NETworkManager is a free, open-source Windows toolbox — IP scanner, port scanner, WiFi analyzer and remote-session clients in one window, with a portable build. IPScanner.Pro does one thing instead: inventory with encrypted history and visible evidence. NETworkManager is available now; IPScanner.Pro has no public download.
By Ahmad Abdur Rehman, Maintainer, IPScanner.ProLast reviewed 2026-09-14Sources verified 2026-09-14
You want to know whether a focused inventory tool is worth having when a free toolbox already covers the scanning.
NETworkManager is the free tool we point Windows administrators at most often, so this comparison starts from a position of respect rather than competition. It is GPL v3, the project states there are no ads, no subscriptions and no selling of user data, and the feature list covers an unusual amount of ground: IP scanner, port scanner, WiFi analyzer, ping monitor, traceroute, DNS lookup, LLDP/CDP capture, plus Remote Desktop, PuTTY, PowerShell and TigerVNC clients. It ships as an x64 MSI and a portable build.
It is also available today on Windows, which IPScanner.Pro is not anywhere. If you are choosing something to use this week on a Windows network, choose NETworkManager and stop reading.
The difference worth understanding is shape. NETworkManager is a toolbox: many tools, one window, each doing its job when you open it. IPScanner.Pro is a single instrument built around a record that persists between uses. Those are different products, and which one you want depends on whether your problem is "I need a tool for this" or "I need to know what changed".
Side by side
Every cell about a product we do not make is what that vendor or project publishes about itself. “Not stated in the source we cite” means exactly that — the source does not cover the point, so it is left blank rather than filled in from memory.
Competitor entries come from the sources in the citation table below, each retrieved on the date shown there. Our own row states shipped capabilities only.
Tool
Platforms
Licence and price
Account or cloud
Where results live
What it is good at
Sources
NETworkManagerBornToBeRoot
Windows. The project publishes x64 MSI setup and portable builds. The pages we cite do not state a minimum Windows version.
Free and open source under the GNU General Public License v3.
None. The project describes itself as open source, free and without ads, with no subscriptions and no selling of user data; third-party integrations are optional.
Everything runs locally. The project describes optional third-party integrations that the user enables or disables.
It is a toolbox rather than a scanner: IP scanner, port scanner, WiFi analyzer, ping monitor, traceroute, DNS lookup and LLDP/CDP capture sit beside RDP, SSH/PuTTY, PowerShell and VNC clients in one window.
A native macOS application. A Windows x64 portable build is implemented, but native acceptance testing is not complete.
Free-first for individuals. Paid organisation features are planned, not available.
No account for local scanning. The current desktop workflow is Local Only; optional online sync is designed but not built.
On the machine that scanned, encrypted, keyed to the macOS Keychain or Windows DPAPI. Online sync is designed as a per-device opt-in on top of that, and it does not exist yet — there is no upload path in the product today.
It shows the evidence behind every identification instead of asserting an answer, keeps encrypted history so you can see what changed since last time, and prices an expensive action before it runs rather than after.
Our own product, not a citation.
Which one to pick
A comparison that steers every reader to the same answer is an advertisement. These are the conditions under which each tool here is the right choice — including the ones that are not ours.
NETworkManager
You administer Windows networks and you would rather have one open-source window containing the scan, the lookup and the remote session than three separate tools.
IPScanner.Pro
You want to know why a device was identified the way it was, and you want the result to stay on your machine unless you deliberately decide otherwise.
What a toolbox gives you
Immediate coverage. Scan, then look up the DNS record, then check the open ports, then open an RDP session — without leaving the window or installing four things. On a Windows network that workflow is genuinely hard to improve on, and the portable build means you can carry it onto a machine where you have no installation rights.
Being open source under GPL v3 matters too. When someone asks what the tool does with the inventory, the answer can be read rather than asserted.
What a record gives you
Each tool in a toolbox starts fresh. Retained history changes the question from "what is here?" to "what is different?" — scans stored encrypted on the machine that ran them, keyed to the platform keystore with a one-year default retention, and later scans of the same scope marked NEW, GONE and CHANGED against the earlier evidence. Matched first-seen dates survive, and a partial scan does not emit GONE.
The second thing is evidence. An identification that shows what it was based on can be argued with; a label cannot. On networks where you have to explain a finding rather than just report it, that is the difference between a screenshot and a record.
Against all that: no public download, macOS verified and Windows acceptance incomplete, no remote-session clients, no WiFi analyzer, no DNS tooling. Measured on breadth, NETworkManager wins comfortably, and it is free.
What each of these cannot do
Every entry below includes the tool we make, on the same terms and in the same list. The competitor entries state capabilities, not quality judgements.
NETworkManager — BornToBeRoot
It is Windows software. There is no macOS or Linux build, so it cannot be the answer for a mixed fleet administered from a Mac.
It is a .NET application, so the runtime it needs is a real prerequisite on a locked-down machine.
Breadth is the point, which means the IP scanner is one feature among many rather than the thing the whole application is designed around.
The project pages we cite do not state a minimum Windows version, so this comparison does not claim one.
There is no public download. Signed and notarized distribution does not exist yet, so nothing on this site offers an installer or a version number.
macOS is the verified platform. The Windows x64 build is implemented but has not completed native acceptance testing.
