Observer GigaStor vs WhatsUp Gold comparison

Viavi Solutions and Progress Software are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Viavi Solutions is ranked #95, while Progress Software is ranked #28 with an average rating of 9.5. Viavi Solutions holds a 0.2% mindshare in NMS, compared to Progress Software’s 1.2% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Viavi Solutions users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 85% of Progress Software users who would recommend it.

Observer GigaStor

Read 7 Observer GigaStor reviews

241 Views
108 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

WhatsUp Gold

Read 24 WhatsUp Gold reviews

1,740 Views
914 Comparison Views

85% willing to recommend

Observer GigaStor

WhatsUp Gold

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 2024

WhatsUp Gold and Observer GigaStor compete in network monitoring and analysis. Observer GigaStor has the upper hand due to its powerful feature sets, including advanced analytics and long-term storage capabilities, although WhatsUp Gold is preferred for its cost-effectiveness and ease of use.

Features: WhatsUp Gold offers network detection, mapping, and performance monitoring, simplifying network management. Observer GigaStor provides detailed packet capture, protocol analysis, and access to historical data necessary for in-depth analysis and troubleshooting.

Room for Improvement: WhatsUp Gold could enhance its packet-level analysis and expand its storage options. Additional integration capabilities with third-party tools would also be beneficial. Observer GigaStor might improve ease of use for less technical staff, reduce deployment complexity, and offer more competitive pricing plans for simplified features.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: WhatsUp Gold is known for its straightforward deployment and user-friendly interface, with quick setup support. Its customer service is accessible and responsive. Observer GigaStor, while offering comprehensive technical support, involves a more complex deployment process due to its extensive features and capabilities.

Pricing and ROI: WhatsUp Gold is budget-friendly, offering high ROI for essential monitoring needs without the premium cost. Observer GigaStor requires a higher investment due to sophisticated features but provides significant value for enterprises that need exhaustive network insights.

To learn more, read our detailed Observer GigaStor vs. WhatsUp Gold Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Observer GigaStor vs. WhatsUp Gold

June 2025

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Helped 859,438 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

Observer GigaStor

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

95th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

8.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Troubleshooting (14th), Network Packet Broker (NPB) (9th)

WhatsUp Gold

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

28th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (25th), Server Monitoring (15th), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (29th)

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Observer GigaStor is 0.2%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of WhatsUp Gold is 1.2%, down from 1.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

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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Tom Condo

Supervisor Information Services Operations at Seminole County Public Schools

If CPU, memory, or disk space is over-utilized, it alerts us immediately via text or email if there is an issue

When it comes to the intuitiveness of the topology mapping feature, our network architect created a vision diagram of our entire network and then created the links tied into the WhatsUp active monitoring to different spots on our topology map. It's one of the more critical functions we do here. We have the map displayed in different places in our room and help desk. We get alerted via emails but we can also see it visually. It does what it says it's going to do. We find this feature very helpful. The interactive mapping interface for scrolling, zooming, and drilling down on an element to learn about a network issue is good. When we see a network there will sometimes be a spot that has one link. You can go into a particular part of the topology map, scroll in, and see exactly which module it is. All the information is provided. This feature really helps. You can see the correlation between that link and what failed. This feature is very helpful. The interface is fairly intuitive. Some of our users used SolarWinds and Nagios, and WhatsUp is easy in comparison. Once you get set up, the look, feel, and configuration are good. Our network architect had never used it before but he was able to create the Visio and map. It was very simple. He has no problems with 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

"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."

"I also have the ability to see an application's performance, to see what's going on, why a network is slow, why this program for this user is experiencing a delay or some network issue"

"The ability to capture packets. It is not only for monitoring. That is very important for a company that wants to keep an eye on the packets, the transactions, the flows..."

"It can help to write your rules, organize firewalls, your block, and also your protocols and IP address to come in or out of your network."

"This solution allows us to see exactly what is going on in the network and we can very quickly solve issues with users."

"It's able to capture packets and, after a long time, you can come and use that information; to check, to analyze - everything you would want to do. So it's very good and helpful if you want to protect your data. It is stored in a certain place where you can access it every time you want to analyze it."

"The interface in the last few years it has been a lot greater, they are much more user-friendly. I like the interface."

"I use it on premises to monitor my network database. We monitor the link up/down and use the SNMP traps as well."

"The interactive mapping interface for scrolling, zooming, and drilling down on an element to learn about a network issue is good. When we see a network there will sometimes be a spot that has one link. You can go into a particular part of the topology map, scroll in, and see exactly which module it is."

"The most valuable feature is the monitoring of resources."

"NetFlow monitoring, real-time monitoring, and surveys have been the most valuable features for our business."

"It is easy to access and discover devices, as well as monitor them automatically. The topology discover is also a useful feature."

"The most valuable feature of WhatsUp Gold is NetFlow and the virtualized maps."

"The tool's most valuable feature is the visibility it offers of everything in the network and infrastructure."

