OptiView XG [EOL] vs Wireshark comparison

Why PeerSpot?

NETSCOUT and Wireshark are both solutions in the Network Troubleshooting category. Additionally, 89% of NETSCOUT users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 98% of Wireshark users who would recommend it.

OptiView XG [EOL]

Read 38 OptiView XG [EOL] reviews

89% willing to recommend

Wireshark

Read 64 Wireshark reviews

8,069 Views
5,648 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

OptiView XG [EOL]

Wireshark

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between OptiView XG [EOL] and Wireshark based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Auvik, Wireshark, NetAlly and others in Network Troubleshooting.

To learn more, read our detailed Network Troubleshooting Report (Updated: September 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Network Troubleshooting

September 2026

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Helped 917,433 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

OptiView XG [EOL]

Average Rating

8.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Wireshark

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Network Troubleshooting (2nd)

Featured Reviews

Mark_Walker

President at Bitwise Micro

A valuable, impressive, and portable product that saves time and has great scalability and stability

It just saves time. We have run into situations where contractors come in, and they plug in a WiFi device that is handing out DHCP addresses, which affects the rest of the network. To be able to quickly identify from where the problem is originating, you need a network tool that can identify the device that is doing this. It just brings into clear focus the exact issue when there is a problem or outage. When there is a crisis and you've several people wanting to know an estimate of when things are going to be back up and running again, you need to have answers. I have been at places that didn't have a tool like that. I know one place that had an outage for almost a week, and it was craziness. It turned out to be just a bad cable. That's all it was. They were having trouble with their email server, which was an on-premise email server, but emails were taking six hours to appear. The whole problem was because of a bad network cable. When I plugged in the Fluke analyzer, it analyzed and told me immediately that there were transmission errors on this one port from one switch. It told me this within 10 minutes. It is an incredible product.

Read full review

reviewer2837244

It System Engineer at a manufacturing company with 5,001-10,000 employees

Packet analysis has improved real-time troubleshooting and simplifies mapping complex data flows

The best features that Wireshark offers are everything. Every time I look into Wireshark, I find something new. The ability to capture real-time packets and understand how the packet is working and moving through how many hops and to how many points it reaches makes it a wonderful tool. The specific feature I use most is capturing packets of real-time communication and seeing how the packet is working. I rely on all the filters it has to check the protocols and see the communication between one end and another end and what the hops in between are, and if there is a proxy, how it behaves. Everything helps us check out the issue and troubleshoot it. I do not have anything additional to add about the features; everything looks really fine. The graphics are also good, and you can change its graphical features, making it a pretty nice tool. You can also use it with the PCAP file, which is really nice. Wireshark has positively impacted my organization by giving us the ability to capture packets and see into the network how it is working and what we can clarify about the network, specifically how we can remove many hops in the communication channels. A specific example of a measurable outcome is that we have a few switches in our network that, when we use Wireshark analysis, we find should not be needed or can be replaced with automatic switches instead of manual switches, such as switches which do not have any active features and only passive switches. That has saved us a lot of time.

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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

"It allows us to be able to troubleshoot, predominantly in the field, with the tools that we would normally have in the lab."

"It's a good tool and is pretty simple to use."

"It has helped with troubleshooting and has simplified the way the organization functions."

"Basically, what OptiView XG allowed us to do is, when someone says, "Hey, there's a problem, we're experiencing slow latency in a site", we put it on both ends and we look at the traffic going between both ends and see where the latency lies."

"All the wireless features are valuable."

"It is a very valuable tool. It goes out and does a discovery, which is a great process of it. You could have something like a rogue DHCP server, and it will identify it, and then you can see to which switch port it is connected. It is quite an impressive tool. I really liked it because you didn't have to install an agent on anything. It would just go out and do its discovery. For me, that's great."

"In this way, I think OptiView XG is the best all in one solution."

"We switched to OptiView to be a little bit more flexible."

