Nmap vs PingPlotter | TrustRadius

Likelihood to Recommend

NMap is well suited to just about any situation, network size, or complexity. Some have brought up the point that NMap's proxy settings need work. I haven't used NMap with a proxy. NMap is my "go to" tool for a cursory security sweep. Once a problem is found, I can perform a deeper dive scan on a system or a network. I wouldn't, and don't, use NMap as my only security tool. No single tool has all the answers. For example, it is not a Wireshark in that it does not capture packets or analyze them. It is basically a port scanner, host discovery, OS detection tool.

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Kenneth Hess

Senior Systems Analyst

CymSTAR, LLCDefense & Space, 201-500 employees

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PingPlotter is great if all you need is a simple latency monitoring tool and the ability to see specifically where packets are being dropped in a nice graphical interface. This can be done with things like WinMTR but what sets it aside from tools like this is it can be run as a service so constant monitoring is available. The alerting is also very useful and flexible.However, when you need detailed monitoring this is obviously not the correct tool.

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Fraser Clark

Network Engineer

People's Postcode LotteryGambling & Casinos, 201-500 employees

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Feature Rating Comparison

Nmap

PingPlotter

Automated network device discovery

Network monitoring

Baseline threshold calculation

Alerts

Network capacity planning

Packet capture analysis

Network mapping

Customizable reports

Wireless infrastructure monitoring

Hardware health monitoring

Pros

Nmap has a unique process of fingerprinting applications/devices to help us identify their communications patterns quicker.
Nmap can be used for network auditing by specifying whole subnets that you would like to scan for open/closed ports.
Nmap has a diverse presence and can be used from most operating systems.

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Roger Mialkowski

Sr. IT Systems Administrator

Zombie ComputersGovernment Administration, 1001-5000 employees

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Latency monitoring
Traceroute
Alerting
It's lightweight

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Fraser Clark

Network Engineer

People's Postcode LotteryGambling & Casinos, 201-500 employees

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Cons

Maybe take some of the features of Zenmap and bake them in?
Include fancy extra graphical results charts or graphs or something to show people who you want to convey info too but have no idea what Nmap is actually doing.
I don't really think I'd change a lot actually.

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Verified User

Administrator in Information Technology

Retail Company, 51-200 employees

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User-interface
Performance of the application
Documentation

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Fraser Clark

Network Engineer

People's Postcode LotteryGambling & Casinos, 201-500 employees

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Support Rating

Nmap 7.9

Based on 18 answers

There is a very large support community and a robust selection of add-ons and scripts. Once you get the use down this is one of the most powerful tools and you can find anything you are looking for as far as examples on the web. While not having official support its not lacking by any means.

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Alan Matson, CCNA:S, MCP

Sr. Network Security Engineer

InsightInformation Technology and Services, 5001-10,000 employees

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PingPlotter 9.0

Based on 1 answer

I have not had much contact with the PingPlotter support, only one time have I went to them and it was a positive experience. The questions I had were answered quickly and professionally. I have no issue with the experience I had with the Support team. This was from before and after the purchase of the product.

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Fraser Clark

Network Engineer

People's Postcode LotteryGambling & Casinos, 201-500 employees

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Alternatives Considered

NMap usually lacks the features of the other network scanners, but for a good reason: most of the other network scanners out there are using NMap as part of their system. The nature of NMap (being open-source) is that it is available for use in other applications; as a result, these other applications make use of the NMap source code.

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Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology

Government Administration Company, 1001-5000 employees

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I have tried a few free products and some paid ones but never really did what I wanted. I just needed a simple, always-on link monitor specifically with a traceroute element and this is what PingPlotter delivers. The others were either overly complex or too expensive, some just didn't have what I needed. PingPlotter fills a niche and it does it well.

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Fraser Clark

Network Engineer

People's Postcode LotteryGambling & Casinos, 201-500 employees

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Return on Investment

Positive return as it's open-source (free) on all OS's.
If a person is not used of the command line there are a ton of front ends that make it point-and-click so the learning curve is good. That cuts down on time and manpower.

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Verified User

Technician in Information Technology

Oil & Energy Company, 11-50 employees

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Ability to work out where the network was degrading, reduced time spent arguing about where issues lie.
Always able to see the latency of certain links.
Very cheap for a lifetime license, it definitely has given us value for the money.

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Fraser Clark

Network Engineer

People's Postcode LotteryGambling & Casinos, 201-500 employees

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Pricing Details

General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

Nmap Editions & Modules

—

Additional Pricing Details

—

General

Free Trial

Yes

Free/Freemium Version

Yes

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

PingPlotter Editions & Modules

On-premise Edition

PingPlotter Free	$0¹
PingPlotter Standard	39.99¹
PingPlotter Professional	$349¹

per user

SaaS Edition

PingPlotter Free	$0¹
PingPlotter Standard	6.99²
PingPlotter Professional	$29²

per user
per user per month

Additional Pricing Details

—

Rating Summary

Nmap

PingPlotter

Nmap

PingPlotter

Nmap

PingPlotter

Likelihood to Recommend

Nmap

PingPlotter

Feature Rating Comparison

Automated network device discovery

Network monitoring

Baseline threshold calculation

Alerts

Network capacity planning

Packet capture analysis

Network mapping

Customizable reports

Wireless infrastructure monitoring

Hardware health monitoring

Pros

Nmap

PingPlotter

Cons

Nmap

PingPlotter

Support Rating

Nmap

PingPlotter

Alternatives Considered

Nmap

PingPlotter

Return on Investment

Nmap

PingPlotter

Screenshots

Nmap

PingPlotter

Pricing Details

General

Free Trial

Free/Freemium Version

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

Entry-level set up fee?

Nmap Editions & Modules

Additional Pricing Details

General

Free Trial

Free/Freemium Version

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

Entry-level set up fee?

PingPlotter Editions & Modules

On-premise Edition

SaaS Edition

Additional Pricing Details

Rating Summary

Add comparison