More WhatsUp Gold pros

Cons

"Maybe the graphical user interface could be simplified to allow people to use it more easily. It's already good, but they can work more on it to make it even easier."

"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 could enhance its functionality."

"I would like to have more than 4TB of storage available in the portable version of this solution."

"Graphics need improvement. Because a lot of the information there you have to input first in some case to have full potential. It could be more automated."

"The new release cadence needs to be improved. It takes a while for them to add new features and functionality. There should be a quicker turnaround with new versions."

"I think there are a few bugs now. Although they give some resolution for this, we cannot share the network remotely because of our company policy."

"You have to invest a few days to become an expert in this solution."

"I would like to see better integration with switches so that you can see what is connected to each port, what the traffic is, and have a network map automatically generated."

"One of the biggest things that made us start to look at another product is we're not able to have an end to end monitoring from a user perspective throughout the system and back to the user. All the monitoring is from inside out, we need something that also can give us from outside in."

"The point system is not clear and clarity around this would improve our understanding of the system."

"The technical support does not bother to respond."

"Integrations with other devices. I want to have a product that has full integration with my active directory so I can track user activity. I want to track my complete user activity, so I'm looking for a product to implement in the near future, which will have full integration with my network and active directory users. It became very difficult to track user activity."

More WhatsUp Gold cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It depends on the requirements you have. There are three types of license. There's the updates license, the work group license, and the workstation license."

"It's quite expensive."

"There is a license needed to use WhatsUp Gold."

"Pricing is reasonable compared to other products."

"The price of WhatsUp Gold is good."

"I'm not sure, but it's expensive. We don't pay any additional fees."

"It is per device, per year. The pricing is very clear. If you have a service agreement, you get all of your major upgrades and minor upgrades. It was under $10,000 to go all-in with all of the different add-ons for it."

"There are some subscription charges that are quite heavy. I need to pay for support every year and these charges can be quite expensive. Aside from the initial cost for the tool, you need to pay additionally for support."

"The choice of version depends on the number of points, or devices, that you want to monitor, and this makes the product expensive."

"This is a well priced solution."

More WhatsUp Gold pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

20%

Computer Software Company

20%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Construction Company

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Government

10%

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

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.

See all answers

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...

See all answers

What do you like most about WhatsUp Gold?

The interactive mapping interface for scrolling, zooming, and drilling down on an element to learn about a network issue is good. When we see a network there will sometimes be a spot that has one l...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for WhatsUp Gold?

Clients find the licensing calculator confusing, but we simplify this for them by collecting relevant information first. The licensing is based on devices, providing better cost-effectiveness than ...

See all answers

What needs improvement with WhatsUp Gold?

Improvements are needed in integration, especially for WhatsApp call and messages. Our region heavily uses WhatsApp Messenger for communication, and integration with this platform would be benefici...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 20% of the time

AppNeta by Broadcom vs Observer GigaStor

Compared 16% of the time

NETSCOUT nGeniusONE vs Observer GigaStor

Compared 15% of the time

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Grafana vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 13% of the time

PRTG Network Monitor vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 10% of the time

SolarWinds NPM vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 9% of the time

Zabbix vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 8% of the time

ManageEngine OpManager vs WhatsUp Gold

Compared 6% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Observer GigaStor

June 2025

Download Observer GigaStor product report

Buyer's Guide

WhatsUp Gold

May 2025

Download WhatsUp Gold product report

Overview

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

Explore and manage your entire network infrastructure effortlessly with WhatsUp Gold's robust layer 2/3 discovery, creating a detailed interactive map from the edge to the cloud. Monitor devices, wireless controllers, servers, virtual machines, applications, and traffic flows across various environments. Real-time alerts ensure optimal performance, allowing you to meet or exceed SLAs. The platform offers customizable maps, dashboards, and alerts for easy network management. Quickly resolve issues with intuitive workflows, reducing Mean Time to Resolution (MTTR). WhatsUp Gold's integrated log management provides easy visibility and control of device log data, allowing monitoring, filtering, searching, and alerting on syslogs or Windows logs. Archive logs to comply with regulatory requirements and preserve historical data, all through a user-friendly interface. Streamline network monitoring and issue resolution with WhatsUp Gold, making network management efficient and hassle-free.

Progress Software

Sample Customers

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

Artoni Trasporti, Austin Independent School District, Banca Marche, Burke County North Carolina, Cambridge University School of Clinical Medicine, Clayco, Community Integrated Care, Desca, Deutsche Bergbau, Flexi-Van, Gropper, Hamleys, Hammonds Furniture, Knowledge IT, Idras S.P.A., Sibeg, Swann Engineering, Trivium Lindenhof

Buyer's Guide

Observer GigaStor vs. WhatsUp Gold

June 2025

Free Report: Observer GigaStor vs. WhatsUp Gold

Find out what your peers are saying about Observer GigaStor vs. WhatsUp Gold and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.

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