Plixer Scrutinizer vs VMware NSX comparison

Plixer and VMware are both solutions in the Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) category. Plixer is ranked #10 with an average rating of 8.0, while VMware is ranked #8 with an average rating of 7.7. Plixer holds a 2.4% mindshare in NTA, compared to VMware’s 2.3% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of Plixer users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 88% of VMware users who would recommend it.

Plixer Scrutinizer

Read 15 Plixer Scrutinizer reviews

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194 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

VMware NSX

Read 102 VMware NSX reviews

175 Views
117 Comparison Views

88% willing to recommend

Plixer Scrutinizer

VMware NSX

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 6, 2024

VMware NSX and Plixer Scrutinizer compete in network management. VMware NSX takes the lead in pricing and support, while Plixer Scrutinizer stands out for its features.

Features: VMware NSX integrates well with existing VMware infrastructure, provides robust security features, and is beneficial for virtualization environments. Plixer Scrutinizer offers powerful traffic analysis, forensic capabilities, and detailed traffic insights.

Room for Improvement: VMware NSX users suggest better scalability options, easier configuration processes, and refined usability materials. Plixer Scrutinizer users desire enhanced documentation, improved reporting functionalities, and more intuitive user interfaces.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: VMware NSX deployment is somewhat complex, but customer service is responsive. Plixer Scrutinizer has a straightforward deployment process, although customer service experiences are mixed.

Pricing and ROI: VMware NSX has high setup costs with satisfactory long-term ROI due to its extensive features. Plixer Scrutinizer also has a high initial investment, but its analytics provide significant ROI value.

To learn more, read our detailed Plixer Scrutinizer vs. VMware NSX Report (Updated: April 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Plixer Scrutinizer vs. VMware NSX

April 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)

10th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Monitoring Software (54th)

VMware NSX

Ranking in Network Traffic Analysis (NTA)

8th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

102

Ranking in other categories

Network Virtualization (2nd), Cloud and Data Center Security (3rd), Network Detection and Response (NDR) (9th), Network Automation (5th), Microsegmentation Software (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Network Traffic Analysis (NTA) category, the mindshare of Plixer Scrutinizer is 2.4%, up from 1.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of VMware NSX is 2.3%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Traffic Analysis (NTA)

Featured Reviews

Ronald Jansen

Owner/President at Abraxax

Reporting is extensive, flexible, and can be custom-made in just a short time

In terms of additional features I'd like to see in the next release of Plixer Scrutinizer, I can't think of any because you can do some integration with other monitoring tools that are not strong in NetFlow or don't have NetFlow at all. There are also some integration possibilities in the product, plus there are alerts, too. Plixer Scrutinizer is a pretty complete product. 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.

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DanielBass

Senior IT Strategy Consultant at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

Improves network security with micro-segmentation but setup is complex

I value the ability to dynamically configure our network on the fly using VMware NSX. This flexibility is a huge advantage because it allows us to avoid static configurations that come with traditional hardware setups. Additionally, the micro-segmentation feature is beneficial for adhering to strict security regulations from our security department.

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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

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

"One of the most valuable features of Plixer Scrutinizer is the reporting, particularly how easy it is to drill down into the reports. Another valuable feature of the solution is its overall visibility. It's great. I also liked Plixer Scrutinizer in terms of deployment time and that it's very simple to set up. Once you get the appliance set up and connected, the customer starts to see results immediately, versus other solutions where that could take a while."

"It's agnostic as far as what your network gear is. As long as it supports an sFlow, JFlow, NetFlow, some kind of flow monitoring, Plixer will support it very well."

"The most valuable features of the solution are the ability to track what a device is doing and to go back historically. It is also able to go down to, and identify, very low levels of traffic."

"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."

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

"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."

More Plixer Scrutinizer pros

"The most valuable feature of VMware NSX is the ease of use and its user friendly. For example, it is simple to change the subnet masks."

"It does have capabilities of micro-segmenting a network, being able to create smaller segments of various types of applications separated by various tiers."

"The most valuable feature of VMware NSX is the ability to set up virtual networking environments."

"NSX is good in managing security or controlling the security and the access control for each single VM."

"The migration methods are the most valuable aspect of this solution."

"NSX can reduce costs and has good service. It is easy for you and your users to use."

"It operates on a logical level, providing a comprehensive and centralized way to manage your network resources."

"The solution is very stable and reliable."

More VMware NSX pros

Cons

"They're working on the security areas, so it can provide more insight. What they have is still pretty much IP-concentric. If they were to make it IP and URL, they'd be a little bit ahead on that."

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

"The reporting structure, the front-end GUI, also needs some work. It needs some getting used to. It works fairly well, but it's a technical tool rather than a user tool. You have to understand the structure of the databases before you can really use it."

"From what I understand it is that the solution is not very scalable in a high volume traffic environment with a large number of flows."

"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."

"It would be useful if there was a way to back up the configuration information. E.g., if you wanted to deploy a new instance or disaster recovery, you could quite easily deploy and restore the config, as opposed to having to restore all the NetFlow data. If there was just a button that said "backup config information", that would be good."

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

"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."

More Plixer Scrutinizer cons

"It's a good product, but the way that it has got so many multiple levels that need to be purchased makes it expensive and cumbersome."

"It takes time to do the initial setup. It is a bit slow, which is surprising."

"They need to enhance their technical support."

"Lacks integration with other solutions."

"The training costs a minimum of $3,000, which is expensive and should be reduced."

"It was stable for one year, there was no impact. In the last two months, we had two big incidents."

"Everybody needs a network to connect to, and VMware doesn't readily provide one."

