NETCAP
Amsterdam, Netherlands
What it is
NETCAP turns network packet streams into structured audit records for network analysis, security research, machine learning, and forensics. The free Core edition provides 66+ record types for protocols including TCP, UDP, HTTP, TLS, DNS, and DHCP. It captures live traffic, processes PCAP files, supports distributed collection and HTTP proxy capture, and outputs Protocol Buffers, CSV, JSON streams, and Prometheus metrics. Core is an open-source CLI under GPL-3.0, with community support, binaries for macOS, Windows, and Linux, and Docker images. Pro adds interactive graph analysis, a network activity timeline, investigation notes, and more than 35 analysis modules. It can flag anomalies in decoded traffic and draft incident reports for users to edit. The maker says Pro analyzes captures locally, without an upload step. Pro is offered for macOS, Windows, and Linux and includes email support. Enterprise offers custom pricing, unlimited team seats, priority support with an SLA, custom integrations, and volume licensing. Core includes a Maltego transformation plugin; Pro lists connections with Wireshark, Metasploit, hashcat, John, and BetterCrack. A 14-day Pro trial is available without a credit card.
For and against
For
- Core covers 66+ audit record types
- Processes live traffic and PCAP files
- Outputs CSV, JSON streams, and Prometheus metrics
- Pro analyzes captures locally, according to the maker
- 14-day Pro trial requires no credit card
Against
- Core lists community support
- Enterprise pricing is custom and not listed
- Core is distributed under GPL-3.0
The verdict
NETCAP offers a free CLI for capture and structured records, with Pro adding investigation and anomaly-analysis tools. Pro trial and subscription terms may matter to users evaluating the paid edition.
Who it suits
NETCAP suits people working with network traffic for analysis, security research, machine learning, or forensics. Core is an open-source CLI option, while Pro adds investigation tools and Enterprise offers team-oriented support and licensing.
Plans and prices
Core
66+ audit record types · Protocol Buffers and CSV export · live capture and PCAP analysis · Prometheus metrics
Read 14 Oct 2026 · netcap.io
Pro
Cross-platform desktop app · graph analysis · AI threat detection · timeline analysis
Read 14 Oct 2026 · netcap.io
Enterprise
Unlimited team seats · priority SLA support · custom integrations · on-site training
Read 14 Oct 2026 · netcap.io
On the record
- AI features
- Pro flags anomalies in decoded traffic and drafts incident reports that users can edit before export.netcap.io · read 2 Oct 2026
- API
- The project exposes a Go Writer API for writing Protocol Buffer and CSV audit records, including headers and buffered channels.netcap.io · read 14 Oct 2026
- Capture
- Core captures live network traffic or processes PCAP files, and supports distributed collection and HTTP proxy capture.netcap.io · read 2 Oct 2026
- Container availability
- Docker Hub provides Alpine and Ubuntu Netcap images; the listed image size is 157.3 MB and the repository was updated three months before the page crawl.hub.docker.com · read 14 Oct 2026
- Core architecture
- The Core command-line framework is implemented in Go and uses concurrent multi-core packet processing.netcap.io · read 14 Oct 2026
- Distributed collection
- The framework provides agent and collector components for distributed sensor deployments.docs.netcap.io · read 14 Oct 2026
- Documentation depth
- Documentation includes overview, quickstart, installation, configuration, packet collection, specification, rules, tests, FAQ and API-oriented examples.docs.netcap.io · read 14 Oct 2026
- HTTP proxy
- The proxy component captures web-service traffic through an HTTP reverse proxy, including IPv6 traffic that raw-packet stream reassembly could miss.netcap.io · read 14 Oct 2026
- Independent feature inventory
- The GitHub README describes 83 packet decoders, more than 40 stream decoders, 141+ audit-record types and a built-in React web UI.github.com · read 14 Oct 2026
- Independent project activity
- The public GitHub repository shows about 1.8k stars, 168 forks, GPL-3.0 licensing and a v0.9.0 release dated April 9, 2026.github.com · read 14 Oct 2026
- Integrated tools
- The single binary includes capture, dump, label, collect, agent, proxy, util, export and transform tools.netcap.io · read 14 Oct 2026
- Integrations
- Pro lists handoffs or integrations with Wireshark, Metasploit, hashcat, John, and BetterCrack; Core includes a Maltego transformation plugin.netcap.io · read 2 Oct 2026
- Investigation features
- Pro includes interactive graph analysis, a network activity timeline, investigation notes, and more than 35 analysis modules.netcap.io · read 2 Oct 2026
- License
- Core is GPL-3.0 copyleft; the maker also offers a separately negotiated commercial license for proprietary products.netcap.io · read 14 Oct 2026
- License limitation
- The documentation warns that the research project was not developed or tested for production, may contain undiscovered bugs and can panic on errors.docs.netcap.io · read 14 Oct 2026
- Limit: deployment complexity
- Independent technical notes say Hyperscan acceleration requires libhs through pkg-config, which complicates cross-platform CI/CD.dev.co · read 14 Oct 2026
- Limit: detection tuning
- Independent technical notes say JA4 fingerprinting and YARA rules require tuning against a traffic baseline to reduce false positives.dev.co · read 14 Oct 2026
- Limit: resource use
- Independent technical notes caution that stream reassembly and file extraction can consume substantial memory on large PCAPs or sustained traffic.dev.co · read 14 Oct 2026
