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Wireshark pros and cons

Vendor: Wireshark
4.5 out of 5

Pros & Cons summary

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Prominent pros & cons

PROS

Wireshark features tools like tshark for parsing large packet-capture files efficiently, facilitating the analysis of extensive data without opening them.
The software offers deep packet inspection and detailed analysis capabilities, which are crucial for network security troubleshooting and understanding network activities at a granular level.
It supports advanced filtering options, allowing users to segregate and examine network traffic effectively, which aids in targeted analysis and troubleshooting.
Wireshark is equipped with features for decrypting traffic and conducting thorough analyses, which are beneficial in forensic investigations and network monitoring.
The colorization of protocols in the interface helps in quickly identifying specific network activities and issues, enhancing the user's ability to diagnose and resolve network problems efficiently.

CONS

Wireshark's command line tools need more emphasis and ease of application is lacking.
The search function would benefit from live descriptions to ease usage and reduce the learning curve.
It struggles with handling big trace files efficiently without external tools.
Compatibility issues arise with different operating systems, notably between Windows and Linux.
Wireshark faces difficulties with decryption of encrypted packets and requires improved support for automation.
 

Wireshark Pros review quotes

it_user393891 - PeerSpot reviewer
ArcSight Engineer at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees
Jan 8, 2018
Packet-capture files can be hard to use due to their size. Wireshark has a tool called tshark that can parse the files with out opening them so that you can take large captures, say 2-10GB, and return only relevant information.
it_user260115 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Network Engineer at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Jan 10, 2018
The drill-down available for packet analysis is great. It gives a network security engineer insight into what is going on at the packet level and enables better troubleshooting.
YD
Sr. Security Engineer at SugarCRM
Feb 6, 2018
I can save the traffic and analysis when I want to. Also, it's especially helpful to follow the stream (TCP, UDP, etc.).
Learn what your peers think about Wireshark. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2026.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.
it_user461535 - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Engineer at a tech company with 10,001+ employees
Feb 8, 2018
It gives us the ability to pinpoint problems and to communicate network problems with software and hardware vendors.
Henry A. McKelvey - PeerSpot reviewer
NextGen TV (ATSC 3.0) Systems Engineer at PeerSpot
Mar 16, 2020
I use the filters very often, to determine what type of traffic I am looking for. The use of filter allows traffic to be segmented so that a value can be looked at individually apart from the other traffic.
BW
Owner at QOS NETWORKING INC
Jan 30, 2021
It has a good syntax to put the commands in and get information out of.
reviewer1561449 - PeerSpot reviewer
Founder and CEO at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
May 5, 2021
Being able to dissect email data and figure out what is inside email messages was the most valuable feature. Such a feature is pretty helpful for an ongoing forensic investigation or when there is a potential insider threat that you are trying to investigate. It allows you to see the network activity of the users you are investigating. It also gives you more visibility into your network. It was very easy to set up. There is a lot of information out there on Google and YouTube about how to use it. There is also community support. If you have any trouble, it is pretty easy to find an answer online. You will have to do some digging only if you have a very specific use case.
TN
Network Specialist at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
May 4, 2022
It's easy to troubleshoot issues because there's a large online community.
ASM Naushad Alam - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Manager at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
May 10, 2022
The most valuable feature is the traffic gate, which shows which IPs are getting more bandwidth or traffic.
reviewer1527936 - PeerSpot reviewer
Competence Center Manager at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
May 18, 2022
The most valuable feature of Wireshark is the ability to choose a destination of flow that has not been working as expected.
 

Wireshark Cons review quotes

it_user393891 - PeerSpot reviewer
ArcSight Engineer at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees
Jan 8, 2018
The product is great but I wish there were more of an emphasis on the command line tools.
it_user260115 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Network Engineer at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Jan 10, 2018
The Wireshark search function shows green for a correct search and red for an incorrect search. If there were a way to provide a description about what a search - and the similar ones which are available - can do, while a person is typing it, it would make the product easier to use and simultaneously decrease the learning curve.
YD
Sr. Security Engineer at SugarCRM
Feb 6, 2018
It needs the ability to follow multiple interfaces for specific traffic from different network zones/virtual networks. It would help to understand how any packet is going through the network.
Learn what your peers think about Wireshark. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2026.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.
it_user461535 - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Engineer at a tech company with 10,001+ employees
Feb 8, 2018
Big trace files (more than 1,000,000 packets) can be slow, but then you can use "TraceWrangler" (also free) to help with slicing and dicing the data.
Henry A. McKelvey - PeerSpot reviewer
NextGen TV (ATSC 3.0) Systems Engineer at PeerSpot
Mar 16, 2020
The system could be improved upon by adding a better and more powerful data processing engine.
BW
Owner at QOS NETWORKING INC
Jan 30, 2021
The only thing that I don't like is sometimes there is an update, and something that I was using is either no longer there or it has changed.
reviewer1561449 - PeerSpot reviewer
Founder and CEO at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
May 5, 2021
Its user interface was a little less friendly. They can make its user interface a little bit more friendly. It is for technical people, and most of the technical people would be able to figure it out, but it would be good to improve its user interface. They can maybe build artificial intelligence into it. Currently, it takes a lot of manpower to analyze and dissect all the data.
TN
Network Specialist at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
May 4, 2022
DNS could be improved.
ASM Naushad Alam - PeerSpot reviewer
Network Manager at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
May 10, 2022
Wireshark could be improved by adding more monitoring features.
reviewer1527936 - PeerSpot reviewer
Competence Center Manager at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
May 18, 2022
I would like to see Wireshark improve the ease of application of the command. The command is very powerful, but not easy to apply.