Acrylic Wi-Fi Heatmaps vs iwScanner
Acrylic Wi-Fi Heatmaps
acrylicwifi.comiwScanner
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| Figure | Acrylic Wi-Fi Heatmaps | iwScanner |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 8 | 1 |
| Spec score · Wi-Fi Analyzer Software | 8.2 (#5) | 7.5 (#16) |
| Purpose | Acrylic Wi-Fi Heatmaps is a WiFi planning and site survey tool for designing, analyzing, and finding problems in WiFi networks. | iwScanner is a wireless scanner for Linux with a graphical interface. |
Plans
Acrylic Wi-Fi Heatmaps
- Acrylic Wi-Fi Heatmaps Basic — 1 Year$69, paid once
- Acrylic Wi-Fi Heatmaps Advanced — 1 Year$89, paid once
- Acrylic Wi-Fi Heatmaps Basic — 3 Months$99, paid once
- Acrylic Wi-Fi Heatmaps Advanced — 3 Months$119, paid once
- Acrylic Wi-Fi Heatmaps Basic — 1 Month$129, paid once
- Acrylic Wi-Fi Heatmaps Advanced — 1 Month$149, paid once
- Acrylic Wi-Fi Heatmaps Basic — Perpetual$2,199, paid once
- Acrylic Wi-Fi Heatmaps Advanced — Perpetual$2,399, paid once
In their own words
Acrylic Wi-Fi Heatmaps
Acrylic Wi-Fi Heatmaps is Windows software for planning WiFi layouts and surveying existing networks to identify coverage and performance problems. It supports WiFi 7 across the 2.4, 5, and 6 GHz bands. For planning, users can model walls and building materials, place access points, configure antennas, and simulate coverage. Indoor and outdoor surveys can produce as many as 15 heatmap types, including 3D views. Survey measures include signal strength, interference, channel overlap, SNR, per-channel and access-point coverage, and device density. The WiFi Quality module provides Web browsing and VoIP profiles, with options to define other quality controls. Reports are editable and export to DOCX, CSV, and KMZ; English, Spanish, French, and German are available. Spectrum analysis can use Wi-Spy or Oscium hardware, while GPS can use an embedded receiver or compatible NMEA 0183 dongle. It requires Windows 10 or 11,.NET Framework 4.5, at least 1 GB of memory, and a WiFi adapter. Monitor mode capture requires an Advanced license. Listed plans start at $69, paid once for Basic — 1 Year; the pricing note also lists a 5-day trial.
iwScanner
iwScanner is a free Linux wireless scanner with a graphical interface. It detects wireless networks and displays each access point, MAC address, channel, and encryption type. A signal chart shows the strength of detected networks, and scanning speed can be adjusted. The program uses wireless-tools and is ready to run when iwlist is available. It is designed in Glade and written in Python; the maker says PyGTK is needed in a Linux environment. iwScanner can open and save NetDetect (.ndd) and NetStumbler (.ns1) files, and the source is included with the download. The latest listed release is version 0.2.4, dated 2010-04-15, offered as an Ubuntu deb package and a generic Linux tarball. That release fixes networks being incorrectly detected as WPA2. Notes for version 0.2.3 add support for the rt2860sta card. The maker identifies Renzo Bertuzzi as author and invites email contact.