Nmap
by Nmap · Open source network discovery and security auditing scanner
30.4 — BenchRank score out of 100
Screenshots of Nmap
Homepage
Overview
Nmap is a free and open source utility for network discovery and security auditing. It uses raw IP packets to determine which hosts are available, what services and versions they offer, what operating systems they run and what packet filters or firewalls are in place. Alongside the command-line scanner, the suite includes Zenmap (GUI), Ncat, Ndiff and Nping.
- Best for
- System and network administrators auditing hosts, services and operating systems on their networks
- Pricing
- No prices are shown; the pages describe Nmap as a free download with source code under the Nmap Public Source License.
- Runs on
- macOSWindowsLinux
Strengths and trade-offs
Strengths
- Free download with full source code you may modify and redistribute
- Runs on Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, BSD, Solaris and others
- Suite adds Zenmap GUI, Ncat, Ndiff and Nping to the scanner
- Man pages, whitepapers, tutorials and a full book are published
Trade-offs
- No warranty; support is community mailing lists and IRC, not a vendor
- Advanced techniques mean command-line work beyond 'nmap -v -A targethost'
- Binaries exist, but otherwise you compile and run it on your own machines
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
- API quality
- 0 out of 100
- Documentation
- 35 out of 100
- Agent friendliness
- 68 out of 100
- Changelog
- 100 out of 100
- Marketing site structure
- 45 out of 100
- Operational trust
- 0 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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