IDA Pro vs PE Explorer
IDA Pro
hex-rays.comPE Explorer
pe-explorer.comSide by side
| Figure | IDA Pro | PE Explorer |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $91.58/mo | $4.92/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 7 | 8 |
| Spec score · Reverse Engineering Tools | 8.2 (#11) | 7.6 (#30) |
| Founded | 2005 | 2000 |
| Purpose | IDA Pro is a disassembler, decompiler and debugger for analyzing processors, file formats and software. | PE Explorer inspects, edits, and repairs Windows Portable Executable files, including EXE and DLL files. |
| Support | Hex-Rays provides a support ticket channel for assistance from its support team. | The support page says the team usually replies to emails requiring a response within one business day. |
Plans
IDA Pro
- IDA FreeFree
- IDA Pro Essential$1,099 a year
- IDA Pro Expert 2$2,999 a year
- IDA Pro Expert 4$4,999 a year
- IDA Pro Expert 6$6,899 a year
- IDA Pro Ultimate$8,599 a year
- IDA Pro OEMPriced on request
PE Explorer
- Personal License – Update and Support Renewal$59 a year
- 1 User License – Update and Support Renewal$115 a year
- Personal (Home) License$129, paid once
- Business License$229.95, paid once
- 5 User License – Update and Support Renewal$449 a year
- 10 User License – Update and Support Renewal$799 a year
- 5 User Business License$949.95, paid once
- 10 User Business License$1,599, paid once
In their own words
IDA Pro
IDA Pro is a disassembler, decompiler and debugger for analyzing processors, file formats and software. It supports disassembly for more than 60 processor families, and its debugger works with multiple targets, including remote applications. The bundled gooMBA plug-in uses algebraic and program-synthesis techniques, heuristics and an SMT solver to simplify obfuscated binaries. Automation options include the IDA C++ SDK, IDAPython API, IDAT command-line functions and the idalib headless library. Teams can work with GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Gitea or another Git remote, with Git LFS support for large IDB files. Private Lumina is a self-hosted add-on that restricts a knowledge base to authorized users; it exchanges function hashes and metadata rather than entire byte patterns. IDA Pro runs on Linux, macOS and Windows. The IDA Pro Essential plan costs $1,099 a year, with a one-year minimum commitment and no monthly payments. Hex-Rays states that there is no free trial and points users to IDA Free for checking basic capabilities.
PE Explorer
PE Explorer has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.