Airtool Pi vs Arkime

Airtool Pi is an iPhone and iPad utility for remote Wi-Fi packet capture. It connects over SSH to Linux-based sensors or Linux endpoints with compatible adapters, starts a capture using selected settings, and saves a PcapNG file locally. Sensors can be added manually or automatically, including WLAN Pi and Oscium Nomad; version history also names WLAN Pi Go and Hamina Clip, and a Raspberry Pi can serve as a sensor. Capture controls include wireless interface, frequency band, channel, channel width, size limits, and an option to discard data-frame payloads. The App Store listing states support for 2.4, 5, and 6 GHz bands and widths from 20 to 320 MHz. Compatible adapters allow simultaneous capture on up to four channels. Files can be shared with Wireshark or another protocol analyzer. Airtool Pi costs $14.99 USD once and requires iOS or iPadOS 18.6 or later.

Arkime is a free, open-source network analysis and session search tool that passively observes traffic and creates searchable session records. It parses layers 3–7 and indexes fields including protocols, DNS names, HTTP headers, TLS/JA4 fingerprints, file hashes, and GeoIP in OpenSearch or Elasticsearch. Operators can store full packets in standard PCAP format or use metadata-only capture, with rules to select traffic for saving. Users can search sessions, inspect packet data, and export results as PCAP or CSV. Cont3xt enriches supported indicators using commercial and OSINT sources, including VirusTotal, Censys, and Shodan; phone enrichment is limited to the U.S. Parliament groups clusters and displays cluster issues and Elasticsearch health. Capture can scale by adding machines or increasing CPU and disk. Arkime has no license fees or paid-only features. Installation guidance covers Linux, recommends Debian or Ubuntu LTS, and links to a container guide. OpenSearch or Elasticsearch is required for session metadata. Authentication options include basic, form, digest, header, and OIDC, while the project advises against anonymous authentication.