TrustRadius Insights
Wireshark, a widely utilized network traffic analysis tool, has proven to be invaluable for various user experiences and use cases. Cyber …
Starting at $0
View PricingOverview
What is Wireshark?
Wireshark is a free and open source network troubleshooting tool.
Recent Reviews
Awards
Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards
Pricing
Wireshark
Free
On Premise
Entry-level set up fee?
- No setup fee
Offerings
- Free Trial
- Free/Freemium Version
- Premium Consulting/Integration Services
Product Demos
Local and Remote Sniffing with Wireshark
YouTube
Wireshark demo (simple http)
YouTube
Saving Files From Wireshark
YouTube
Brim Demo
YouTube
How to Use Wireshark's Follow TCP Stream Feature
YouTube
Wireshark SIP Capture
YouTube
Product Details
- About
- Tech Details
- FAQs
What is Wireshark?
Wireshark is a free and open source network troubleshooting tool.
Wireshark Technical Details
| Deployment Types | On-premise |
|---|---|
| Operating Systems | Windows, Linux, Mac |
| Mobile Application | No |
Frequently Asked Questions
Wireshark is a free and open source network troubleshooting tool.
Wireshark starts at $0.
Reviewers rate Support Rating highest, with a score of 10.
The most common users of Wireshark are from Mid-sized Companies (51-1,000 employees).
Comparisons
Compare with
Reviews and Ratings
(135)
Community Insights
TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!
- Business Problems Solved
- Pros
- Cons
- Recommendations
Wireshark, a widely utilized network traffic analysis tool, has proven to be invaluable for various user experiences and use cases. Cyber security professionals rely on Wireshark for research and investigation, allowing them to check network traffic from applications and ensure there are no abnormalities. The software's versatility is demonstrated by its utilization in setting up Capture the Flag challenges, making it an engaging tool for recruiting purposes. Additionally, Wireshark is essential for monitoring network traffic and troubleshooting network-related issues, saving time and effort in problem-solving. It enables system administrators and network administrators to dissect network packets in detail, extract relevant network information, and quickly identify and resolve network problems. The software's free and open-source nature provides cost savings without compromising functionality, making it a preferred choice for users. Its graphical interface makes network packet analysis less cumbersome compared to command-line alternatives. Moreover, Wireshark aids in in-depth analysis of TCAP messages, debugging of network data exchange issues, investigating network issues and locating lost IPs on the network, troubleshooting site-to-site VPN tunnels, identifying unusual activity in network traffic, tracking specific users' data for detection of client/server connectivity issues, aiding in networking and security education with real-time lab environments, capturing and analyzing network traffic for automation purposes, verifying protocol usage, troubleshooting firewall ruleset tests, monitoring traffic patterns, locating desired information within the network using powerful filters, identifying handshake issue algorithm compatibility problems with database servers and clients, diagnosing issues with VOIP phone systems causing dropped calls due to packet loss, capturing network traffic for system information management purposes, addressing ping scan DOS attacks on external locations and severe broadcast storms caused by corrupted NIC drivers on the main network. The versatility of Wireshark extends to various organizations where it is used for network design, testing, operation as well as helping technicians analyze network traffic effectively during troubleshooting at client sites.
Affordable Price: Many users appreciate the low cost of Wireshark, as it provides powerful network analysis capabilities without the need for expensive software. Several reviewers have stated that Wireshark offers a good value for its price.
Packet Analysis Capabilities: The ability to capture, log, and analyze packet data is highly valued by users. Many reviewers have mentioned that this feature allows for detailed troubleshooting and monitoring of network traffic in their feedback on Wireshark.
Real-time Network Visibility: Users find the real-time network data visibility provided by Wireshark to be invaluable. Several customers have mentioned that this feature enables them to monitor network activity promptly and identify any issues or anomalies with ease.
Confusing User Interface: Some users have found the user interface of Wireshark to be confusing, suggesting that it can be improved to make it more user-friendly and intuitive.
Steep Learning Curve: The software has a steep learning curve, with new users finding it overwhelming to see all the columns and colors. This can make it challenging for them to navigate and understand the software.
