Angry IP Scanner vs RustScan

Angry IP Scanner is a free, open-source desktop tool for scanning IP addresses and ports. It accepts address ranges, random addresses, or files in any format as scan input. The scanner checks whether hosts respond to pings and can optionally resolve hostnames, identify MAC addresses, and scan ports. It also supports NetBIOS information, favorite IP ranges, web server detection, and customizable openers. Java plugins can extend scanning and data gathering with fetchers, pingers, exporters, and feeders. Results can be saved as CSV, TXT, XML, or IP-Port list files, and a command-line interface is available. It runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows under GPLv2. The maker says installation is unnecessary and that the software can be copied and used anywhere. It is described as particularly useful to network administrators monitoring and managing networks. The FAQ notes that some antivirus vendors have flagged the older ipscan.exe, while saying version 3.x is not detected.

RustScan is a free command-line port scanner for finding open network ports. The project says it can scan all 65,000 ports in three seconds, and discovered ports can be passed automatically to Nmap for further analysis. It supports IPv6, CIDR ranges and file input, with scripting in Python, Lua and Shell. Listed capabilities include service detection, operating-system detection and greppable-text output. RustScan describes adaptive learning that uses information about the scan environment and usage to improve over time. The project also says its continuous integration checks whether the scanner becomes significantly slower than the previous version and aims to ensure accessibility. Cargo is the only officially supported installation method, although releases and package-manager options are also listed. The installation guide recommends Docker and says its image works across systems, including Windows, which is not officially supported. The maintainer says RustScan has been tested only on Linux and that macOS or Windows may have issues; the guide also notes macOS's low open-file limit can significantly affect scanning. The project is licensed under GPL-3.0.