Omnipeek vs Wireshark
Omnipeek
liveaction.comWireshark
wireshark.orgSide by side
| Figure | Omnipeek | Wireshark |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Web | Yes | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 2 |
| Spec score · Network Troubleshooting Software | 7.4 (#10) | 8.2 (#5) |
| Spec score · Network Protocol Analyzers | 7.5 (#19) | 8.2 (#10) |
| Spec score · Network Packet Capture Software | 7.4 (#14) | 8.2 (#6) |
| Spec score · Network Packet Analyzer Software | 7.5 (#21) | 8.3 (#10) |
| Purpose | Omnipeek is a Windows network protocol analyzer for deep packet analysis to resolve network and security issues. | Wireshark captures and interactively browses network traffic as a network protocol analyzer. |
| Support | The datasheet lists a 90-day warranty and product update support by email and phone. | Community support is available through the Q&A site and Wireshark users mailing list. |
Plans
In their own words
Omnipeek
Omnipeek is a Windows network protocol analyzer for examining packet data when investigating network, application, and security problems. It visualizes traffic and provides real-time analysis of hundreds of common network issues, with alerts from expert analysis or configured policy violations. With advanced hardware, it analyzes 1, 10, 40, and 100 Gigabit traffic, 802.11 networks, and voice and video over IP. Voice and video tools include call playback, summary statistics, and signaling or media analysis. LiveWire appliances and virtual software extend monitoring to remote sites, branches, WAN links, and data centers. A USB WiFi adapter supports wireless capture across multiple channels. The datasheet lists Snort and Suricata event imports, LiveCapture connections, third-party authentication, ISO8583 messages, and additional VoIP support. Omnipeek is paid with quote-based pricing, no free plan, and a listed 30-day trial.
Wireshark
Wireshark is a free network protocol analyzer for capturing and examining network traffic. It supports live capture and offline analysis through a graphical interface or the TShark terminal utility, and can inspect hundreds of protocols. Display filters narrow what appears during analysis, though their syntax differs from capture filters. Wireshark reads and writes capture formats including pcap and pcapng, and can decompress gzip-compressed files. Analysis features include VoIP tools, packet coloring rules, and exports to XML, PostScript, CSV, or plain text. It can decrypt traffic for protocols including IPsec, Kerberos, SSL/TLS, WEP, and WPA/WPA2. The software is available for Linux, macOS, and Windows under GNU General Public License version 2, with no license fee for the full version. Windows packages include Npcap, which is needed for live packet capture. What a capture can show depends on the operating system, capture library, network interface, and network configuration; switched networks may not expose unicast traffic between other ports. Community help is available through a Q&A site and users mailing list.