Lack of User-Friendliness: While acknowledging that Wireshark is not primarily designed for those who are not comfortable with this type of software, some users still mention the lack of a more user-friendly interface. They suggest enhancing the UI/UX to make it more intuitive and easier to use.
Users of Wireshark have made several recommendations based on their experience with the software. The most common recommendations include utilizing the free version, seeking help and documentation online, and exploring all features and capabilities.
Many users recommend using the free version of Wireshark as it is considered a great tool for networking systems and packet analysis. Users appreciate its stability and open-source nature.
To effectively use Wireshark, users advise seeking help and documentation online. They suggest following tutorials and reading the new user guide to understand how to navigate the software's features.
Users also recommend spending time exploring all the features and capabilities of Wireshark, although it may seem overwhelming at first. By doing so, users can fully utilize this powerful network sniffing tool, particularly on Linux systems.
Overall, users consider Wireshark an excellent network packet analyzer that caters to the needs of both network engineers and beginners in network engineering. However, some users caution obtaining security approval before using the software. While they acknowledge that Wireshark may provide more information than expected, they still regard it as a valuable tool for their networking needs.
Attribute Ratings
Reviews
(1-25 of 29)Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
November 02, 2022
Must have tool to work in or with Networks!
Receiving the TCAP messages has been never easy. This opensource tool easily capture TCAP during the calls for me on different INAP services. We also easily evaluate messages through Wireshark now. And we keep track of packet data information exchange between different networks very conveniently. Wireshark helps us now to easily debug the network data exchange issues and fix them quickly.
- Possibility to analyze packets from various interfaces (LAN,Wifi,BT,USB).
- Ability to integrate with GNS3 easily.
- Its a free tool and available on all platforms.
- Provide comprehension analysis on communication protocols.
- Learning curve is a little steep.
- Encrypted network traffic read is a a struggle.
- User interface can be developed
October 31, 2022
The king of software for capturing and analyzing network traffic
Wireshark software is used every day by me and my IT team as a specific tool for capturing and analyzing traffic on our networks. It is super intuitive and complete to identify the different types of protocols that travel through our network and identify anomalies, failures, and prevention of attack problems. We have been using Wireshark for about 3 years, and only with this tool do we have deep details of the inbound and outbound traffic of our lan and wlan network, and we do daily analysis and reports to always seek the best performance and security.
- Ease of capturing and analyzing incoming and outgoing network traffic.
- It allows offline analysis of inspected and captured packages.
- Excellent and friendly interface.
- Large community with great support and advanced feature tips.
- Windows compatible.
- It is bad for parsing very large packets.
- It takes time and patience to analyze all packages.
October 31, 2022
Great open-source tool with a powerful toolset
I have used Wireshark to investigate network issues and mostly find lost IPs on the network. The GUI is amazing as well as the command line's speed works wonders. I also used Wireshark to capture packets to analyse if there were too many DNS requests going through to the local DNS server.
While saying that, I only used it primarily to get a deep understanding of our network.
While saying that, I only used it primarily to get a deep understanding of our network.
- Great UI & Command Line Tools
- Packet capture feature is very good
- It is open source which is the best thing in a tool like Wireshark
- A little bit of intrusion detection feature would help
- Other than that, I don't think it lacks anything
- Perfect little tool
October 31, 2022
Indispensable tool
Its port scans help you find the problem quickly. Recently I had to analyze a company because there was so much traffic on the network.
- Dropped packets
- Latency issues
- I don't miss anything
October 31, 2022
To Wireshark or not
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use Wireshark in a multitude of ways. First, we troubleshoot connectivity issues with it, second, we use it for Firewall ruleset tests and third we use it to monitor odd traffic patterns. We find it most helpful when setting up a new product and a vendor is blaming something on our firewall and we can then show them the logs that the traffic is getting through to their side but no response.
- Packet sniffing
- Traffic pattern recreation
- Traffic monitoring
- More point and click
- Images are difficult to decode
We use Wireshark in our organization to troubleshoot network-related issues, such as when setting up a new site-to-site VPN tunnel and for some reason the connection is not being established. Wireshark would be used to actually gather and examine the packets to see determine why the connection is not being established and to resolve the issue based on the actual captured traffic.
