Big Switch Networks vs NETSCOUT Network & Application Observability comparison

Why PeerSpot?

The compared Arista and NETSCOUT solutions aren't in the same category. Arista is ranked #10 in SDN , and holds a 4.6% mindshare in the category. NETSCOUT is ranked #11 in DEM , with an average rating of 7.7, and holds a 4.9% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Arista users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 95% of NETSCOUT users who would recommend it.

Big Switch Networks

Read 1 Big Switch Networks review

1,416 Views
481 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

NETSCOUT Network & Applicat...

Read 92 NETSCOUT Network & Application Observability reviews

23,982 Views
1,439 Comparison Views

95% willing to recommend

Big Switch Networks

NETSCOUT Network & Applicat...

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Big Switch Networks and NETSCOUT Network & Application Observability based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco, Aviatrix, Megaport and others in Software Defined Networking (SDN).

To learn more, read our detailed Software Defined Networking (SDN) Report (Updated: October 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Software Defined Networking (SDN)

October 2026

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Helped 920,769 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

Big Switch Networks

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

8.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Software Defined Networking (SDN) (10th), Network Packet Broker (NPB) (3rd)

NETSCOUT Network & Applicat...

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Application Performance Monitoring (APM) and Observability (46th), Network Monitoring Software (7th), IT Infrastructure Monitoring (29th), Network Troubleshooting (12th), Digital Experience Monitoring (DEM) (11th)

Mindshare comparison

While both are Network Management solutions, they serve different purposes. Big Switch Networks is designed for Software Defined Networking (SDN) and holds a mindshare of 4.6%, up 4.5% compared to last year.
NETSCOUT Network & Application Observability, on the other hand, focuses on Digital Experience Monitoring (DEM), holds 4.9% mindshare, up 3.7% since last year.

Software Defined Networking (SDN) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Big Switch Networks	4.6%
Meraki SD-WAN	10.0%
Cisco ACI	8.9%
Other	76.5%

Software Defined Networking (SDN)

Digital Experience Monitoring (DEM) Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
NETSCOUT Network & Application Observability	4.9%
ThousandEyes	11.6%
Nexthink	11.4%
Other	72.1%

Digital Experience Monitoring (DEM)

Featured Reviews

Jason Best

Data center network architect at Cloudwire

A flexible solution that can be integrated with third-party solutions whilst maintaining its automated nature

I think if I was to say something that could be improved, it would be a multi-data center nature of the implementation. Meaning, having an active-active data center with multiple entrance-exit points. I think that feature could be improved to provide a kind of anycast gateway solution into the functionality that would make it a lot more flexible and versatile. Maybe also making the solution a bit more like the NSX-T from VMware, more on the logical part of the solution, like micro-segmentation and the ability to have a distributed firewall across the whole solution, to implement it in an easier way than they currently do with the security aspect of the solution.

Read full review

Hasan Toffaha

Newwork And Collaboration Supervisor at Nafeza

Monitoring has improved bandwidth insights and application diagnosis but setup and costs still need work

They need room for improvement about the spare parts. There are shortages in Egypt in their stock. We tried to make RMA for specific parts, and it took a long time. Comparing this to a vendor like Cisco, who provides any component next business day, NETSCOUT nGeniusONE took a long time. This needs more improvement. I believe it is expensive. They need to reduce its budget a little bit. Comparing to other solutions, it is very expensive.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I think it's an easy, versatile solution to implement."

"What I liked about the solution is the quick and easy way you can build a network data center fabric."

"The product is very good, we have very few problems, and if we do have any issues, NETSCOUT gives us very good support with the right engineers who know the issues and provide an RMA if anything is wrong with a device."

"The fact that it's able to capture and store packets from the wires is very useful for troubleshooting with our vendors, when issues do come up. It's valuable that we have that overall data for them."

"The most valuable feature for us was the ability to monitor sites and get a nice overview of all the data in a single view."

"The most valuable feature is utilization."

"We use TruView primarily for network performance analysis and monitoring. It helps us track traffic, flows, packets, and bandwidth to understand our network's condition and detect any anomalies or attacks. However, the product's age limits its advanced features for performance analysis. The main advantage lies in its low cost and reliable functionality, as we have a permanent license and do not require support. Real-time monitoring in TruView is somewhat limited, as there is a delay of about five minutes in data updates, making it less effective for immediate insights."

