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Comparison of packet analyzers
List article

The following tables compare general and technical information for several packet analyzer software utilities, also known as network analyzers or packet sniffers. Please see the individual products' articles for further information.

General information

Basic general information about the software—creator/company, license/price, etc.

CreatorLatest releaseUser interfaceSoftware licenseCost
Allegro Network MultimeterAllegro PacketsJuly 20, 2023 / v4.0.4web GUIProprietaryNon-free, price on request, depending on device and extensions
Cain and AbelMassimiliano MontoroApril 7, 2014 / 4.9.56GUIFreewareFree
CapsaColasoftApril 24, 2018 / 11.11GUIProprietary$0–$995, depending on version2
CarnivoreFederal Bureau of Investigation??N/A?
Charles Web Debugging ProxyKarl van RandowJuly 10, 2017 / 4.1.4GUI?$30–$50 (Free Trial)
Clarified AnalyzerClarified NetworksGUIProprietaryNon-free
Clusterpoint Network Traffic Surveillance SystemClusterpointweb GUIProprietary?
CommViewTamoSoftNovember 30, 2017 / 6.5 Build 770GUIProprietary$299–$599, $149 1 year subscription
dSniffDug SongDecember 17, 2000 / 2.33CLIBSD LicenseFree
EtherApeJuan ToledoJune 3, 2018 / 0.9.184GUIGNU General Public LicenseFree
EttercapALoR and NaGAAugust 1, 2020 / 0.8.3.1-Bertillon5BothGNU General Public LicenseFree
FiddlerEric Lawrence / TelerikOctober 3, 2019 / 5.0.201946GUIFreewareFree
justnifferThe Justniffer teamMarch 21, 2016 / 0.5.157CLIGNU General Public LicenseFree
KismetMike Kershaw (dragorn)May 2, 2020 / 2020-04-R38CLIGNU General Public LicenseFree
Microsoft Message AnalyzerMicrosoftOctober 28, 2016 / 1.49GUIProprietaryFree
Microsoft Network MonitorMicrosoftJune 24, 2010 / 3.4GUIProprietaryFree
netsniff-ngDaniel BorkmannNovember 7, 2016 / 0.6.2CLIGNU General Public LicenseFree
ngrepJordan RitterSeptember 7, 2017 / 1.47CLIBSD-styleFree
ObserverViavi Solutions (formerly Network Instruments)GUIProprietaryPrice on request
OmniPeek (formerly AiroPeek, EtherPeek)LiveAction (formerly Savvius, WildPackets)November 2017 / 11.1GUIProprietary$1194–$5994, depending on version10
SnifferNetscout (formerly Network General)201311GUIProprietaryNon-free
SteelCentral Transaction AnalyzerOPNET Technologies/Riverbed TechnologyJune 9, 2014 / 17.0.T-PL112GUIProprietaryNon-free
snoopSun MicrosystemsDecember 11, 2006 / Solaris 10CLICDDLFree
tcpdumpThe Tcpdump teamApril 7, 2023 / 4.99.413CLIBSD LicenseFree
Wireshark (formerly Ethereal)The Wireshark teamNovember 22, 2021 / 4.0.614BothGNU General Public LicenseFree
XplicoThe Xplico teamMay 2, 2019 / 1.2.215BothGNU General Public LicenseFree

Operating system support

The utilities can run on these operating systems.

ClientMicrosoft WindowsmacOSLinuxBSDsSolarisOther
Cain and AbelYesNoNoNoNoNo
Capsa Free EditionYesNoNoNoNoNo
CarnivoreYesNoNoNoNoNo
Charles Web Debugging ProxyYesYesYes???
CommViewYesNoNoNoNoNo
dSniff?YesYesYesYes?
EtherApeNoYesYesYesYes?
EttercapYesYesYesYesYes?
justnifferNoYesYesYesYes?
KismetYesYesYesYes??
LanmeterNoNoNoNoNoFluke proprietary hardware
netsniff-ngNoNoYesNoNoNo
ngrepYesYesYesYesYesAIX, BeOS, HP-UX, IRIX, Tru64 UNIX
Microsoft Network MonitorYesNoNoNoNoNo
OmniPeek (formerly AiroPeek, EtherPeek)YesNoNoNoNoNo
snoopNoNoNoNoYesNo
tcpdumpYes (WinDump)YesYesYesYesAIX, HP-UX, IRIX, Tru64 UNIX
Wireshark (formerly Ethereal)YesYesYesYesYesAIX, HP-UX, IRIX, Tru64 UNIX
XplicoNoNoYesNoNoNo

References

  1. "Colasoft Announces Release of Capsa Network Analyzer v11.1 with Enhanced Usability" (Press release). April 25, 2018. https://www.colasoft.com/company/news_2018.php ↩

  2. "Capsa Enterprise Edition & Standard Edition & Free Edition – Colasoft". Archived from the original on January 20, 2013. https://archive.today/20130120010119/http://www.colasoft.com/capsa/editions.php ↩

  3. "CHANGES". monkey.org. http://www.monkey.org/~dugsong/dsniff/CHANGES ↩

  4. "EtherApe, a graphical network monitor". etherape.sourceforge.net. Retrieved March 22, 2020. http://etherape.sourceforge.net/ ↩

  5. "Releases · Ettercap". ettercap-project.org. Retrieved March 22, 2020. https://github.com/Ettercap/ettercap/releases ↩

  6. "Fiddler Release History". Telerik. October 3, 2019. https://www.telerik.com/support/whats-new/fiddler/release-history/ ↩

  7. "justniffer - Browse Files at SourceForge.net". SourceForge. Retrieved September 8, 2022. https://sourceforge.net/projects/justniffer/files/ ↩

  8. "Kismet". kismetwireless.net. Retrieved May 28, 2020. https://www.kismetwireless.net/ ↩

  9. "Download Microsoft Message Analyzer from Official Microsoft Download Center". Microsoft. Archived from the original on August 3, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190803035049/https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=44226 ↩

  10. "store.savvius.com". Archived from the original on August 13, 2016. Retrieved June 3, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160813115749/https://store.savvius.com/index.php ↩

  11. Netscout (2013). 2013 Netscout Sniffer Portable. https://archive.org/details/2013-netscout-sniffer ↩

  12. "SteelCentral Transaction Analyzer". https://support.riverbed.com/content/support/software/steelcentral-npm/transaction-analyzer.html ↩

  13. "Tcpdump/Libpcap public repository". tcpdump.org. Retrieved June 12, 2023. http://www.tcpdump.org/#latest-release ↩

  14. "Wireshark 4.0.6 Released". May 24, 2023. Retrieved June 12, 2023. https://www.wireshark.org/news/20230524.html ↩

  15. "Xplico – Xplico 1.2.2". https://www.xplico.org/archives/1562 ↩