- Captures network traffic
- Categorizes network traffic based on many different categories
- Offers numerous filtering options to reduce unnecessary clutter
- Perhaps Wireshark could offer more regular updates/upgrades.
October 29, 2022
WireShark
We have been using Wireshark for a few years, it allows us to take a deep view of out network and analyze what is being sent and received. We use it a lot when trying to trouble shoot connections that aren't acting how they are programmed to work. It also lets us troubleshoot our microwave network when our routers aren't working properly.
- Inspection of protocols
- Analysis of packets
- Live data
- More user friendly
- A more detailed explanation of certain packets
October 29, 2022
Exactly what we need for our business
We have a lot of clients and there are times when they run into certain network issues when trying to connect to certain apps. With Wireshark we're able to run a packet capture and get more info on what is going on during the communication process so we can pinpoint where the problem lies.
- Packet Capture
- Logging
- N/A
October 29, 2022
Wireshark is the industry standard tool - search no alternative.
Wireshark is the best tool for packet analysis in the market with GUI (in my experience). We use it daily to analyze network traffic, captures packets, monitor interfaces and troubleshoot network problems.
- Easy to use GUI
- Packet capturing is on point
- Rock solid stable
- A lot of functionality
- Great support and maintenance
- Large PCAP files load too long
- Manual query syntax is hard to remember
- Some features are hard to find
October 29, 2022
Quick to deploy and powerfull for deep dive on network
Used to hunt down hard to find issues occuring within the network, great for getting to the bottom of dhcp / dns issues along with any VOIP problem that occurs. Intergrates well with riverbed products to analyse logs. Powerfull set of filters that can narrow down to locate the desired information.
- Analyse VOIP protocol
- See everything occuring on interface
- See bothi inboud and outbound reqeuest
- Better Wizards
- Basic / Pro view
- Limit capture rather than capture everything to reduce log size
October 29, 2022
The best packet analyzer to monitor the application traffic.
Have done troubleshooting of network traffic using this software. It’s helped to dissect the problem up to the granular level of network packets. It was great help identify the the handshake issue algorithm compatibility issues with the database server and client. Without the Wireshark it would be hard to navigate to the root cause of the issue.
- Network packets
- Detailed information
- Troubleshooting
- Learning on how to use.
- More documentation
- View of the application
October 28, 2022
Wireshark...a must-have for an IT toolbox
Wireshark is an incredible problem solving tool. It allows us to see inside of the network to the actual data being transmitted and received from various devices. There is nothing like it that is as quick and easy to use. Often times in troubleshooting networks it's impossible to tell what is actually happening behind the wires and Wireshark gives you that visibility you need.
- Realtime network data visibility
- TCP/IP Packet inspection
- Wired/Wireless network troubleshooting
- Fairly straightforward, but not the simplest program to use
- You do bounce around between windows and clicking various buttons for starting and stopping. While the interface is good, it could be streamlined somewhat
July 27, 2021
Simple Easy Open Source Packet Analyzer
Wireshark is a tool used by our Network Systems and Security Teams to analyze incoming and outgoing traffic to troubleshoot Network Issues. The tool gives end-users the option to filter traffic on specific ports and protocols and provides the ability to select a specific packet and view the entire N/W stream the packet belongs to.
- Analyzing Network Traffic
- Verify is Specific Ports/Traffic is being blocked by N/W device Firewall
- Provided Life Capture and also save a Packet Capture for further analysis
- Provide Dashboard/Graphs to display N/W Traffic
- Trigger Notifications based on certain Traffic received
July 27, 2021
Wireshark Is A Must Have for Network Admins
Wireshark allows us to capture traffic on our network and see if there is any unusual activity that we need to worry about. It also allows us to track specific users' data to find if there are issues relating to client/server connectivity.
- Capture Network Traffic - This really is the essential functionality of Wireshark as without consistent data capture there is nothing to analyze
- Filtering - We need to often filter for specific data that we are looking for.
