GL PacketScan vs NetworkMiner
GL PacketScan
gl.com
NetworkMiner
netresec.comSide by side
| Figure | GL PacketScan | NetworkMiner |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 3 |
| Spec score · Network Packet Capture Software | 7.4 (#11) | 8.2 (#4) |
| Spec score · Network Protocol Analyzers | 7.4 (#21) | 8.2 (#7) |
| Spec score · Network Packet Analyzer Software | 7.4 (#23) | 8.3 (#8) |
| Founded | 1986 | 2010 |
| Headquarters | Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA | Örsundsbro, Sweden |
| Purpose | PacketScan captures and analyzes live or recorded IPv4 and IPv6 traffic for telecom, enterprise, VoIP, wireless, and mission-critical networks. | NetworkMiner extracts artifacts such as files, images, emails and passwords from captured network traffic in PCAP files and can sniff live network traffic. |
Plans
NetworkMiner
- Free EditionFree
- Single User License$1,300, paid once
- Corporate License$6,500, paid once
In their own words
GL PacketScan
GL PacketScan has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.
NetworkMiner
NetworkMiner analyzes captured network traffic and can sniff live traffic, extracting artifacts such as files, images, emails, and passwords from PCAP files. It also builds a host inventory from IP address information for passive asset discovery and communication overviews. The free edition supports live sniffing and PCAP and ETL parsing on Windows and Linux, but not PcapNG parsing. Professional accepts PcapNG, Pcap-over-IP, and PacketCache data in addition to PCAP, ETL, and live sniffing, and exports results to CSV, JSON-LD, and XML. Its protocol features include file extraction across listed protocols, while VoIP support includes audio extraction from unencrypted calls. Professional also provides OSINT lookups for hashes, IP addresses, domains, and URLs. NetworkMiner does not decrypt HTTPS or other TLS-encrypted sessions. Extracted data stays on the end-user device rather than in the cloud. The source code is GPLv2 free and open source. Netresec warns that opening PCAPs can automatically extract malware and recommends Linux or Windows Sandbox to reduce self-infection risk.