Plixer Scrutinizer vs SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer comparison

Plixer and SolarWinds are both solutions in the Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) category. Plixer is ranked #11 with an average rating of 8.0, while SolarWinds is ranked #4 with an average rating of 7.8. Plixer holds a 2.9% mindshare in NTA, compared to SolarWinds’s 5.1% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of Plixer users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 83% of SolarWinds users who would recommend it.

Plixer Scrutinizer

Read 15 Plixer Scrutinizer reviews

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451 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic ...

Read 43 SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer reviews

1,825 Views
584 Comparison Views

83% willing to recommend

Plixer Scrutinizer

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic ...

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 6, 2024

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer and Plixer Scrutinizer are both network traffic analysis tools. Users are more satisfied with Plixer Scrutinizer due to its features, while SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is more budget-friendly and excels in support.

Features: SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is known for its easy-to-use functionalities, reliable performance metrics, and user-friendly interface. Plixer Scrutinizer offers advanced reporting, detailed analytics capabilities, and exhaustive feature sets that users find valuable.

Room for Improvement: SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer could benefit from more advanced analytic features, enhanced scalability, and additional customization options. Plixer Scrutinizer needs a simplified configuration process, a less steep learning curve, and better integration capabilities with other tools.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is straightforward to deploy and praised for responsive customer service. Plixer Scrutinizer is also easy to deploy but has a steeper learning curve. Both products receive favorable reviews on customer support, with SolarWinds noted for quicker response times.

Pricing and ROI: SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is favored for competitive pricing and quicker ROI, making it ideal for budget-conscious buyers. Plixer Scrutinizer, though more expensive, offers better long-term value due to its comprehensive feature set, justifying the higher investment.

To learn more, read our detailed Plixer Scrutinizer vs. SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Plixer Scrutinizer vs. SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

September 2025

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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

Plixer Scrutinizer

Ranking in Network Traffic Analysis (NTA)

11th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Monitoring Software (52nd)

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic ...

Ranking in Network Traffic Analysis (NTA)

4th

Average Rating

7.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) category, the mindshare of Plixer Scrutinizer is 2.9%, up from 2.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is 5.1%, down from 6.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer	5.1%
Plixer Scrutinizer	2.9%
Other	92.0%

Network Traffic Analysis (NTA)

Featured Reviews

Ira Mulyanti

Sales Director at ARGA SOLUSI

An affordable product with great integration capabilities

Plixer Core Platform is a valuable feature and a good software. Plixer Scrutinizer uses NetFlow analysis to monitor whatever is there in a network. Price-wise, Plixer Scrutinizer is not an expensive product. Basically, Plixer Scrutinizer is an affordable product. Plixer Scrutinizer is a tool that allows for customization, especially in scenarios where customers need new product features. Plixer Scrutinizer is a tool that can integrate with any other brand or product in the market, so it is not an area of concern.

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Raja Xabi

Technical Manager at APRAL

Improved bandwidth management and network visibility have resulted in financial benefits and streamlined operations

There is always room for improvement in SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer, such as implementing instant reporting based on business intelligence reports and more granular filters in their dashboard to improve the GUI view and reporting. The licensing model of SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is always an issue for users because competitors offer unlimited and perpetual licenses, and SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer's model is quite costly compared to other brands. If users are comfortable with SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer, they have to make the hard decision to invest, and it's suggested from a user's perspective that SolarWinds should improve their financial model and licensing to become competitive, especially for small to medium businesses.

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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

"We have had many requests to understand in the network which devices are connected to others. Most people don't have this information or are able to establish a map of data flow everywhere around the network. Scrutinizer can really help with this. We are using it to understand who is talking to what, how, and which protocols can help us to improve security and analyze flow."

"The most valuable features of Plixer Scrutinizer are its ease of use, accessibility, and UI."

"There are other tools out there that will do what Scrutinizer does. But what I have found with Scrutinizer is that it does it very quickly. I've taken 25 million individual data fragments from the different sensors, and it has graphed that and mapped it and presented a picture within 30 seconds. It has a very efficient database algorithm that I am really impressed with."

"As a network engineer, the ability to identify what traffic on the link is consuming all the bandwidth at any given time, and provide immediate feedback to the business, is the most valuable feature."

"Visualization of the network traffic is the most valuable feature. It allows you to drill into information quite quickly."