- Live Capture as well as offline analysis - This gives us the flexibility to do what we need to do when we need to do it.
- A more user-friendly interface would be nice, but then again it is not really designed for those who are not quite comfortable with this type of software.
- Changes to functionality on updates - this can sometimes happen unexpectedly and can be an annoyance.
- More powerful data processing would be welcomed
Wireshark is used at the IT department of our company and those with a lot of development and IT experience. It's being used to troubleshoot when software or script communication fails and troubleshoot network-related issues. It's also being used when we suspect there may be a security flaw and need to analyze packets for potential problems.
- Inspect Network Packets
- Troubleshoot Software Issues
- Solve Router and Switch Problems
- Not for the Novice User
- Trouble Reading Some Types Encrypted Traffic
- Interface Could Use an Update
July 27, 2021
Must have in any security professional's toolbox
Wireshark is one of those tools that should be in every cyber security professional's toolbox. We use Wireshark for research and investigation. When reviewing a new software we will check the network traffic coming from applications to make sure that nothing strange is coming from or to the application.
We also set up various Capture the Flag challenges for recruiting purposes and use Wireshark to set up those challenges.
We also set up various Capture the Flag challenges for recruiting purposes and use Wireshark to set up those challenges.
- Network traffic inspection
- Packet inspection
- API testing/troubleshooting
- Filters can be difficult to remember and formulate. A simple filter set or filter builder would be helpful.
July 27, 2021
Wireshark, a network engineer's secret weapon
Wireshark is used across all of our client sites for in-depth network troubleshooting. Out of all the tools we have at our disposal, the ability to install a managed switch inline with a problematic device and/or workstation allows our technicians to deep dive into the network traffic and locate the issue.
- Network Troubleshooting
- Packet Analysis
- Traffic Filtering
- GUI Interface
- Product Support
- Product Training
July 21, 2021
I haven't needed to look further than Wireshark
We've used Wireshark to investigate and diagnose issues with our VOIP phone system. We were able to capture network traffic in order to troubleshoot/track packet loss that was causing calls to drop. This tool was very effective in allowing us to provide the required information to the provider.
- network traffic capture
- header information
- supports many protocols
- UI/UX experience could be improved
Wireshark was my go-to tool for capturing and analyzing network traffic while building automation technologies (web bots) for years. It allowed me to quickly see what headers, cookies, and data were being sent during web requests and responses. So I could quickly and accurately mimic the data for automation, and it made life so much easier to have all that data collected and presented in one decent interface.
- Captures all kinds of packet data in network traffic
- Save & restore captured packed data
- Show errors and issues in levels below the HTTP protocol
- Can't modify or manipulate things/data on the network (only records data)
- A better interface would be nice - it's functional as-is, but it could use some polish
September 13, 2019
Powerful, Easy to use, Exactly what you need!
I use it as a systems information manager to capture traffic on the network and analyze the packets for various reasons. I have used it to find a ping scan from a wireless network that was DOS'ing an external location, and also have used it to pinpoint a system with a corrupted NIC driver that was causing a severe broadcast storm on our main network.
- Packet capturing
- Packet analysis
- Traffic monitoring and reporting
- It is beginner-friendly as far as installation, but it could use a tutorial.
- Perhaps there is a way to do this already, but I haven't yet seen it. It would be nice if it could be integrated with a network package that could detect network anomalies, fire up an automated packet analysis, and send a report to an administrator.
September 05, 2019
A staple in the network troubleshooting toolbelt
We use Wireshark whenever there is a need for deep-dive packet captures. We usually turn to Wireshark after we have done all other steps in general troubleshooting. Wireshark is being used by both the campus network teams, data center network teams, corporate systems team, and production systems team. It is a great tool not only for network engineers.
- EXTENSIVE detail
- Easy to run, even for non-networking individuals. Makes it so they can run a packet capture on their machine and send to the network team for analysis.
- Lowcost
- Packet capture files get extremely large, extremely quickly.
- Sifting through packet capture can be arduous at times.
- Sometimes it feels almost "too in-depth" and can be overwhelming to look at. Hard to know where to start looking.