Full ports is not a whole-range sweep. It runs only on devices you select from a completed discovery in the same session.
Restored inventory is labelled historical and never claims a device is reachable now. Startup restore covers the newest retained scan and stops at 256 devices; the History dialog covers the rest.
Device identification can be incomplete. Private MAC addresses, blocked responses and thin evidence limit what any local tool can conclude.
Online sync, accounts and organisation features are not built. The design keeps local storage as the default and adds sync as an opt-in, but none of it ships today.
Scanning on macOS requires Local Network permission; Windows may show a firewall prompt or apply an organisation policy.
What we have built, and what we have not
The row above is a summary. This is the full list, marked by whether it exists today. A feature marked planned is a design decision, not a promise with a date, and nothing on this site should be bought or downloaded on the strength of one — there is nothing to buy or download yet.
ShippedBounded discovery with visible evidence. Quick, Balanced and Thorough discovery inside a scope you authorize, showing provisional rows while the scan runs and the evidence behind every identification.
ShippedFull ports on devices you select. A selected-device action on a finished discovery in the same session, priced as devices × 65,535 attempts before you confirm. It is not a whole-range sweep.
ShippedEncrypted local history. Scans are retained encrypted on the machine that ran them, keyed to the macOS Keychain or Windows DPAPI, with a one-year default retention you can change.
ShippedNEW, GONE and CHANGED against earlier scans. Manual records compare against earlier evidence for the same scope, preserve matched first-seen dates, and suppress GONE on a partial scan so an interrupted run cannot invent a disappearance.
ShippedLocal Only as the default data path. The current desktop workflow is Local Only: results are written to the machine that scanned and there is no upload path in the product today.
PlannedOptional online sync of results. The design keeps local storage as the default and adds sync as a per-device opt-in, so a result reaches a server only when you turn it on. It is not built: there are no accounts, no registered agents and no durable storage yet, and nothing on this site should be read as offering it today.
PlannedSigned, public downloads. There is no public download. Signed and notarized distribution does not exist yet, which is why no page on this site carries a download button or a version number.
Every claim, and where it came from
Every statement about another product on this page comes from that vendor’s or project’s own published material, with the retrieval date shown for each source. Where a source does not cover a point, the table says so instead of guessing. This page contains no benchmarks, no speed or accuracy comparisons and no hands-on measurements of the other tools: we did not test them to write it.
Each row is a claim this page makes about a product we do not make, and the publication it came from.
Claim on this page
Source
Retrieved
NETworkManager is released under the GNU General Public License v3 and is described by the project as open source, free and without ads, with no subscriptions and no selling of user data.
NETworkManager bundles an IP scanner, a port scanner, a WiFi analyzer, ping monitor, traceroute, DNS lookup and LLDP/CDP capture alongside Remote Desktop, PuTTY (SSH and serial), PowerShell and TigerVNC clients.
Competitor platforms, licence models and account requirements change. These pages are re-checked quarterly, and immediately when a cited product changes. If something here is out of date, telling us is the fastest way to get it fixed.
About this page and who wrote it
This page was written from the vendors’ and projects’ own published documentation and from the IPScanner.Pro codebase, including the scope, consent and Full-ports rules the desktop application enforces. It makes no first-hand claim about how any other tool behaves in practice, because we did not test them to write it.
Where it is wrong, or where a cited product has changed, support@ipscanner.pro reaches the person who maintains it, and corrections are made rather than argued with. A suspected security issue in IPScanner.Pro goes to security@ipscanner.pro instead — there is a disclosure policy setting out what happens next.
Written by
Ahmad Abdur Rehman — Maintainer, IPScanner.Pro
Relevant experience
Writes and maintains the scanning engine described on this page, including the scope, consent and Full-ports rules the desktop application enforces.
Last reviewed
2026-09-14
Sources verified
2026-09-14
What this page is based on
The vendors’ and projects’ own published documentation, and the IPScanner.Pro codebase. No benchmark, and no hands-on test of any other tool listed here.
Questions people ask
Is NETworkManager better than IPScanner.Pro?
For breadth and availability, yes, comfortably — it is free, open source, available now and does far more in one window. For retained inventory with computed changes and visible evidence, it is not trying to compete. Pick by which problem you have.
Does NETworkManager keep scan history?
The project material we cite describes the IP scanner as one of its tools and does not describe retained, compared scan history, so we do not claim it either way beyond that. Encrypted retained history with NEW, GONE and CHANGED marking is what IPScanner.Pro is designed around.
Can I run NETworkManager without installing it?
Yes. The project publishes a portable x64 build alongside the MSI setup, which matters on a machine where you have no installation rights or where an installer would need change approval. It is a .NET application, so the runtime remains a prerequisite to check even for the portable build.
Does either tool require an account?
Neither does. NETworkManager describes itself as free and without ads with no subscriptions and no selling of user data; IPScanner.Pro’s current desktop workflow is Local Only with no account and no upload path. Optional online sync is designed but not built.
Found something out of date on this page? Tell us at support@ipscanner.pro and it gets corrected — a comparison is only worth reading if the person who wrote it fixes it when it is wrong.