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.
Basic general information about the software—creator/company, license/price, etc.
| Creator | Latest release | User interface | Software license | Cost | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Allegro Network Multimeter | Allegro Packets | July 20, 2023 / v4.0.4 | web GUI | Proprietary | Non-free, price on request, depending on device and extensions |
| Cain and Abel | Massimiliano Montoro | April 7, 2014 / 4.9.56 | GUI | Freeware | Free |
| Capsa | Colasoft | April 24, 2018 / 11.1 [1] | GUI | Proprietary | $0–$995, depending on version [2] |
| Carnivore | Federal Bureau of Investigation | ? | ? | N/A | ? |
| Charles Web Debugging Proxy | Karl van Randow | July 10, 2017 / 4.1.4 | GUI | ? | $30–$50 (Free Trial) |
| Clarified Analyzer | Clarified Networks | GUI | Proprietary | Non-free | |
| Clusterpoint Network Traffic Surveillance System | Clusterpoint | web GUI | Proprietary | ? | |
| CommView | TamoSoft | November 30, 2017 / 6.5 Build 770 | GUI | Proprietary | $299–$599, $149 1 year subscription |
| dSniff | Dug Song | December 17, 2000 / 2.3 [3] | CLI | BSD License | Free |
| EtherApe | Juan Toledo | June 3, 2018 / 0.9.18 [4] | GUI | GNU General Public License | Free |
| Ettercap | ALoR and NaGA | August 1, 2020 / 0.8.3.1-Bertillon [5] | Both | GNU General Public License | Free |
| Fiddler | Eric Lawrence / Telerik | October 3, 2019 / 5.0.20194 [6] | GUI | Freeware | Free |
| justniffer | The Justniffer team | March 21, 2016 / 0.5.15 [7] | CLI | GNU General Public License | Free |
| Kismet | Mike Kershaw (dragorn) | May 2, 2020 / 2020-04-R3 [8] | CLI | GNU General Public License | Free |
| Microsoft Message Analyzer | Microsoft | October 28, 2016 / 1.4 [9] | GUI | Proprietary | Free |
| Microsoft Network Monitor | Microsoft | June 24, 2010 / 3.4 | GUI | Proprietary | Free |
| netsniff-ng | Daniel Borkmann | November 7, 2016 / 0.6.2 | CLI | GNU General Public License | Free |
| ngrep | Jordan Ritter | September 7, 2017 / 1.47 | CLI | BSD-style | Free |
| Observer | Viavi Solutions (formerly Network Instruments) | GUI | Proprietary | Price on request | |
| OmniPeek (formerly AiroPeek, EtherPeek) | LiveAction (formerly Savvius, WildPackets) | November 2017 / 11.1 | GUI | Proprietary | $1194–$5994, depending on version [10] |
| Sniffer | Netscout (formerly Network General) | 2013 [11] | GUI | Proprietary | Non-free |
| SteelCentral Transaction Analyzer | OPNET Technologies/Riverbed Technology | June 9, 2014 / 17.0.T-PL1 [12] | GUI | Proprietary | Non-free |
| snoop | Sun Microsystems | December 11, 2006 / Solaris 10 | CLI | CDDL | Free |
| tcpdump | The Tcpdump team | April 7, 2023 / 4.99.4 [13] | CLI | BSD License | Free |
| Wireshark (formerly Ethereal) | The Wireshark team | November 22, 2021 / 4.0.6 [14] | Both | GNU General Public License | Free |
| Xplico | The Xplico team | May 2, 2019 / 1.2.2 [15] | Both | GNU General Public License | Free |
The utilities can run on these operating systems.
| Client | Microsoft Windows | macOS | Linux | BSDs | Solaris | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cain and Abel | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Capsa Free Edition | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Carnivore | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Charles Web Debugging Proxy | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
| CommView | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| dSniff | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| EtherApe | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| Ettercap | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| justniffer | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| Kismet | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
| Lanmeter | No | No | No | No | No | Fluke proprietary hardware |
| netsniff-ng | No | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| ngrep | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | AIX, BeOS, HP-UX, IRIX, Tru64 UNIX |
| Microsoft Network Monitor | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| OmniPeek (formerly AiroPeek, EtherPeek) | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| snoop | No | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| tcpdump | Yes (WinDump) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | AIX, HP-UX, IRIX, Tru64 UNIX |
| Wireshark (formerly Ethereal) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | AIX, HP-UX, IRIX, Tru64 UNIX |
| Xplico | No | No | Yes | No | No | No |