Comparison of packet analyzers
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.| Creator | Latest release | User interface | Software license | Cost | |
| Analyze This | Web GUI | N/A | |||
| Cain and Abel | Massimiliano Montoro | / 4.9.56 | GUI | ||
| Capsa | / 11.1 | GUI | |||
| Carnivore | Federal Bureau of Investigation | N/A | |||
| Charles Web Debugging Proxy | Karl van Randow | / 4.1.4 | GUI | $30-$50 | |
| Clarified Analyzer | Clarified Networks | GUI | |||
| Clusterpoint Network Traffic Surveillance System | Clusterpoint | web GUI | |||
| CommView | / 6.5 Build 770 | GUI | |||
| dSniff | Dug Song | / 2.3 | CLI | ||
| EtherApe | Juan Toledo | / 0.9.18 | GUI | ||
| Ettercap | ALoR and NaGA | / 0.8.3-Bertillon | Both | ||
| Fiddler | Eric Lawrence / Telerik | / 5.0.20194 | GUI | ||
| Tim Perry | / v0.1.22 | GUI | |||
| justniffer | The Justniffer team | / 0.5.15 | CLI | ||
| Kismet | Mike Kershaw | / 2020-04-R3 | CLI | ||
| Microsoft Message Analyzer | Microsoft | / 1.4 | GUI | ||
| Microsoft Network Monitor | Microsoft | / 3.4 | GUI | ||
| netsniff-ng | Daniel Borkmann | / 0.6.2 | CLI | ||
| ngrep | Jordan Ritter | / 1.47 | CLI | ||
| Observer | Viavi Solutions | GUI | |||
| OmniPeek | / 11.1 | GUI | |||
| SteelCentral Transaction Analyzer | OPNET Technologies/Riverbed Technology | / 17.0.T-PL1 | GUI | ||
| snoop | Sun Microsystems | / Solaris 10 | CLI | ||
| tcpdump | The Tcpdump team | / 4.9.2 | CLI | ||
| The Tranalyzer team | / 0.8.7lmw1 | CLI | |||
| Wireshark | The Wireshark team | / 3.2.4 | Both | ||
| Xplico | The Xplico team | / 1.2.2 | Both |
Operating system support
The utilities can run on these operating systems.| Client | Microsoft Windows | macOS | Linux | BSDs | Solaris | Other |
| Cain and Abel | ||||||
| Capsa Free Edition | ||||||
| Carnivore | ||||||
| Charles Web Debugging Proxy | ||||||
| Clusterpoint Network Traffic Surveillance System | Any virtual-machine compatible OS | |||||
| CommView | ||||||
| dSniff | ||||||
| EtherApe | ||||||
| Ettercap | ||||||
| Client available for Android | ||||||
| justniffer | ||||||
| Kismet | ||||||
| LANMeter | Fluke proprietary hardware | |||||
| netsniff-ng | ||||||
| ngrep | AIX, BeOS, HP-UX, IRIX, Tru64 UNIX | |||||
| Microsoft Network Monitor | ||||||
| Observer | ||||||
| OmniPeek | ||||||
| SteelCentral Transaction Analyzer | Version 3.5 capture agents on PowerPC only | GUI, plus version 3.5 capture agents | Version 3.5 capture agents on SPARC only | Version 3.5 capture agents on AIX and PA-RISC HP-UX only | ||
| snoop | ||||||
| tcpdump | AIX, HP-UX, IRIX, Tru64 UNIX | |||||
| Wireshark | AIX, HP-UX, IRIX, Tru64 UNIX | |||||
| Xplico |