More OptiView XG [EOL] pros

"It is a stable product. I would rate the stability a ten out of ten."

"Wireshark analyzes networks, captures traffic and decrypts information passed through the communication channels into a form that is readable and can thus be used to learn how network protocols work."

"The session-level filtering features are valuable."

"Wireshark saves a lot of time, especially with network troubleshooting."

"It's easy to troubleshoot issues because there's a large online community."

"Wireshark is very good for network engineers; it's free software, you can install it very easily, and there are a lot of features."

"Wireshark is incredibly powerful, user-friendly, and a free tool, which is capable of live capture and offline analysis of traffic on any size network."

"I use this free, open-source solution daily for packet analysis, and the packet details pane is particularly valuable."

More Wireshark pros

Cons

"We use the tablet version, and I'd like it to have a longer battery."

"I think that the discovery of a network can be improved if the OptiView would recognize more kinds of devices independent of the manufacturer."

"It can’t scale to even one user because it crashes when you're using the AirMagnet survey tool, or even running reports."

"I think that the maintenance is ridiculous on some of the products, including OptiView."

"The licensing cost needs to improve since it is very expensive, especially the licensing and maintenance costs."

"The biggest is that the storage space is very limited. I'd like the ability to capture more data."

"I had some problems generating reports."

"The reports I got back from the guys I sent to training said the guy spent more time telling stories, war stories and that type, rather than actual training about the product."

More OptiView XG [EOL] cons

"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."

"Wireshark is similar to an OS defense tool, meaning that it runs on an OS such as Ubuntu and Fedora, but I'm unsure if it's compatible with Windows or if it's a straightforward process to run it on Windows. Right now, my team needs to run Wireshark from a dongle to use it, so it's an OS-dependable tool, and that's an area for improvement. I was unable to use Wireshark on Windows, and I couldn't capture it, as I'm unsure how to configure the wireless card into monitoring mode on Windows. The process was straightforward on Linux, but it wasn't the case on Windows OS. It seems Wireshark isn't compatible with all OS. For example, you can analyze the log, and you can analyze it on the Windows server, but you can't do a capture in Windows. Configuring Wireshark for Windows isn't as easy as configuring it for Linux."

"Its user interface was a little less friendly. They can make its user interface a little bit more friendly. It is for technical people, and most of the technical people would be able to figure it out, but it would be good to improve its user interface. They can maybe build artificial intelligence into it. Currently, it takes a lot of manpower to analyze and dissect all the data."

"The solution’s user interface could be improved."

"I have not used Wireshark to an advanced point where I could provide a detailed opinion on improvements needed."

"Sometimes I need to use tcpdump when I need to check the packets on CLI."

"Wireshark can be improved if it provides the accessibility of capturing packets from one device that is installed in the network without needing the port-mirrored facility."

"It is difficult to scale this solution."

More Wireshark cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Its price was a bit excessive. The device that I had died. It is under warranty, and they want $20,000 for another one. I just don't want to spend that kind of money, so I'm trying to find an alternate solution. They have annual maintenance on it, which probably was 10% a year, so it all starts to add up."

"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."

"Wireshark is free of charge, and there's no license involved."

"Wireshark is free software, so you don't have to pay any licensing fee. Individual people can use it and then donate to Wireshark."

"We are using a freeware version of this solution, so there are no licence costs involved."

"It's a stand-alone tool. If there is a commercial license for it I am unaware of it."

"I am using the free version of this solution."

"It is an open-source solution."

"We're using the free version of Wireshark."

More Wireshark pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Outsourcing Company

19%

Construction Company

12%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

University

11%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Construction Company

Financial Services Firm

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Midsize Enterprise	8
Large Enterprise	26

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	31
Midsize Enterprise	11
Large Enterprise	29

Questions from the Community

Ask a question

Earn 20 points

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.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Wireshark?

Wireshark can be improved if it provides the accessibility of capturing packets from one device that is installed in the network without needing the port-mirrored facility. They could provide somet...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Wireshark?