"It is an easy-to-scale platform."

"We are using nGeniusONE to run our bandwidth capacity management reports. In the past, we used to be very reactive, we used to depend a lot on suppliers to tell us which sites are our hot sites, meaning, which have high bandwidth utilization. Now we do this in a much more proactive way and we are moving to a more predictive approach in that aspect, thanks to nGeniusONE."

"An issue that used to take days is now fixed within minutes to an hour."

More NETSCOUT Network & Application Observability pros

Cons

"I think if I was to say something that could be improved, it would be a multi-data center nature of the implementation."

"While it is good, the single pane of glass view is too high level. It is better for management or someone doing sanity checks. A lot of times, I need to go deeper into the additional screens to get what I want out of it."

"It's not intuitive, it's not simple to use. It is probably the only monitoring tool, out of all the ones that I have, that I really need an expert on, an expert from nGenius, a contractor that I have to pay, to manage the tool. And that's because it's simply not easy to use. Netscout needs to focus on making it easier to use."

"We would like better end-to-end data flows. This is something that my users always complain about, as they don't know what the data flows are on the network. We would like to know every point along the line."

"Trying to set up dashboards is hard to figure out at times, if you don't do it every day. It's not really intuitive to set them all up... If there were a wizard to take us through, step-by-step, creating dashboards and the like, that would be really helpful."

"The single pane of glass view is a challenge. I like the graphics, they're easy to understand, but when more digging is required, it's more complicated to get what I'm expecting."

"The monitoring and reporting tool needs improvement."

"We would like more encryption of customer data, because we have a very security conscious company. We have a lot of regulation coming in which requires us to make customer data private."

"Our biggest area of concern right now, supporting the applications, is that while NETSCOUT does a good job of monitoring the network and the applications, we need more visibility into system health and performance monitoring."

More NETSCOUT Network & Application Observability cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The licensing cost depends on the number of switches that are going to be licensed to run the software."

"This product could be cheaper."

"If you are able and you are willing to use everything that Netscout provides to you, it's probably a relatively fair price. The problem is that it's such a large and such a complex tool that I'm not sure that many companies would be able to use it entirely, the way it's expected to be used."

"The license becomes cost prohibitive very quickly."

"The tool's price is okay. On a scale of one to ten, I rate it as a five, where one means it is not expensive, and ten means it is the most expensive."

"Their pricing is very competitive with other solutions... But what I like about NETSCOUT's licensing is that it's shared across all their platforms. They don't create a new licensing scheme for every one of their products. So for nGeniusONE, you buy a certain license level, and it works on all of their products."

"It was pretty modest because you could get it in different ways. I think the six licenses, at that time, were about $1,000 each. But then again, I work for a school and educators tend to get discounts on things. So maybe it cost us about five or six hundred a copy."

"There is a need to make yearly payments towards the licensing charges attached to the product. The product may come across as a cheap tool for some, while it may seem costly for others."

"I rate the price of NETSCOUT nGeniusONE a four out of five."

More NETSCOUT Network & Application Observability pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

14%

Construction Company

12%

Healthcare Company

11%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Outsourcing Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Construction Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	26
Midsize Enterprise	13
Large Enterprise	59

Questions from the Community

Ask a question

Earn 20 points

Which is the best DDoS protection solution for a big ISP for monitoring and mitigating?

I would say if it’s an ISP that will build a scrubbing center, Netscout/Arbor is a good solution. In all other solutions, Imperva is a great choice.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for NETSCOUT nGeniusONE?

Regarding its high price, I give NETSCOUT nGeniusONE a seven.

See all answers

What needs improvement with NETSCOUT nGeniusONE?

See all answers

Comparisons

Gigamon Deep Observability Pipeline vs Big Switch Networks

Compared 17% of the time

Ixia Network Packet Brokers vs Big Switch Networks

Compared 10% of the time

Niagara Packet Brokers vs Big Switch Networks

Compared 9% of the time

cPacket cVu vs Big Switch Networks

Compared 9% of the time

More Big Switch Networks Competitors

SolarWinds NPM vs NETSCOUT Network & Application Observability

Compared 3% of the time

Alluvio AppResponse vs NETSCOUT Network & Application Observability

Compared 2% of the time

ThousandEyes vs NETSCOUT Network & Application Observability

Compared 2% of the time

Cisco Secure Network Analytics vs NETSCOUT Network & Application Observability

Compared 2% of the time

LiveNX vs NETSCOUT Network & Application Observability

Compared 2% of the time

More NETSCOUT Network & Application Observability Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Software Defined Networking (SDN)

