Wireshark
by Wireshark · Open-source network protocol analyser for capturing and inspecting traffic
30.6 — BenchRank score out of 100
Screenshots of Wireshark
Homepage
Overview
Wireshark is an open-source network protocol analyser that captures traffic on a computer network and lets you browse it interactively, with deep inspection of hundreds of protocols. It is installed locally, with a stable 4.6.7 release available for Windows x64 and Arm64, macOS, Ubuntu and as source code. The source is licensed under the GNU GPL.
- Best for
- Network and security engineers who need to capture and inspect live traffic packet by packet.
- Pricing
- No prices are shown; the software is free and open source under the GPL, funded by donations, membership and sponsorship.
- Runs on
- macOSWindows
Strengths and trade-offs
Strengths
- Free and open source under the GNU GPL
- Deep inspection of hundreds of network protocols
- Builds for Windows x64/Arm64, macOS, Ubuntu and source
- User's guide, wiki, sample captures and FAQ published
Trade-offs
- Locally installed desktop tool; no hosted or managed service is shown
- Support is community-led via mailing lists, Discord and Ask Wireshark
- Three release lines to track: 4.6.7 stable, 4.4.17 old stable, 4.7.2 dev
How this score is made up
Each dimension is scored out of 100 and combined into the headline score using fixed weights.
- MCP support
- 0 out of 100
- Documentation
- 25 out of 100
- Agent friendliness
- 53 out of 100
- Customer sentiment
- 80 out of 100
- Changelog
- 0 out of 100
- Marketing site structure
- 50 out of 100
- Operational trust
- 10 out of 100
Measured, but not part of the score
Useful to know, but not a mark for or against the product — so these do not affect the ranking.
- Openness
- 40 out of 100
- Maintenance
- 100 out of 100
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