Nmap (Network Mapper) is the industry-standard open-source network security scanner used by security professionals, network administrators, and penetration testers for network discovery, port scanning, OS detection, and vulnerability assessment. Created in 1997, Nmap has remained the most essential network security tool for mapping network topology, discovering live hosts, identifying open services, and detecting firewall rules — used in millions of security audits, CTF competitions, and enterprise environments worldwide.
Open-source network scanner and security auditing tool.
Best for: Security professionals and system administrators who need to audit network infrastructure and discover services.
- Free plan
4.8/5 ratingEditorial score 95/100nmap.org
The editorial note
What to know about Nmap
Is it right for you?
Who Nmap suits
Choose it if
- Security professionals and system administrators who need to audit network infrastructure and discover services.
Look elsewhere if
- Non-security personnel — Nmap requires authorization before scanning any network you don't own
- unauthorized scanning is illegal in most jurisdictions and should only be used with explicit permission
What you get
Key features
- Host discovery and port scanning
- OS and service version detection
- NSE scripting engine with 600+ scripts
- Firewall and IDS evasion techniques
- Output in XML, JSON, and grepable formats
- UDP and TCP scan types
- Timing and performance tuning
- IPv4 and IPv6 support
Works with
Integrations8
What it costs
Pricing
| Plan | Price | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | FreeBilled monthly | Open-source network scanner — free forever, all features, no restrictions |
Prices are recorded from the vendor's public pricing page and can change. Check before you buy.
The trade-off
Pros and cons
Pros
- Industry-standard tool used by every professional security team and network administrator
- Extremely powerful and flexible — hundreds of options for customizing scan types and output
- NSE (Nmap Scripting Engine) enables advanced detection of vulnerabilities and misconfigurations
- Completely free and open source with no licensing fees for commercial use
- Active development with regular updates and a massive community of users and scripts
Cons
- Command-line interface requires learning — no GUI equivalent matches the full power of CLI
- Aggressive scans can be detected by IDS/IPS systems and may disrupt some services
- Results require security expertise to interpret and act upon correctly
- Zenmap (GUI version) is unmaintained and no longer included in recent distributions
Quick read
At a glance
- Category
- Cybersecurity & Privacy
- Pricing model
- Free
- Entry plan
- Free
- Free plan
- Available
- Free trial
- Not listed
- Website
- nmap.org
The verdict
Our take on Nmap
The network security scanning standard — 25 years of development and every security professional using Nmap makes it irreplaceable.
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