"It shows us the saturation of the network of devices. It gives us a clear view of the flows in the network to understand, for instance, planning upgrades in the network to get an idea of what's going on the network on traffic flows. It gives us insight, for instance, on what's going on on our VPN Client. There are a lot of things where it provides very helpful information. It also gives us our security reports with quite detailed information on what's going on in the network, and whether there are data exfiltrations and so on."

"It helps us determine what is going on with our Internet and who is hogging it all up. If we get a real high throughput or a throughput that's going over and getting dropped fairly quickly, we can tell who (or what device) is consuming that traffic."

"The reporting and generating troubleshooting reports would be the best feature; our host-to-host conversation reporting."

More Plixer Scrutinizer pros

"The program is scalable enough for our usage."

"What I like the most is the bandwidth assessment."

"This tool provides insights into top utilization applications or it identifies which circuit or application is consuming the most on the complete one-gig circuit traffic path."

"We conduct network traffic analysis for a couple of key reasons. First, we look for traffic anomalies, such as unexpected increases or decreases in network traffic within specific segments. This helps us determine if the network needs to be re-architected."

"The monitoring is perfect, showing you the details for the utilization of resources and network bandwidth."

"What people found most valuable in SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is its report customization feature."

"I can point out the exact root cause 'why.' If there is a slowness, I can point out what was before the issue or before the slowness, what it is, and what is now."

"What my organization likes best about SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is its easy deployment. It's also well-integrated in terms of monitoring because my organization also uses a SolarWinds solution for monitoring. You can connect SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer directly to that monitoring tool to get information. My organization also finds the default graphs that appear before the configuration in SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer very useful."

More SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer pros

Cons

"We couldn't get it set up properly."

"For updating the Scrutinizer platform, when we have the actual data, it never happens in one day. Every time we have the data, we are obliged to install a new server in order to integrate the old data, and every time it has a problem. Most of the time, we were obliged to scrap all the data because we couldn't transfer it to the new server. So, it would be very good if they could improve this part."

"There is room for improvement around the data that they have on the website about solutions... they should have more templated solutions on their website. Going out and identifying how to do RTP performance with a Cisco router, or how to do application response times in an Arrista data center deployment was where most of the work was... They should spend some more time documenting solutions and putting together white papers."

"Though Plixer Scrutinizer has network detection and response, it's an area that needs just a little more rounding out. Another room for improvement in the solution is its lack of SaaS offering which some customers were looking for. My company deals in small to medium businesses, mid-market, and some customers wanted the SaaS feature which Plixer Scrutinizer doesn't offer. What I'd like to see in the next release of the solution is for it to have a SaaS offering because my company also deals with educational spaces and smaller businesses that just don't have the staff that can implement this. If there's either a managed service or SaaS-based offering to just make it a little easier for those types of customers, it would be a great addition to Plixer Scrutinizer."

"In Plixer Scrutinizer, scalability is an area with minor concerns where improvements are required."

"There was a price lift because previously the product was privately owned, and now there is some external capital in the organization, so pricing could be lower, though, for Plixer Scrutinizer, there is almost no competition at this price point."

"Data retention needs improvement. Data retention is a thing where we are looking for a better way to collect flow data for a longer time to do forensic research on security incidents. By default, data retention is quite low. We need detailed data in safe storage for a longer time, e.g., for a couple of months. An improvement would be a way to export data into a secure long-term storage."

"I wish the reporting side was easier to work with, but it does a decent job. I also wish the reporting side was a little more intuitive or they offered more reporting examples."

More Plixer Scrutinizer cons

"SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer could improve its flexibility and integration with AI to provide analytics beyond just showing up/down statuses and traffic volumes."

"They should work on the configuration of the Log Analyzer feature."

"Technical support could be improved with quicker response times."

"An area for improvement in SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is the dashboarding. The user interface also has room for improvement because it's currently clunky."

"SolarWinds' technical support is ok, but it could be faster and more knowledgeable."

"What needs improvement in SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is performance because sometimes, my team struggles too much for the solution to perform correctly for a specific deployment in my organization. Having a more detailed view in SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is another area for improvement, but that's more part of the protocol than the actual solution."

"The plotting of the device on the map is not appropriate."

"The pricing is expensive."

More SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We pay our one-off cost for the licenses, per device, in blocks of 50. And then we pay an annual maintenance fee of about $15,000 Australian, which is, at this point in time, about $9,000 US, for those 250 devices. The upfront costs for the 250-license use, were about $50,000 Australian, which is about $32,000 US."

"There is a recurring maintenance fee after the initial purchase or if we want the license upgrade."

"Compared to some of the other tools we have, it's incredibly reasonably priced."

"There are no extra costs. It's about $8,000 a year. The bang for the buck (cost) is definitely a plus."

"The license is per device. We have 50 devices."

"We have increased the license over time. We have added more licenses as the network has grown."

"We recently bought a license upgrade, so we will integrate more exporters. We upgraded from a 25 exporter license to a 50 exporter license. Therefore, there will be more flows, and this will be an extension. I don't know when we will purchase a faster server, because the server that we have is quite new."

"We just renewed. The pricing is 5,000 euro per year. This is the final price. All tax (20 percent) is included."

More Plixer Scrutinizer pricing and cost advice

"Licensing for SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is paid yearly, and there are no additional costs that you need to pay apart from the standard licensing fees because you don't need to purchase another solution to make SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer work. Pricing for SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is more expensive than other solutions."

"The pricing is reasonable."

"For our environment, we pay approximately $25,000 USD yearly."

"The price of this solution is exceptional."

"SolarWinds' pricing structure is the primary reason why some customers opt for another solution such as ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer. In NTA, you are charged per port, meaning that if you have a 24-port switch you will be charged for 24 individual nodes. ManageEngine NetFlow Analyzer, on the other hand, charges per switch, such that if you add a switch, the entire switch will count as one single node."

"The licensing for this solution is based on the number of nodes."

"The pricing is really good."

"The solution's licensing is high-priced."

More SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

Government

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

16%

Manufacturing Company

12%

Computer Software Company

Healthcare Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	4
Midsize Enterprise	2
Large Enterprise	8

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	13
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	26

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Plixer Scrutinizer?

Plixer Scrutinizer is an affordable product. Plixer Scrutinizer is a tool that allows for customization, especially in scenarios where customers need new product features.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Plixer Scrutinizer?

I rate Plixer Scrutinizer's price a three on a scale of one to ten, where one is low price or affordable, and ten is high price or expensive.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Plixer Scrutinizer?

I don't have deep enough knowledge to comment on what requires improvements in Plixer Scrutinizer. In Plixer Scrutinizer, scalability is an area with minor concerns where improvements are required.

See all answers

What is the best network monitoring software for large enterprises?

I have worked from 1973 with all kind of systems in large enterprises across the world. And have experience with all kind of software in monitoring from infra to end to end, it depends on the funct...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer?

The licensing model of SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer is always an issue for users because competitors offer unlimited and perpetual licenses, and SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer's model i...

See all answers

What needs improvement with SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer?

Regarding improvement, the application monitoring capabilities are not exceptional. If SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer could improve in that area, it would be helpful. It is less AIOps driven a...

See all answers

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Compared 8% of the time

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Plixer Scrutinizer

October 2025

Download Plixer Scrutinizer product report

Buyer's Guide

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

October 2025

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer report

Download SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer product report

Also Known As

No data available

Netflow Traffic Analyzer

Overview

The Scrutinizer incident response system leverages network traffic analytics to provide active monitoring, visualization, and reporting of network and security incidents. The system quickly delivers the rich forensic data needed by IT professionals to support fast and efficient incident response.

Plixer

SolarWinds Netflow Traffic Analyzer enables you to capture data from continuous streams of network traffic and convert those raw numbers into easy-to-interpret charts and tables that quantify exactly how the corporate network is being used, by whom, and for what purpose.

SolarWinds

Sample Customers

Oxford Networks, Squaw Valley Ski Holdings, UltiSat, Wipro, West Aurora School District 129, SUNY Geneseo College, Bloomington Public Schools, First National Bank of Pennsylvania, Kitsap Credit Union, Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County Houston Texas, Carilion Clinic, Banner Health, IDEXX Laboratories, Phibro Animal Health Corporation, Goodwill Industries, Parmalat, Armstrong Coal Company, Flybe, James Walker

Oceaneering International, Asia Pacific Network Information Centre, 335th Signal Command, Immofori

Buyer's Guide

Plixer Scrutinizer vs. SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer

September 2025

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