PingPlotter vs tcpdump

PingPlotter monitors network performance and maps network paths to help locate connection problems. It tracks latency, jitter and packet loss, with desktop editions monitoring connections from one Windows or macOS computer. PingPlotter Cloud adds an online dashboard for remote connections, while Insights analyzes network data for incidents, possible causes and fixes. Cloud alert actions can make REST calls to services including Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Chat and JIRA. Webhooks can report agent status or connection-quality changes and link to compatible apps through services such as Zapier and Power Automate. Desktop editions have a 14-day trial; afterward, the free version allows one connection, no remote collection and 10 minutes of monitoring history. Cloud trials last seven days. The free plan is free. Standard Edition starts at $6.99/mo.; Professional Edition is $29 a month, and PingPlotter Cloud is $90 a month. Platforms listed include Windows, macOS, Linux, web and iOS.

tcpdump is a network monitoring and data acquisition tool that captures traffic through libpcap, an interface for user-level packet capture. It provides command-line tools and PCAP support, and the project lists systems including AIX, BSD variants, GNU/Linux, macOS, Solaris, QNX, and Windows. It is free, with source code available through a public Git repository and native packages or ports on many systems.

Building requires libpcap and a C99-compliant compiler. Windows builds also require WinPcap or Npcap and Visual Studio with CMake. The license permits redistribution and use in source and binary forms under its conditions. Capture permissions depend on the operating system and its configuration; the project cautions that permitted users may capture network traffic, including passwords. Native packages may lag a few versions, while a newer snapshot can be compiled from source. The project lists Linux, macOS, and Windows among its platforms.