10 BEST WiFi Analyzers: WiFi Monitoring Software In 2024

Review the top WiFi Analyzers for Windows and Mac to select the best WiFi Monitoring Tool to optimize the network and improve security:

Today, no home, office, or other modern facility can function without a high-speed WiFi network. This reality has a flip side, and that is a slow WiFi connection. Slow WiFi or signaling has become a trend, especially in urban or densely populated areas.

All wireless networks use the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands to send and receive data. This band is further divided into several channels for the transmission of data or signals. When these channels are crowded, users get slower speeds, resulting in a slow Internet experience.

What is WiFi Analyzer

The WiFi network analyzer is used to solve these problems and optimize the network and improve security.

In the subsections below, we’ll look at the best WiFi analyzers, their features, types, and technical reviews. We’ll also look at the major benefits of using a WiFi network analyzer and how to choose the suitable one for Windows systems for your home or office use.

It is a software program that can be installed on a computer, laptop, or mobile phone. It scans your area and lists all WiFi networks and channels.

It also shows less crowded channels, which can help you optimize WiFi for better signal coverage to increase your Internet connection speed. These wifi monitoring tools can be used by offices, companies, public places, and even at home.

Before proceeding further, let’s understand the terminology used, the benefits of the analyzer, and how it works. This will help you choose the best for your network.

WiFi Network Analyzer Terminologies

You will often find the following terms in technical descriptions of WLAN analyzers and WLAN networks:

#1) Frequency range: The radio signals are transmitted at 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. The biggest difference between the two is that the 2.4 GHz connection covers a large area at lower speeds, while the 5 GHz frequency covers the shorter high-speed band.

If your PC or laptop doesn’t need to move much, the 5 GHz band is idle at the best speeds, while if you are constantly using your smartphone in your large room, the frequency of 2.4 GHz is the right choice.

#2) Network standard: The 802.11 wireless standard is the IEEE designation for wireless networking. The 802.11 wireless standards may vary in speed, transmission range, and frequency.

• 802.11a – It supports speeds up to 54 Mbps in the 5 GHz band.
• 802.11b – It supports a maximum speed of 11 Mbit/s in the 2.4 GHz range.
• 802.119 – It is the most widely used band today. Supports speeds of up to 54 Mbps and covers a distance of 150 feet.
• 802.11n – This is the latest standard. It offers higher performance in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequency bands and supports speeds up to 100 Mbit/s.

#3) Security Protocols: WiFi security protocol prevents illegal access to Wi-Fi networks. The WiFi Protected Access (WPA) and WiFi Protected Access II (WPA2) are currently used. WPA2 is now being replaced by WPA3, which offers stronger encryption and reduces security issues.

Benefits of WiFi Network Analyzer

The Analyzers not only find the best location for your WiFi device but also provide important information as described below:

• Find networks that can interfere with your WiFi connection.
• Scans and detects WiFi information such as access point, bandwidth, BSSID, IP address, MAC address, security type.
• Find the best channel based on signal strength.
• It displays WiFi speed information and other indicators on the control panel.
• From the security point of view, it also displays unknown connections and access points.

List of the Best WiFi Analyzers

Here you will find the list of popular Wi-Fi monitoring software:

1. ManageEngine OpManager
2. NetSpot
3. InSSIDer
4. NirSoft Wireless NetView
5. PRTG Professional WiFi Analyzer
6. Vistumbler Wireless network scanner
7. Acrylic WiFi
8. Wireshark
9. WiFi Explorer
10. Solarwinds Wireless Analyzer

Comparison of the Top WiFi Network Analyzers

Let’s start with a technical review of the best Wi-Fi monitoring tools.

#1) ManageEngine OpManager

Best for Real-time Wi-Fi Monitoring.

OpManager is a tool you can count on to assess both Wi-Fi strength and network traffic. It can be used for the maintenance and monitoring of various different types of wireless devices. The software can also get in-depth reports on the health and performance of a wireless device.

OpManager can be used to monitor and manage the number of users, access points, signal strength, and other factors affecting Wi-Fi strength. It can also monitor the total bytes received by access points, wireless client systems, and more in a bid to assess network traffic.

Features:

• Automate routine monitoring and management tasks
• Get insight into wireless network topology
• Powerful device templates
• Insightful reporting

Verdict: With OpManager, you get a comprehensive Wi-Fi management tool that’s bolstered by its in-depth monitoring capabilities and support of a wide array of protocols. It is a great tool for monitoring and managing Wi-Fi strength as well as wireless traffic.

Price: Standard, Professional, and Enterprise editions available. Contact for a quote.

Check our ManageEngine OpManager Review Here

#2) NetSpot

Best for wireless site surveys, WiFi analysis, and troubleshooting.

