Nmap vs Wireshark

Side-by-side comparison of Nmap and Wireshark to help you choose the right tool.

Feature	Nmap	Wireshark
Pricing	Free	Free
Rating	⭐ 4.8/5	⭐ 4.7/5
Categories	vulnerability-scanning, network-security, pentesting	network-security, pentesting
Host discovery and port scanning	✅	❌
Service and version detection	✅	❌
OS fingerprinting	✅	❌
Nmap Scripting Engine (NSE)	✅	❌
Output in multiple formats	✅	❌
Zenmap GUI available	✅	❌
Deep protocol inspection	❌	✅
Live capture and offline analysis	❌	✅
Rich display filter language	❌	✅
VoIP analysis	❌	✅
Decryption support for many protocols	❌	✅
Export to multiple formats	❌	✅

Network discovery and security auditing tool

Try Nmap →

Network protocol analyzer

Try Wireshark →