Netdisco vs Scanopy

Netdisco is free, self-hosted network management software for administrators of small through very large networks. It gathers IP and MAC address data into PostgreSQL through SNMP, command-line interfaces, or device APIs. A lookup by MAC address or IP can show the connected switch port, which administrators can disable or change for VLAN or PoE status. Netdisco inventories hardware by model, vendor, software, and operating system, and preserves historical system IP and location data. It can draw network diagrams and expose search and retrieval through an API. The distribution includes a web interface, backend daemon, and command-line interface; the maker says it runs on Linux or Unix and provides Docker images. Installation requires Perl 5.10 or later and PostgreSQL 9.6 or later. The first setup requires manually discovering a network device that knows its neighbors. Plugins can add interface or backend commands and actions.

Scanopy discovers and documents network hosts, services, and topology from scans. It produces Physical (L2), Logical (L3), Workloads, and Applications views, then refreshes documentation on a schedule rather than continuously polling. Discovery uses a single daemon on the network, with no agents required on individual endpoints. Listed integrations include Docker, Podman, Instant On, UniFi Controller, gNMI, and SNMP; Instant On and gNMI are marked beta. Depending on the plan, diagrams and data can be exported or shared in formats including PNG, SVG, HTML, PDF, Mermaid, Confluence, and CSV. API access is listed for paid plans, and the API has a limit of 300 requests per minute. The self-hosted, open-source Community Edition has no time restriction and is limited to one network and one seat. Paid plans start at $11.99 a month billed yearly. Scanopy documents assets and connections, but is not a replacement for monitoring device health, bandwidth, or alerts.