memwatch vs scanmem
memwatch
github.comscanmem
github.comSide by side
| Figure | memwatch | scanmem |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Game Memory Editors | 7.0 (#15) | 7.8 (#7) |
| Installation | The README gives source-build steps using phosg and libamd64, followed by make and sudo make install. | The README documents building from source with autotools and offers build instructions with or without the GUI. |
| Purpose | memwatch searches and modifies variables in a running process’s memory through an interactive interface. | scanmem is an interactive debugging utility for isolating and modifying a variable’s address in an executing process. |
| Support | The README asks users to let the author know if the program does not work on their system. | The README points users to man pages, the command-line help, and GameConqueror's interactive help for documentation. |
Plans
In their own words
memwatch
memwatch is a free, open-source macOS utility for searching and changing values in a running process’s memory through an interactive interface. Searches can target strings, floating-point numbers in 32- or 64-bit formats, and signed or unsigned integers from 8 to 64 bits. Comparisons such as equal, greater than, or less than can narrow results. Once values are found, memwatch can read, write, monitor, freeze, or unfreeze them. Its interface also has commands to pause and resume a target process and send it Unix signals, though execution-state support is described as experimental. The project presents memwatch as a macOS memory editor and says it should build and run on recent OS X versions. Its author describes using it for game cheats and as a debugging aid alongside tools such as gdb. Installation requires building from source with phosg and libamd64, then running make and sudo make install. Attaching to a target process uses sudo. The MIT License permits use without charge and supplies the software without warranty.
scanmem
scanmem is a free, open-source interactive debugging utility for finding and changing variable values in an executing process. It searches a process by PID and uses values observed over successive scans to narrow the possible memory addresses. The command-line tool can search for exact values, compare changed or unchanged values, find increases or decreases, take snapshots, and search strings when configured for string scans. It can monitor matches as their values change and set values for selected matches or all known matches. GameConqueror provides a graphical front end with a process finder, flexible search syntax, variable locking, and a memory browser and editor; users can choose search regions and types. The project separates the command-line frontend from libscanmem, which performs the scanning. The project describes scanmem as a Linux utility and documents an Android build using a standalone Android NDK toolchain. Linux interactive commands require libreadline and a mounted /proc filesystem, while the GUI has additional dependencies. The default scan data type is int, though the option command can change it. scanmem is GPLv3; libscanmem is LGPLv3.