July 18, 2019
Wireshark the best friend for network engineers
Wireshark is being used widely in my organization especially in network engineering and operation teams. It's being used for multiple purposes in network design, testing, operation, and troubleshooting.
- Wireshark is easy to use, the user can customize the display layout of the packet based on the user's own interests to only highlight the network layers and parameters being cared about.
- There are plenty of integrated/embedded tools inside Wireshark can be used to perform deep analysis of the different type of network issues.
- Filter and search functionality are so powerful which can be helpful for network issue troubleshooting.
- It's better to integrate some APIs to the high-level users allowing them to design and program their own deep analysis functions to support the work.
- it's better to optimize the algorithm processor a little bit as I will normally have trouble to open a big size packet capture larger than 3GB, the computer will become very slow and take a very long time to open the file and perform any analysis.
July 02, 2019
Dissect your Network Packets with Wireshark!
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Wireshark is used in our organization for monitoring the network traffic and troubleshooting in case we are facing any network related issues. It is one the most used software which lets you dissect the network packet to the tiniest details and pull out any network related information. It is used by our department only and not by everyone across the organization. Our job requires making all the systems and communications across the systems to run smoothly. So we have a constant session running on all the systems via Wireshark and in case of any problem, we quickly dump all the network packets and filter its using amazing filter function of Wireshark and then find out the problem. Without software, it might take hours or even days to solve the problems.
- Light-weight software - Does not require high end specifications; also runs smoothly on Legacy systems
- Filter function - Lets you filter you packets from thousands to tens so as to find your target much easily
- Simultaneous capturing on all the network adapters - You can capture packets from all the Network Interface Cards (NIC's) at once.
- GUI of the software can improve a bit; like some more animations can be added to make it more user friendly
- Some more learning resources can be officially added; like filter query function is much advanced, but everyone does not know how to efficiently use it
- Themes can also be provided to users so that people who work on this software for hours can have a new experience by changing the colors of the software
February 11, 2019
Wireshark is Solid :-)
I use Wireshark almost daily in school. I am in my final quarter of my Bachelor's Degree in Networking and Securities. We use Wireshark both on our real-time environments, virtual environments, and physical lab equipment. We utilize this through the entire I.T. program, and on the network side for the securities pathway.
- Wireshark is SO easy to use! At very first glance, it can be a little overwhelming but after about 2 or 3 times of being walked through instruction, the ease of use makes the packet capture process easy to understand.
- The *(TCP/UDP/HTTP, etc) filters make things very clear, and hides the information that you do not need at the moment. Following the TCP stream is laid out easily to be able to view the intrusion.
- Integrates very well into the virtual environments as well as real-time. It acts on the virtual environment just as if it were on my physical computer.
- There are a lot of troubleshooting features, but at this point in my program, I have not really run into anything too terribly negative to say about Wireshark.
September 25, 2018
Wireshark is free for those who like to snoop without limitations
We/I use Wireshark to capture and to analyze both wireless and wired network traffic. It is an absolutely required tool for any system administrator or network administrator. Our entire IT department uses it. Wireshark is both free and open source software, which, for what it does, saves us a lot of money. This graphical tool is easy to use and makes network packet analysis far less painful than if we had to rely just on the command line. Using Wireshark, we can analyze network traffic for further analysis ourselves or we can capture it and send it as a pcap file to a security consultant for further investigation. It is an essential part of our administrative toolbox.
- Wireshark is easy to use and to collect network traffic with.
- Wireshark color codes network packets based on which type of packet has been captured. This makes the analysis much quicker.
- Wireshark has a lot of different filters that can be applied either during capture or during analysis to filter out uninteresting packets from the feed.
- You can download and use a standalone (not installed) version to run on USB thumb drives or other external media in case you want to analyze a potentially compromised system in place.
- Wireshark requires elevated privileges, which can either be bad or good depending on your perspective.
- It has the standard disadvantage of capturing packets that might not reflect actual network traffic because the data is captured locally. Not a flaw of Wireshark, specifically, but of any locally run sniffing software.
- It can be confusing for new users to see all the columns and colors. You can do a lot of customization but it takes some effort.