Described herein are systems and methods for traffic classification that integrate a plurality of different types of traffic classifiers in parallel so that there is little or no adverse effects on data path performance. The systems and methods also integrate a plurality of complementary tiered classifiers to improve or enhance the results of a primary classification technique. Results from the individual parallel and tiered traffic classifiers can be analyzed to determine an output classification. The resulting output traffic classification can be used to determine a preferred or desirable link between nodes on a network where the network includes parallel links or network paths between the nodes. The disclosed systems and methods may be particularly advantageous where the different network paths have different characteristics such as latency, capacity, congestion, cost, bandwidth, etc.