it, and if we have questions, they'll give presentations."
"The most valuable features are everything they do. We primarily use the O-scopes and they help us figure out what's going wrong with our scope out signals."
 

Cons

"I would like to see more of a tasking user base and documentation inside the instrument itself, rather than having to go online for it."
"The software has room for improvement."
"There is a learning curve. It takes one to two months to get acclimated to the tool."
"National Instruments needs to be focusing on its 5G RF applications. They are aware of this, and that's where most of their R&D is going."
"I would like more speed and a reduction in size."
"There is a learning curve."
"I would like to see them increase the productivity and auxiliary functions."
"The price is a little steep."
"In terms of room for improvement, it's a powerful scope. But, the power of the computer inside is weak."
"There are other devices out there which are more capable, offering more features, with as good quality tech support."
"They need to add more memory to this machine because at this time the machine can support random simulation to the power of 15 but realistically, in requests from our customers, we need it to the power of 31."
"The ruggedness could be improved."
"They need to add more memory to this machine."
"We would like more features for the CAN bus decoding, such as importing DDC files, which allows us to take the raw data and convert it into engineering units."
"I use microservices, but you cannot really probe it, since the technology is not really there."
"Tektronix Oscilloscopes are really expensive for small businesses."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The cost of the equipment has room for improvement. The pricing could improve."
"The price is a little steep. A lot of people, like our customers, use a different machine because of the price. The price has to come down a bit so we can do other tests without paying the equipment's high costs."
"They have an initial investment cost, which is quite high. But, along the way, there is so much behind it that the product is really invaluable."
"These products are a very low-cost, effective alternative to traditional Big Iron ATE hardware."
"The pricing was good. Compared to the others, it was very good."
"It's reasonably priced for what we spend our money on in the lab. It's one of the lower-end purchases."
"It's a bit expensive. However, you get the entire package, not just the box. It's a box which supports older releases."
"I would like more competitive pricing."
"Tektronix Oscilloscopes are really expensive for small businesses. The low-end scopes don't really compare performance-wise to what the other companies provide, like RIGOL . Mostly that just has to do with the software options."
"The pricing is not too high and not too low."
"It could always be cheaper."
"We demoed the product before purchasing it."
"Tecktronix pricing tends to be pretty fair and reasonable with current market trends. They don't usually bump up the price too much."
"The prices are compatible with what they offer. Going forward, I would like them to become more competitive and dominant with their pricing in the market."
"They're all pretty expensive. If everything costs that much, I suppose the pricing is fair."
"The pricing is okay. It was within our budget."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Legal Firm
26%
Healthcare Company
10%
Construction Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Manufacturing Company
15%
University
11%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Large Enterprise7
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business2
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise19
 

Also Known As

NI Oscilloscopes
TBS Series, TDS Series, MDO Series, MSO Series
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about National Instruments (NI) Oscilloscopes vs. Tektronix Oscilloscopes and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
914,322 professionals have used our research since 2012.