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AirMagnet Survey PRO vs Observer GigaStor comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 15, 2026

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

AirMagnet Survey PRO
Ranking in Network Troubleshooting
6th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
39
Ranking in other categories
Network Modeling and Simulation (4th)
Observer GigaStor
Ranking in Network Troubleshooting
14th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
8.1
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
Network Monitoring Software (84th), Network Packet Broker (NPB) (8th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Network Troubleshooting category, the mindshare of AirMagnet Survey PRO is 8.3%, up from 8.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Observer GigaStor is 3.9%, up from 1.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Troubleshooting Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
AirMagnet Survey PRO8.3%
Observer GigaStor3.9%
Other87.8%
Network Troubleshooting
 

Featured Reviews

Mark Witherspoon - PeerSpot reviewer
Wireless Services Manager at Veritas Managed Solutions
A solution for site verifications and enhanced with adapters that provide more realistic readings, but needs to support Wi-Fi 6E
Ekahau and AirMagnet Survey have their own pros and cons, in my opinion. For example, the APs are not visible in Ekahau but AirMagnet Survey allows us to see what APs and channels are being used in a live view, which Ekahau lacks. In Ekahau, the signal from the AP it's capturing at that time is visible which is a bit of an inconvenience. The predictive planner of AirMagnet's is better. However, Ekahau has advantages over AirMagnet because it groups all the SSIDs into one AP, whereas with AirMagnet, one needs to group them manually. Ekahau also supports Wi-Fi 6E, but its licensing is restrictive and more costly.
Jeroen-Dubbelman - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The stability of the application now is probably the best it's been, from my point of view."
"The AirMagnet Survey allows you to see the list of APs in the live view. It only supports certain adapters, which can be limiting, but it's also beneficial because these adapters are more comparable to real-life devices like laptops. With Ekahau, Sidekick needs to be used for full features, but I find the Sidekick too strong, which can hamper results. Therefore, I prefer AirMagnet's approach because the adapters provide more realistic readings."
"Clear and easy to use maps."
"We use the solution for Wi-Fi and networks."
"AirMagnet is a very stable and time-tested product."
"Customer Service: Excellent. Technical Support: Excellent."
"Customer service is great."
"ROI is always the best satisfaction that we get after the 99% accurate results."
"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."
"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."
"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"
"I have no regrets using this product, I am very satisfied for what I paid for it and for the things I am able to do with the product."
"This solution allows us to see exactly what is going on in the network and we can very quickly solve issues with users."
"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."
"Go take a look at it. It's a great product and has great capabilities."
"Enables us to go back in time to capture an issue and analyze it for a solution, and this after the fact analysis is key to overcoming the bump in the night issues."
 

Cons

"My biggest complaint is their training shouldn't be so expensive."
"I would like to see a clearer representation of different power readings/levels when the survey tool renders heat maps."
"There is a feature "no auto-save" when the Proxim USB is disattached accidentally during survey."
"I would like it to be able to automatically calculate the best way to place the access points; more like hybrid manual planning."
"Since it crashes 1 out of 20 times, it would be great if they could make it more stable."
"I had some crash issues due to the wireless card driver."
"The worst thing that is built into AirMagnet is, if your laptop crashes in the middle, all of the work you have done is gone."
"Printouts are JPEG printouts. The AirMagnet software is proprietary. I can't send my customers a file, because it is AirMagnet file, even for building projects. I can only send JPEGs or screenshots of heat maps."
"There are some issues, in our environment that puts processing restraints on the Gigastor when turning on trending data to be sent to APEX."
"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."
"I would like to have more than 4TB of storage available in the portable version of this solution."
"The interface is pretty complex, so for the average user, it takes a while to get up to speed with it. I would like it to be more user-friendly."
"The Observer Console UI is consistent and stable, but could use some updating to be more modern."
"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."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"For technical support, you need an annual license, but it is not worth it."
"There is an annual cost of the solution. There are some additional charges, such as support and maintenance."
"The moment we began needing more of the vendor's support, the cost became very high; we switched to another solution."
"The tool's pricing is medium."
"The licensing of AirMagnet Survey is different when compared to Ekahu. It is a third of the cost of Ekahau but there are no dedicated laptops to the Sidekick. AirMagnet allows you to license an adapter and share that adapter."
"The pricing needs improvement."
"This product is very expensive."
"It's quite expensive."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
University
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Construction Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Construction Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
14%
Outsourcing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business21
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise10
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Large Enterprise3
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Houston Methodist Hospital, Love's Travel Stops
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
Find out what your peers are saying about AirMagnet Survey PRO vs. Observer GigaStor and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
908,800 professionals have used our research since 2012.