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NETSCOUT vSTREAM vs Nmap comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 10, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

NETSCOUT vSTREAM
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
86th
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Nmap
Ranking in Network Monitoring Software
27th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
23
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of NETSCOUT vSTREAM is 0.4%, up from 0.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Nmap is 1.1%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Nmap1.1%
NETSCOUT vSTREAM0.4%
Other98.5%
Network Monitoring Software
 

Featured Reviews

KL
Network Engineer at Inniti Network Solution
A user-friendly solution that is easy to install and improves visibility
I would like to see improvements made to the user guide. From my personal experience, it is helpful to see a list of steps describing what to do next in different situations. An example is what to do and what to back up in the case of certain types of failure. There are also cases where a customer can't understand specific features. Enhancements to the user guide would be helpful for this. More features for network fragmentation would be helpful.
Sai Aditya Panda - PeerSpot reviewer
Student at a consultancy with 11-50 employees
Penetration testing has become efficient as I identify open ports and security risks with confidence
Nmap could potentially become a GUI and provide automatic reports with one-click downloads. For example, the report could show all the open ports for an IP address with a professionally formatted report. This is a far-fetched suggestion and not really required, but it could make the work a little better. On a scale of one to ten, I give Nmap a solid nine. I mean, how can you fix something that is not broken? Nmap is already the best, and I do not think there are any other features that can be added. Its job is reconnaissance, so I do not think there is more to add to it. However, if I get any ideas, I will let them know about this.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"One of the valuable features is the packet decoding."
"Sometimes it took a month to troubleshoot something that we can now do within days."
"The generation of KPI-like information that feeds to the nGeniusONE (management) server is the most valuable feature."
"vSTREAM gives us better visibility and reporting about our network infrastructure, allowing for cost-optimization."
"It helps us secure the network infrastructure."
"It works very nicely for troubleshooting, because when a service isn't running for any of your users, you can use Nmap to check it directly and easily determine whether the service is actually running or not."
"The tool's most valuable feature is its scripts. These scripts prove beneficial when security features may obscure or block connections. Nmap helps identify vulnerabilities across different systems, including web servers and various server types."
"It is most efficient network scanner right now."
"The scanning procedure includes UDP ports which sets it apart from competitors."
"The real-time reporting feature of Nmap is particularly valuable. It generates detailed reports on the source and destination IP addresses, the protocols used, and the types of traffic."
"This was my first project, and Nmap was the best tool that I have used to date, and I recommend it to everyone."
"Nmap is free and should stay this way."
 

Cons

"I would like for it to have a smaller footprint of the virtual appliance and better performance."
"Room for improvement exists in filtering in the packet decode."
"The stability is okay, but sometimes we see that the memory on the server is not 100 percent correct and we need to stop and start the software to have it reallocated again."
"I would like to see improvements made to the user guide."
"I would say that this is not a scalable solution."
"The solution's initial setup could be better."
"The solution should increase the number of features under a free license."
"Nmap needs to improve its scanning speed."
"One of the drawbacks of the standard Nmap utility is that it does not come with a graphical user interface, unlike a number of other open-source alternatives such as Zenmap."
"I would like something more user-friendly to use and export data to various software."
"There could be a specific option to check non-pingable endpoints for the product."
"Customization is not very user-friendly in Nmap."
"It takes a bit of time to get familiar with the solution and its options."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Licensing is quite expensive."
"Nmap is open source software, which suits us well because we are a manufacturing company and not an IT company, for example. If we were an IT company, we would probably need to pay for extra support or instead go for another software solution. But as it is, we don't have any need for high-end troubleshooting tools."
"It's an open-source product, and I haven't seen any premiums. Options are available for those who purchase, but for my use case, everything I need is available in the community and forums."
"The solution is free of cost, but there are specific services that we have to buy."
"The solution is free of cost."
"I am using the free version of Nmap."
"Nmap is an open-source product. You don't need a license to install it."
"It's an open-source solution. Commerically, only the support service is available."
"The solution is open source so it is free."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
19%
Energy/Utilities Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Retailer
6%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Construction Company
9%
Government
9%
University
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business10
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise14
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
Earn 20 points
What is your primary use case for Nmap?
My main use case for Nmap is reconnaissance, so identifying open ports or running services and ultimately finding the security risks or vulnerabilities in a system. OS detection is the most importa...
What advice do you have for others considering Nmap?
I think I should be learning more about the commands and how Nmap works so that it will be better for my career. I will do that. There is nothing else to add to it, except a huge thank you to the p...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

vSTREAM
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Metropolitan Police Agency, Banpara, PropertyRoom.com
Lockheed Martin, Eastern Bank Boston, Perspecta, Harris Corporation, Discovery Communication
Find out what your peers are saying about NETSCOUT vSTREAM vs. Nmap and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
900,644 professionals have used our research since 2012.