NetworkMiner vs PcapAI

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.

PcapAI analyzes PCAP and PCAPNG network captures and creates security reports. Its machine-learning models evaluate packet context and relate findings to MITRE ATT&CK techniques. Reports are downloadable PDFs with risk scores, packet evidence, findings, and remediation steps. The service detects plaintext credentials, NTLM hashes, Kerberos tickets, and session tokens, then masks discovered credentials in reports. It also surfaces retransmissions, per-flow latency, TCP Zero Window events, and ARP conflicts. The homepage offers free uploads without an account; compressed archives are not accepted, and file-size limits vary by plan. Options include web, API, Windows, macOS, Linux, and self-hosted use. An open-source MCP Server supports local analysis with AI assistants such as Claude Desktop; the maker says packet data stays on the device. The Advanced plan includes API access, and the maker describes sending findings to Splunk, Elastic SIEM, or Microsoft Sentinel. Pricing includes a $9.00 USD one-time Single Report, monthly and annual plans, and one-time packs.