EtherApe vs Wireshark
EtherApe
etherape.sourceforge.ioWireshark
wireshark.orgSide by side
| Figure | EtherApe | Wireshark |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 2 |
| Spec score · Network Protocol Analyzers | 7.8 (#17) | 8.2 (#10) |
| Spec score · Network Packet Analyzer Software | 7.7 (#20) | 8.3 (#10) |
| Capture limitation | EtherApe sees traffic physically passing the network card; on switched networks it generally sees local or broadcast traffic unless traffic is mirrored to its port or it is placed at a gateway. | The traffic visible to Wireshark depends on the operating system, capture library, network interface, and network configuration; switched networks may not expose unicast traffic between other ports. |
| Filtering | Traffic display can be refined with network filters using pcap syntax. | Users can filter packets using many criteria, including display filters for addresses, ports and protocols. |
| License | The project describes EtherApe as open-source software released under the GNU General Public License. | Wireshark is open-source software released under the GNU General Public License version 2, and the downloaded version is the full version without a license fee. |
| Purpose | EtherApe is a graphical network monitor modeled after etherman that displays network activity visually. | Wireshark captures and interactively browses network traffic as a network protocol analyzer. |
| Support | The project directs users to SourceForge bug reporting and provides mailing lists and discussion forums. | Community support is available through the Q&A site and Wireshark users mailing list. |
Plans
In their own words
EtherApe
EtherApe has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.
Wireshark
Wireshark is a free network protocol analyzer for capturing and examining network traffic. It supports live capture and offline analysis through a graphical interface or the TShark terminal utility, and can inspect hundreds of protocols. Display filters narrow what appears during analysis, though their syntax differs from capture filters. Wireshark reads and writes capture formats including pcap and pcapng, and can decompress gzip-compressed files. Analysis features include VoIP tools, packet coloring rules, and exports to XML, PostScript, CSV, or plain text. It can decrypt traffic for protocols including IPsec, Kerberos, SSL/TLS, WEP, and WPA/WPA2. The software is available for Linux, macOS, and Windows under GNU General Public License version 2, with no license fee for the full version. Windows packages include Npcap, which is needed for live packet capture. What a capture can show depends on the operating system, capture library, network interface, and network configuration; switched networks may not expose unicast traffic between other ports. Community help is available through a Q&A site and users mailing list.