Nmap vs. Wireshark

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Nmap
Score 10.0 out of 10
N/A
Nmap is a free, open source network discovery, mapper, and security auditing software. Its core features include port scanning identifying unknown devices, testing for security vulnerabilities, and identifying network issues.
$7,980
Every Three Months per license
Wireshark
Score 9.5 out of 10
N/A
Wireshark is a free and open source network troubleshooting tool.N/A
Pricing
NmapWireshark
Editions & Modules
Nmap OEM Small/Startup Company Redistribution License - Quarterly Term Maintenance Fee
$7,980
Every Three Months per license
Nmap OEM Mid-Sized Company Redistribution License - Quarterly Term Maintenance Fee
$11,980
Every Three Months per license
Nmap OEM Enterprise Redistribution License - Quarterly Term Maintenance Fee
$13,980
Every Three Months per license
Nmap OEM Small/Startup Company Redistribution License - Annual Maintenance Fee
$14,980
per year per license
Nmap OEM Mid-Sized Company Redistribution License - Annual Maintenance Fee
$19,980
per year per license
Nmap OEM Enterprise Redistribution License - Annual Maintenance Fee
$23,980
per year per license
Nmap OEM Small/Startup Company Redistribution License - Perpetual License
$49,980
one-time fee per license
Nmap OEM Small/Startup Company Redistribution License - 5 year prepay Maintenance Fee
$59,920
Every Five Years per license
Nmap OEM Mid-Sized Company Redistribution License - 5 year prepay Maintenance Fee
$79,920
Every Five Years per license
Nmap OEM Mid-Sized Company Redistribution License - Perpetual License
$79,980
one-time fee per license
Nmap OEM Enterprise Redistribution License - 5 year prepay Maintenance Fee
$95,920
Every Five Years per license
Nmap OEM Enterprise Redistribution License - Perpetual License
$98,980
one-time fee per license
Wireshark
Free
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
NmapWireshark
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsAll perpetual licenses include a six-month trial period during which you can cancel for any reason and receive a full refund of all money paid (including maintenance). The term license is only a 3-month commitment and cal also be terminated with full refund during the first 30 days of the initial quarter.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
NmapWireshark
Features
NmapWireshark
Network Performance Monitoring
Comparison of Network Performance Monitoring features of Product A and Product B
Nmap
5.3
Ratings
43% below category average
Wireshark
-
Ratings
Automated network device discovery5.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Network monitoring10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Baseline threshold calculation9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Alerts3.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Network capacity planning6.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Packet capture analysis2.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Network mapping10.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Customizable reports1.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Wireless infrastructure monitoring2.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Hardware health monitoring5.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
NmapWireshark
Small Businesses
NinjaOne
NinjaOne
Score 9.0 out of 10

No answers on this topic

Medium-sized Companies
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA)
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA)
Score 9.0 out of 10
PRTG
PRTG
Score 8.9 out of 10
Enterprises
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA)
SolarWinds NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA)
Score 9.0 out of 10
PRTG
PRTG
Score 8.9 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
NmapWireshark
Likelihood to Recommend
10.0
(0 ratings)
9.6
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
10.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.4
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
NmapWireshark
Likelihood to Recommend
Nmap is the ideal solution if you are working alot in network environments. If you come to grips with the syntax and the most-used features (the online community helps alot), you will be able to much more quickly and thoroughly troubleshoot networks or check for security vulnerabilities, for instance. It is free to use and is available for Windows and Linux, so I would say it is very much warrented for any network administrator or sysadmin to take it out for a spin.
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Wireshark is great for enterprise networks with large amounts of data traversing the network that need a way to filter and inspect specific traffic by specific parameters (i.e. destination / source IP address, host, or type). There are use-cases for smaller environments, but the amount of time needed to learn how to effectively use the tool may not be beneficial for home / small office users.
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Pros
  • Nmap is very good at discovering systems on your network.
  • Nmap is very good at guessing a systems operating system with a high degree of accuracy.
  • Nmap is good at validating externally facing systems to make sure that unauthorized access is not allowed.
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  • Capture Network Traffic - This really is the essential functionality of Wireshark as without consistent data capture there is nothing to analyze
  • Filtering - We need to often filter for specific data that we are looking for.
  • Live Capture as well as offline analysis - This gives us the flexibility to do what we need to do when we need to do it.
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Cons
  • exporting, There's a serious lack of ability to export the information in a readable format to present to VPs and such. I always find myself doing a lot of data massaging to get it in a pretty format
  • some scans can trigger sensitive IDS/IPS
  • SYN scans can be particularly aggressive and cause problems on remote systems.
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  • It is beginner-friendly as far as installation, but it could use a tutorial.
  • Perhaps there is a way to do this already, but I haven't yet seen it. It would be nice if it could be integrated with a network package that could detect network anomalies, fire up an automated packet analysis, and send a report to an administrator.
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Usability
Nmap uses are very practical and I don't think there is a better tools for what Nmap does. It is open-sources that therefore there is no cost to use it. It offers a number of benefits, including but not limited to network mapping, port scanning and more. It is very reliable as a network scanning tool.
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It's very simple and easy to use, although individuals not used to managing and administering networks would take some time to get familiar with it. Once they have mastered use of the application, it's easy to stay knowledgeable about it, iteration after iteration. It is well supported online through an open-source community network of professionals who are helpful in imparting knowledge and in providing assistance.
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Support Rating
There is a very large support community and a robust selection of add-ons and scripts. Once you get the use down this is one of the most powerful tools and you can find anything you are looking for as far as examples on the web. While not having official support its not lacking by any means.
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I don't believe Wireshark has "true" support as the software is open source. However, there is an active & friendly community around Wireshark that are more than happy to help answer questions. From a comprehensive Wiki and FAQ section on the site to the Ask a Question forum and bug tracker section, there's plenty of support options to make sure your questions and issues are addressed.
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Implementation Rating
No answers on this topic
Simple and easy setup.
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Alternatives Considered
A similar but more basic alternative is available on Android, called Fing. It's very useful for diagnosing issues on networks when you only have your mobile device to hand.
A graphical user interface alternative to Nmap, is Zenmap. It's the official GUI for Nmap and does use Nmap under the hood. It makes things a bit more 'point and click'.
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[Wireshark] is just the go-to application. It's the tool that is taught with in school and at trade conferences. We have not had a need to even look at other tools. It's free, it had a ton of functionality, and it just works without complaint.
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Return on Investment
  • NMap being free of charge has a positive impact on our budget. It is an enterprise-class tool that anyone can download and use.
  • NMap, both command line and GUI, is a very advanced tool that is easy to use, so there's very little learning curve involved, which has a positive impact on productivity and security.
  • A valuable feature that is a huge time saver is that you can compare scans. This saves hours of searching manually for differences in scan results. Faster results means faster mitigation of problems, which can be a real money saver.
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  • If your systems are not working, then of course it is one of the biggest impact on the business
  • Imagine you are not able to send an email because of a network issue. This will definitely become a huge hindrance in your business
  • Wireshark helps you with these types of problems and lets your business run smoothly
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ScreenShots