October 2026

Download Big Switch Networks product report

Buyer's Guide

NETSCOUT Network & Application Observability

October 2026

NETSCOUT Network & Application Observability report

Download NETSCOUT Network & Application Observability product report

Also Known As

No data available

NETSCOUT nGenius, NETSCOUT nGeniusONE, NETSCOUT nGeniusPULSE, NETSCOUT vSTREAM, NETSCOUT InfiniStreamNG, TruView

Overview

Big Switch Networks specializes in network management solutions designed to optimize and streamline data center operations, leveraging advanced SDN technology for increased efficiency and scalability.

Big Switch Networks harnesses the power of software-defined networking (SDN) to transform traditional network infrastructures. By providing innovative, agile, and adaptable solutions, it enhances data center performance, supports dynamic workloads, and ensures seamless integration with existing systems. Users experience enhanced control and visibility over network resources, facilitating faster deployment and reduced complexity.

What are the key features of Big Switch Networks?

SDN Technology: Enables centralized management and automation, reducing manual configurations.
Network Virtualization: Allows flexible resource allocation for dynamic traffic adjustment.
Application Visibility: Provides detailed insights into application performance and traffic flows.
Security Features: Incorporates advanced security protocols to protect data integrity and privacy.
Cloud Integration: Supports seamless connection with public and private cloud environments.

What benefits should users expect from Big Switch Networks?

Cost Reduction: Lowers operating expenses through automated management and reduced hardware dependencies.
Improved Performance: Enhances data flow efficiency and network speed, leading to increased productivity.
Scalability: Offers flexible growth options to accommodate expanding business needs.
Increased Reliability: Minimizes downtime with robust failover mechanisms.

Big Switch Networks finds application across multiple industries, tailoring its capabilities to meet the demands of sectors such as finance, healthcare, and telecommunications. In finance, it optimizes high-frequency trading networks, while in healthcare, it ensures secure and efficient data management. Telecommunications benefit from its advanced traffic routing and load balancing features.

Arista

NETSCOUT Network & Application Observability enhances network operations by offering powerful packet analysis and real-time insights. It transforms raw data into intelligence and simplifies troubleshooting, ensuring effective monitoring across diverse platforms.

NETSCOUT Network & Application Observability delivers comprehensive visibility and interoperability with a single pane of glass to aid in quick troubleshooting and traffic monitoring. It provides real-time insights and metrics that enhance network evaluations, helping transform raw data into actionable intelligence for better performance monitoring across diverse environments. However, it faces challenges like complexity, non-intuitive dashboard setup, and high server requirements. Enhancements in data analysis, visualization, and security features, along with improved integration with other products and detailed alerts, are needed.

What are the key features of NETSCOUT Network & Application Observability?

Packet Analysis: Provides robust packet capture and analysis for deep insights.
Single Pane of Glass: Simplifies traffic monitoring and dependency mapping.
Real-Time Insights: Offers instant, actionable information for troubleshooting.
Application Performance Metrics: Evaluates performance across network applications.
Interoperability: Ensures seamless operation across various network environments.

What benefits do users highlight?

Actionable Intelligence: Transforms raw data for strategic decisions.
Enhanced Monitoring: Facilitates efficient network operation monitoring.
Proactive Alerting: Supports real-time issue identification and response.
Bandwidth Management: Optimizes resource usage for cost efficiency.
Application Management: Monitors application performance for better user experience.

NETSCOUT Network & Application Observability is widely implemented in industries such as telecom and banking for network troubleshooting and application performance management. It helps in monitoring infrastructure, capturing unknown traffic, and managing bandwidth. The tool supports security alerts, real-time communications analysis, and proactive monitoring of remote sites, aiding in efficient network operations and enhanced end-user experience.

NETSCOUT

Sample Customers

A10 Networks, Edge-Core Networks, Blue Coat Systems, BlueData, Broadcom Corporation, Canonical, Check Point Software Technologies, Citrix, Dell, FireEye, Garland, Hortonworks, Mirantis, Nexenta, Riverbed

Cerner Corporation

Buyer's Guide

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October 2026

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