Ostinato vs TRex
Ostinato
ostinato.orgTRex
trex-tgn.cisco.comSide by side
| Figure | Ostinato | TRex |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $12/mo | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 4 | 1 |
| Spec score · Network Testing Software | 8.1 (#11) | 7.9 (#15) |
| Automation | Ostinato provides a Python API for building streams and test scenarios, controlling runs, collecting counters, and integrating tests with CI/CD pipelines. | TRex provides a Python API and a console interface, and its stateless API can be used through JSON-RPC from languages that support it. |
| Performance | The site states that the Turbo add-on supports line-rate traffic up to 400G. | The site says TRex can scale up to 200 Gb/sec with one server. |
| Protocol emulation | DHCP client/server, IGMP/MLD host, OSPFv2, and BGP emulation are marked Technical Preview. | Its emulation functionality includes ARP, IPv6, ND, MLD, IGMP, ICMP, DOT1X, DHCPv4, DHCPv6, and DNS. |
| Purpose | Ostinato generates, customizes, or replays L2/L3 traffic to validate throughput, QoS, multicast, routing, switching, protocol behavior, and network performance. | TRex is an open source traffic generator for benchmarking and testing network devices with realistic traffic. |
| Support | Customers with Pro or Business licenses may submit support tickets; Pro email support is available for 30 days from purchase, and community forums are available to all listed license tiers. | The documentation lists a TRex community forum and Cisco DevNet community as support resources. |
Plans
Ostinato
- Solo$12 a month
- Pro$49 a month
- Business$208 a month
- EnterprisePriced on request
In their own words
Ostinato
Ostinato generates and customizes network traffic, or replays PCAP files, to help validate throughput, QoS, multicast, routing, switching, protocol behavior, and network performance. Users can edit supported protocol headers, set frame sizes, and create custom headers with hexdumps or scripts. PCAP replay can preserve or alter packet timing, loop traffic, or reorder packets. Native protocols include Ethernet, VLAN, QinQ, IPv4/IPv6, UDP, stateless TCP, ICMP, ARP/NDP, IGMP/MLD, and GRE; other methods can support headers such as MPLS and VXLAN. Reports show transmit and receive statistics, per-stream packet loss, and latency and jitter measured with software timestamps. A Python API supports stream and scenario creation, run control, counter collection, and CI/CD integration. Ostinato lists GNS3, EVE-NG, Cisco CML, and Containerlab as supported lab environments, and says it works on AWS and Azure cloud VMs. It runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, and self-hosted or API setups. Plans start at $12 a month billed annually; an active subscription is required.
TRex
TRex is an open source traffic generator for benchmarking platforms with realistic network traffic. It produces Layer 3–7 traffic in stateless, stateful, and advanced stateful modes. Stateless mode supports multiple streams, packet-field changes, and per-stream or per-group statistics, latency, and jitter. Advanced stateful mode emulates Layer 7 traffic over scalable TCP and UDP flows. Emulation includes ARP, IPv6, ND, MLD, IGMP, ICMP, DOT1X, DHCPv4, DHCPv6, and DNS. TRex offers Python automation APIs and a console interface; stateless functions can also be used through JSON-RPC. The manual describes it as a Linux application using DPDK and Linux kernel modules, intended for COTS x86 servers. The site says one server can scale up to 200 Gb/sec. It can run in a virtual machine or Docker for low-performance, low-footprint use, but virtual switches can limit throughput and virtual-machine latency results are not accurate. TRex is free, with hardware and NIC requirements. The GUI monitoring application TRexViewer is supported only on Windows.