The Netspot is considered best for Windows and Mac platforms and offers advanced functions such as heat maps, location research, active and passive scanning, and more. Its heat map function reveals the signal strength of the distributed coverage. Its active research shows download and upload speeds and wireless transfer speeds. In addition, it also aids in Wi- Fi troubleshoot.

Features:

• Access point and their comparison details.
• It supports both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands.
• Real time charts.
• Live data from all surrounding networks.

Verdict: This analyzer is the best and a complete solution for your WiFi network. Features and functions that help optimize the network include troubleshooting and custom data reports.

Price: It is available in 3 variants- Home – $49, Pro -$149 and Enterprise- $499.

#3) InSSIDer

Best for analyzing WiFi channel settings, security, and signal strength.

It is one of the oldest and best analyzer on the market since 2007. The most important parameters it provides are WiFi channel and its width, signal strength, WiFi generation, maximum data speed and security.

These metrics will help you understand how your and neighboring WiFi interact, and will help you optimize and improve your WiFi network for better performance. It also shows you how neighboring WiFi networks affect your WiFi.

Features:

• Find access point details quickly.
• Search through busy channels.
• Improved WiFi protection.

Verdict: It shows exactly how a WiFi network is configured and how the surrounding WiFi affects and also offers suggestions for fast and secure channels.

Price: Prices are available upon request.

Suggested Reading => Explore the List of BEST WiFi Companies Near You

#4) NirSoft Wireless NetView

Best for home use.

Wireless NetView is a free WiFi networking software and used as a wifi monitor around you and it is freeware. It shows all important information like SSID, average signal quality, channel frequency, and channel number. All these statistics are useful for finding less busy channels to tune your network for best performance.

Features:

• It can record WiFi network details with the command line option.
• Detection counter.
• Authentication and Cipher Algorithm.

Verdict: It provides all important information about the WiFi network and can be used for the home environment.

Price: It is a freeware software

#5) PRTG Professional WiFi Analyzer

Best for residential as well as commercial establishments.

It monitors and analyzes every aspect of a wireless network from device uptime and inactivity, signal strength, network availability, frequency band utilization, etc., and importantly with any brand of WiFi device. This PRTG Professional WiFi Analyzer is part of the PRTG network monitor.

Features:

• Built-in bandwidth sensor to detect high usage.
• Dedicated SNMP sensor to monitor network security issues.
• Custom bandwidth notification.

Verdict: It has a reliable design and is best choice for a professional environment. Its various alarm systems and individual warning systems make it possible to report large bandwidth usage to avoid failures.

Price: Use the fully functional version for 30 days for free. The price is available based on the quote request.

#6) Vistumbler Wireless network scanner

Best for home users to scan and retrieve nearby access points.

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This is a simple piece of software that scans wireless access points and provides connection metrics that make it easy to connect to those points.

It gets various statistics for wireless points like: MAC address, SSID, intermediate and highest signal, RSSI, channel number, encryption method and authentication method. It plays sound alert for signal strength.

Features:

• Export data in various file formats.
• GPS support.
• Google Earth Live Tracking.
• Acoustic warning for errors.

Verdict: This wifi monitoring software is used to monitor and analyze WiFi hotspots and GPS hotspots. It also provides various data points that will help get an idea of the wireless network.

Price: This is free software.

#7) Acrylic WiFi

This WiFi analysis monitoring software package is best for home and office environments for the advance

Acrylic WiFi is a complete network package that helps to monitor and analyze Wi-Fi networks for coverage, security, and metrics to find the best channels.

This wifi analysis tool contains four individual contents: WiFi heatmaps, professional WiFi, LEA, home WiFi, and sniffer. These powerful tools can help you design and deploy new WiFi networks, as well as analyze and find existing WiFi networks using Wi-Fi analysis and location research.

Features:

• Supports 802.11/a/b/g/n/ac.
• Identify speed, performance, and security issues.
• Compatible with Wireshark and modern cards.
• Export reports to Word and other file formats.

Verdict: This advance software can plan WiFi coverage and new deployment in-home or office environment. Its advanced features help find nearby Wi-Fi bands and recommend the best channels for better signal strength.

Price: The WiFi heatmap is provided for 1 month, 3 months, and 1-year license, and the price $129, $325, and $879, respectively, as shown below. It has also got a Perpetual license version.

#8) Wireshark

Best for technical administrators to analyze network packet data.

It is a network analyzer, but requires IT skills to analyze captured data packets. Once captured packets are drilled down, they can help IT professionals find the root cause of network problems.

These data packages help with network analysis and network security. Network administrators can use this tool to analyze different types of networks, such as Ethernet, Wireless LAN, Bluetooth, USB and more.

Features:

• Color coded for quick analysis data.
• Capture multiple file formats for third party support.
• VoIP Analysis.
• Compatible with various operating systems – macOS, Microsoft Windows, UNIX, Linux and BSD.

Verdict: This analyzer for Mac and other OS is for IT professionals to capture data packets on the network, to analyze, interpret, and review the network to solve performance problems.