"In the next release, they should enhance the visual interface. With NSX-T, it's difficult to communicate between the public cloud and the container."

More VMware NSX cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

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

"Currently, the license for Plixer Scrutinizer is subscription-based and at a yearly fee. The price would depend on the amount of traffic you pull in. For example, there are several blocks from a 10K flow, a 40K flow, and a 100K flow, and based on the number of devices that you receive the flows from, that's the license, and it is not a per-interface pricing model, so that is a very strong, very competitive pricing feature of Plixer Scrutinizer. Licensing for the product is also not based on the number of storage, compared to some competing products that are priced based on the amount of storage you need, particularly based on the retention and the amount of data. Plixer Scrutinizer licensing is based on the device, and it's more in the direction of $10,000 because, with just $1,000, you don't have anything."

"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."

"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."

"It's about €10,000 a year for initial license and yearly maintenance costs. In addition, the hardware costs are about €10,000 once every five years."

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

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

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

More Plixer Scrutinizer pricing and cost advice

"All the institutions have to pay monthly for the services in the cloud. They have to pay $30,000 every month for this service every three years."

"VMware has a subscription and perpetual license. In the New Year, they're changing many things about the licensing model. Previously, NSX was licensed according to the number of sockets inside the appliance, so we bought VMware licenses based on that. However, that may have changed this year. We are still contacting the vendors to understand the new licensing strategy."

"There is a license required for this solution, we pay annually."

"The solution is free and the price for the support can be expensive."

"I would rate the pricing of VMware NSX as seven out of ten"

"The price could be better. We pay for the license every three years. The last time I checked, it cost around three million pesos in the Philipines. Most of the expense will go towards implementation and renovation."

"Our customers have definitely complained about its cost. It's expensive. I'd rate it a nine out of ten in terms of pricing where ten represents a high price. There are other products out there that are equally expensive."

"The tool's pricing is reasonable."

More VMware NSX pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Computer Software Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

14%

Government

10%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

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.

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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 are the biggest differences between Cisco ACI and VMware NSX?

There are some very major differences between both the Products and to name a few. -Cisco ACI have physical network gear (9K Switches) where the Code runs in ACI Policy Mode & the UCS server wh...

See all answers

What are the biggest differences between Cisco ACI and VMware NSX?

Once you know your way around the Cisco ecosystem, using Cisco ACI is not so difficult. It is a global product, so when you change one interface, changes are automatically reflected on every switch...

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What do you like most about VMware NSX?

The product has valuable features for security and network extension.

See all answers

Comparisons

SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer vs Plixer Scrutinizer

Compared 26% of the time

Cisco Secure Network Analytics vs Plixer Scrutinizer

Compared 25% of the time

PRTG Network Monitor vs Plixer Scrutinizer

Compared 18% of the time

Kentik vs Plixer Scrutinizer

Compared 18% of the time

LogicMonitor vs Plixer Scrutinizer

Compared 14% of the time

More Plixer Scrutinizer Competitors

Illumio vs VMware NSX

Compared 20% of the time

Nutanix Flow Network Security vs VMware NSX

Compared 19% of the time

Akamai Guardicore Segmentation vs VMware NSX

Compared 16% of the time

Cisco Secure Workload vs VMware NSX

Compared 8% of the time

Cisco ACI vs VMware NSX

Compared 7% of the time

More VMware NSX Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Plixer Scrutinizer

April 2025

Download Plixer Scrutinizer product report

Buyer's Guide

VMware NSX

April 2025

Download VMware NSX product report

Also Known As

No data available

VMware Nicira, Lastline Defender

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

VMware NSX is a sophisticated solution utilized for micro-segmentation, network security, software-defined networking, and private cloud construction. It aids in the transition from physical to virtual infrastructure, ensuring efficient network virtualization and security of production workloads.

VMware NSX empowers organizations to manage network functions, implement distributed firewalls, and enhance security within virtual environments. Crucial for disaster recovery and load balancing, it supports cloud-native application development and enterprise clients. Its ease of use, scalability, and seamless integration with existing VMware solutions ensure streamlined network management and swift deployment. Despite its extensive features, areas like pricing, routing functionality, and compatibility with certain platforms require attention.

What are the key features of VMware NSX?

Ease of Use: Simplifies network management with an intuitive interface.
Scalability: Adapts to growing infrastructure needs seamlessly.
Micro-Segmentation: Enhances security by dividing networks into smaller, manageable segments.
Integration: Seamlessly works with existing VMware solutions and third-party applications.
Dynamic Routing: Optimizes network traffic efficiently.
Security Options: Offers robust firewall features and security measures.
Automation: Facilitates quick deployment through comprehensive automation capabilities.
High Bandwidth: Ensures high-performance network operations.

What benefits and ROI should users look for?

Enhanced Network Security: Superior protection for virtual environments.
Efficient Disaster Recovery: Reliable support for business continuity.
Reduced Deployment Time: Fast implementation and configuration.
Improved Network Management: Centralized and streamlined control of network resources.

VMware NSX is widely implemented across industries such as finance, healthcare, and manufacturing. Organizations in these sectors utilize it to bolster security, enhance network efficiency, and support cloud-native applications. By extending on-premise networks into provider spaces and managing virtual access networks, VMware NSX significantly optimizes infrastructure operations.

VMware

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

City of Avondale, Lumeta, Kroll Ontrack, Heartland Payment Systems, Baystate Heallth, Exostar, Tribune Media, iGATE, NTT Communications, Synergent, California Natural Resources Agency, Bloomington Public Schools, Columbia Sportswear, Join Experience S.A, Schuberg Philis

Buyer's Guide

Plixer Scrutinizer vs. VMware NSX

April 2025

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