Compare products

Put two or three cybersecurity products side by side and see how they differ on deployment, pricing, features, integrations and compliance.

NcatZeek2 of 3 products

Side-by-side comparison of Ncat, Zeek
Product	Ncat by Nmap View product	Zeek by Zeek View product
Overview
What it is	See what Ncat offers: connection brokering. It is built for network debugging, supports on-premises deployment and competes with other Network Security tools.	What does Zeek do? It covers file hash extraction and high-speed packet capture. See typical use cases, self-hosted deployment and how it compares to rivals.
Product type	Modern Network Utility & Encrypted Connection Tool (Netcat Reimplementation)	Open-Source Network Security Monitoring & Behavioral Analysis Engine
Best for	Technology, Government, Defense, Education, Financial Services, Healthcare, Higher Education, Telecommunications, Finance	Cybersecurity, SOC Teams, Network Engineering, Defense, Research, Telecom
Pricing
Pricing model	Contact Vendor	Contact Vendor
Free trial	Free trial: yes	Free trial: yes
Deployment
Deployment options	On-Premise	CloudOn-Premise
Deployment details	On-premises; CLI Utility; Portable; Command-line utility; Portable binary; Linux package manager	Open Source; Self-hosted Software; Self-hosted Software Engine; Hardened Appliance; Cloud Virtual Sensor
Data residency	Local device only (no cloud data transmission)	Customer Infrastructure Dependent (Completely Self-Contained)
Key features
What it offers	SSL/TLS encrypted connections IPv4 and IPv6 support Connection brokering HTTP and SOCKS proxying Access control lists (allow/deny) Lua scripting engine Network debugging Firewall egress testing	Stateful network protocol analysis Structured transaction logging (HTTP/DNS/TLS) File hash extraction Event-driven domain scripting language High-speed packet capture Network security monitoring Network forensic investigation Protocol transaction logging
Platform & access
API access	API access: no	API access: no
Single sign-on (SSO)	SSO: no	SSO: no
Role-based access (RBAC)	RBAC: no	RBAC: yes
Multi-tenant	Multi-tenant: no	Multi-tenant: no
Mobile app	Mobile app: no	Mobile app: no
Supported platforms	LinuxWindowsmacOSBSDSolarisEmbedded systems	Enterprise NetworksDatacenter FabricsMulti-Cloud VPCsMonitoring Taps
Compliance	Open Source GPLv2Defense Information Assurance ready	BSD LicenseCommon CriteriaNetwork Standards
Integrations & coverage
Integrations	Nmap suiteZenmapWiresharkBashPowerShellLinux terminal	ElasticsearchSplunkSuricataKafkaArkimeWiresharkCorelight
Industries	TechnologyGovernmentDefenseEducationFinancial ServicesHealthcare+3 more	CybersecuritySOC TeamsNetwork EngineeringDefenseResearchTelecom
Regions	Global	Global
Vendor
Company	Nmap	Zeek
Headquarters	Open-source project; global community	Berkeley, California, USA
Company size	1-10	1-10
Founded	1997	1994

Ncat

by Nmap

View product

Zeek

by Zeek

View product

Overview

What it is

Ncat

See what Ncat offers: connection brokering. It is built for network debugging, supports on-premises deployment and competes with other Network Security tools.

Zeek

What does Zeek do? It covers file hash extraction and high-speed packet capture. See typical use cases, self-hosted deployment and how it compares to rivals.

Product type

Ncat

Modern Network Utility & Encrypted Connection Tool (Netcat Reimplementation)

Zeek

Open-Source Network Security Monitoring & Behavioral Analysis Engine

Best for

Ncat

Technology, Government, Defense, Education, Financial Services, Healthcare, Higher Education, Telecommunications, Finance

Zeek

Cybersecurity, SOC Teams, Network Engineering, Defense, Research, Telecom

Pricing

Pricing model

Ncat

Contact Vendor

Zeek

Contact Vendor

Free trial

Ncat

Zeek

Deployment

Deployment options

Ncat

On-Premise

Zeek

CloudOn-Premise

Deployment details

Ncat

On-premises; CLI Utility; Portable; Command-line utility; Portable binary; Linux package manager

Zeek

Open Source; Self-hosted Software; Self-hosted Software Engine; Hardened Appliance; Cloud Virtual Sensor

Data residency

Ncat

Local device only (no cloud data transmission)

Zeek

Customer Infrastructure Dependent (Completely Self-Contained)

Key features

What it offers

Ncat

SSL/TLS encrypted connections
IPv4 and IPv6 support
Connection brokering
HTTP and SOCKS proxying
Access control lists (allow/deny)
Lua scripting engine
Network debugging
Firewall egress testing

Zeek

Stateful network protocol analysis
Structured transaction logging (HTTP/DNS/TLS)
File hash extraction
Event-driven domain scripting language
High-speed packet capture
Network security monitoring
Network forensic investigation
Protocol transaction logging

Platform & access

API access

Ncat

Zeek

Single sign-on (SSO)

Ncat

Zeek

Role-based access (RBAC)

Ncat

Zeek

Multi-tenant

Ncat

Zeek

Mobile app

Ncat

Zeek

Supported platforms

Ncat

LinuxWindowsmacOSBSDSolarisEmbedded systems

Zeek

Enterprise NetworksDatacenter FabricsMulti-Cloud VPCsMonitoring Taps

Compliance

Ncat

Open Source GPLv2Defense Information Assurance ready

Zeek

BSD LicenseCommon CriteriaNetwork Standards

Integrations & coverage

Integrations

Ncat

Nmap suiteZenmapWiresharkBashPowerShellLinux terminal

Zeek

ElasticsearchSplunkSuricataKafkaArkimeWiresharkCorelight

Industries

Ncat

TechnologyGovernmentDefenseEducationFinancial ServicesHealthcare+3 more

Zeek

CybersecuritySOC TeamsNetwork EngineeringDefenseResearchTelecom

Regions

Ncat

Global

Zeek

Global

Vendor

Company

Ncat

Nmap

Zeek

Headquarters

Ncat

Open-source project; global community

Zeek

Berkeley, California, USA

Company size

Ncat

1-10

Zeek

1-10

Founded

Ncat

1997

Zeek

1994