Price: It is free software

#9) WiFi Explorer

Best for MAC for home, office, and corporate WiFi networks.

This is a wireless network scanner and analyzer for Mac OS. This helps users identify channel conflicts and signal overlaps that can interfere with the network. It detects other wireless networks to detect interference on your wireless network.

It is unique in this domain, with advanced features such as finding hidden SSIDs, remote sensors to find remote networks, and passive and targeted scanning modes.

Features:

• Ability to export data to other programs for better analysis.
• Organize scan results by SSID, access point, provider and more.
• Spectrum analysis integration.
• Support remote scanning.

Verdict: This analyzer for mac is a professional analyzer app to design, implement, analyze and troubleshoot wireless networks.

Price: The cost is $162.

#10) Solarwinds Wireless Analyzer

Best for wifi monitoring software and troubleshooting tool for enterprise wireless networks.

This wifi monitoring software is part of the Solarwinds Network Performance Monitor. It pulls in WiFi performance metrics such as access points, wireless controllers, and clients and displays them in one central console.

It also monitors network problems and performance, cross-stack network data correlation, hop-on-hop network path analysis, and other important wireless analysis functions. These factors will help network administrators to monitor and maintain wireless networks according to business requirements.

Features:

• Monitor and manage the company’s wireless network.
• Custom dashboard to view WiFi issues.
• Designed for faster WiFi troubleshooting.
• WiFi heatmaps.

Verdict: It is best for Business WiFi Networks. Its advanced features such as the automatic discovery of network devices, network path mapping, link usage, and wireless coverage thermal maps, make it ideal for business environments.

Price: Free trial for 30 days. Prices are available when you request a quote.

WiFi Analyzer App – Android & iOS Apps

In this section, we will review the network analyzer app for android and iOS.

#1) WiFi Analyzer

Best for home networks to scan for WiFi networks to get the best channel recommendations.

This is the best analyzer for android. It is used to analyze and optimize your WiFi connection. This app scans for nearby Wi-Fi networks and offers fewer traffic channels to increase speed.

Price: Free

#2) OpenSignal

Best for measuring WiFi, 2G, 3G, 4G or 5G mobile connection speed.

OpenSignal app helps you to precisely measure the connection speed on your mobile network. It also shows historical data and network availability statistics in metrics, as well as in graphical representation.

Price: Free

#3) ScanFi

Best for scanning 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz WiFi networks.

It is a network scanner and analyzer that scans and pulls information like access point, SSID, MAC and more. It also shows less crowded channels for better signal strength. Apart from measuring download speed, it also creates a signal strength map for your location.

Price: Free

#4) Fing

Best for finding devices and troubleshooting wireless and LAN devices.

This is a free network scanner app which is used to detect all connected devices and their parameters like IP address, MAC address, device name and model. It also helps troubleshooting by providing data through Port scanning, device ping, traceroute and DNS lookup.

It also protects network by detecting network invaders in addition to measuring data speed of Internet connection.

Price: Free

#5) Network Analyzer

Best for iPhone and iPad

It scans, monitors, and helps troubleshoot WiFi, LAN, and Internet connection problems. Its quick discovery function detects all devices connected to LAN and WiFi networks and lists information such as SSID, BSSID, IP address (v4 and v6) and subnet mask.

Price: Free

#6) Microsoft WiFi Analyzer app

Best for windows to identify WiFi problems and find the best channel.

This app is from Microsoft, and the basic version is free. It scans all networks and determines which network is interfering with your WiFi connection. It provides all the information, such as access points, security protocols, signal strength and more. The dashboard shows WiFi connection speed and other health indicators.

Price: Free

Choose Best WiFi Network Analyzer For Home/Office

While you are selecting the best network analyzer for your home environment or corporate network, the following features will ensure you get the best Wi-Fi analyzer that will meet most of your needs.

• Access points: Number of access points, overlapping channels, connected access points, data rate.
• Signal Strength: Must indicate the access point signal strength, channel bandwidth, channel coverage.

When planning a new WiFi network setup, these factors are very important: Capacity status, interference/noise, packet loss, signal strength difference, bandwidth (max.), interference difference, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), network status, etc.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

To conclude, a Wi-Fi analyzer for home and office is an essential piece of software to eliminate WiFi network problems and increase the signal quality so that everyone should use it or browse without any much hassles.

Selecting the best network monitoring tool depends on your requirements. If you are looking for a home environment, then either you can adopt a freeware app or freeware software, but if you are looking for more advanced features, then prefer NetSpot, InSSIDer, Acrylic WiFi Analyzer, etc.

If you are planning to set up and deploy a new WiFi network or manage an existing office network, it is better to use a professional and advanced analyzer such as PRTG Professional.

Research Process:

• We spent 25 hours studying and researching various WiFi analyzers to choose the best one for you.
• Total analyzers and app researched- 25
• Shortlisted – 16