Wireshark's main use case is capturing packets and reviewing the data flow over the network. Regarding my main use case for Wireshark, it is a great tool and would be one of the best tools availabl...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 18% of the time

DX Spectrum vs OptiView XG [EOL]

Compared 17% of the time

NetAlly EtherScope nXG vs OptiView XG [EOL]

Compared 14% of the time

vRealize Network Insight vs OptiView XG [EOL]

Compared 11% of the time

TruView vs OptiView XG [EOL]

Compared 7% of the time

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Colasoft Capsa vs Wireshark

Compared 7% of the time

AirMagnet Survey PRO vs Wireshark

Compared 7% of the time

DX Spectrum vs Wireshark

Compared 7% of the time

Broadcom Network Flow Analysis vs Wireshark

Compared 7% of the time

Observer GigaStor vs Wireshark

Compared 6% of the time

More Wireshark Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

OptiView XG [EOL]

October 2026

Download OptiView XG [EOL] product report

Buyer's Guide

Wireshark

September 2026

Download Wireshark product report

Overview

OptiView XG is the first network analysis tablet designed specifically for the network engineer. It combines critical functions necessary to automate root-cause analysis of both wired and wireless network performance issues – whether network or application related to reduce time for problem identification. OptiView XG supports repeatable, effective troubleshooting – whether pre- or post-deployment.

NETSCOUT

Wireshark offers robust packet analysis through comprehensive filtering and color-coding features, adaptable across platforms due to its open-source nature. It supports real-time and offline packet captures, multiple protocols, and easy installation, making it a favored tool for network experts.

Renowned for its traffic decryption capabilities and detailed traffic insights, Wireshark provides deep packet inspection and a simple GUI. Ideal for network troubleshooting, it allows users to view VoIP traffic and perform advanced customizations. While Wireshark's interface can be complex and challenging for newcomers, its powerful features make it invaluable in identifying network issues, inspecting protocols, and understanding data flow across wired and wireless environments. Users seek more intuitive filters, better Windows and non-laptop support, as well as features like real-time evolution and graphical analysis tools to enhance usability. Wireshark's wide application includes security research, protocol analysis, and application performance baselining, supporting both on-premises and cloud-based operations.

What are Wireshark's standout features?

Filtering and Color-Coding: Enables detailed packet analysis.
Real-Time and Offline Captures: Supports both capture modes for comprehensive network monitoring.
Traffic Decryption: Provides detailed insights into encrypted traffic.
Deep Packet Inspection: Delivers granular network data examination.
GUI Simplicity: Ensures ease of use despite complex capabilities.

What benefits and ROI should users evaluate?

Network Troubleshooting: Streamlines identification and resolution of network issues.
Protocol Inspection: Facilitates in-depth examination of network communication protocols.
Traffic Monitoring: Ensures effective monitoring of network traffic in real time.
Security Research: Assists in uncovering malicious traffic and vulnerabilities.
Application Performance: Aids in baselining and optimizing app performance.

Wireshark is implemented across industries to manage and troubleshoot networks, analyze traffic flow, and ensure secure, efficient communication. It supports research and security operations, providing insights into protocol usage and application performance across physical and virtual environments. Its deployment spans education, telecommunications, finance, and healthcare, underpinning connectivity and data integrity.

Wireshark

Sample Customers

XG is used in all industries. Example customers include: Republic National Distributing Company, Titelive, CitiGroup, Los Angeles Unified School District, Saudi German Hospital, DeKalb County Schools, Valdosta State University, The Everett Clinic, Bio-Reference, Miami-Dade Library, Mitel, Borsa Istanbul, Cimarex, Air National Guard Lowndes County, High Point City, Carrollton City Schools, Kern County, Pruitt Communications and Bosch Group.

Comversion, ADP, Talbots

Buyer's Guide

Network Troubleshooting

September 2026

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