Angry IP Scanner vs Network Scanner vs Engineer's Toolset
Reviewed 15 September 2026
These three tools are regularly recommended in the same breath, which is misleading — they answer different questions and only overlap at the edges. Here is what each one is genuinely good at, where it stops, and which one to reach for.
The short answer
- You want a device list, now, on any OS, for nothing. Angry IP Scanner.
- You run a Windows network and need to know who can write to which share. LizardSystems Network Scanner.
- You manage switches and need topology, ports and SNMP. SolarWinds Engineer's Toolset.
Nothing here is a monitoring system. All three are on-demand tools: you run them, you read the answer, you close them.
Full feature matrix
| Angry IP Scanner | Network Scanner | Engineer's Toolset | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vendor | Angry IP Scanner project (open source) | LizardSystems | SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC |
| Licence | GPLv2, free | Free edition + paid licence | Commercial, per engineer |
| Operating system | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows | Windows |
| Runs portable | Yes | No | No |
| Requires Java | Only the bare .jar | No | No |
| ICMP sweep | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| MAC address | Fetcher | Yes | Dedicated tool |
| NIC vendor lookup | Fetcher | Yes | Yes |
| TCP port scan | Custom port list | FTP / HTTP / SMB probes | Dedicated port scanner |
| HTTP banner | Web detect fetcher | HTTP probe | Yes |
| NetBIOS names | Fetcher | Core feature | Yes |
| Shared folders | No | Yes, with comments | Partial |
| Shared printers | No | Yes | Partial |
| Access-rights audit | No | Read / Write / Denied / Error | No |
| SNMP v1 / v2c / v3 | No | No | Yes |
| Switch port mapping | No | No | Yes |
| MIB browser / walk | No | No | Yes |
| TraceRoute with SNMP detail | No | No | Yes |
| Config backup / push | No | No | Yes |
| Traffic generation | No | No | Yes (WAN Killer) |
| Remote actions on a host | Configurable openers | RDP, MMC, Event Viewer, custom | Yes |
| Exports | CSV, TXT, XML, IP:port | Report / CSV / saved scan | Per-tool CSV and reports |
| Command line | Yes | Limited | Some tools |
| Scheduling | Via OS task scheduler | Via OS task scheduler | No (use the monitoring platform) |
| Typical scan of a /24 | Seconds | Under a minute with share enumeration | Seconds per tool |
| Learning curve | Minutes | An hour | Days, if you are new to SNMP |
Where each one stops
Angry IP Scanner
Stops at: the address. No shares, no permissions, no SNMP, no topology, no history. Every scan is a fresh snapshot with nothing stored.
That is a deliberate design, and it is why the tool is a few megabytes and starts instantly.
Network Scanner
Stops at: the host and its SMB resources. It will not tell you which switch port a host is in, cannot read SNMP, and does not run outside Windows.
Within a Windows/Samba estate, though, nothing free matches the access-rights view.
Engineer's Toolset
Stops at: the moment you close the window. It is a troubleshooting workbench, not a monitoring system — no dashboards, no alerting, no retained history.
And the mapping half is useless without SNMP configured on your switches.
Choosing by scenario
| Your situation | Use | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Home or small office, "what is on my Wi-Fi?" | Angry IP Scanner | Free, instant, MAC vendor column identifies unknown devices |
| Consultant on a client site with no install rights | Angry IP Scanner (portable) | Runs from a USB stick, leaves nothing behind |
| Auditing SMB shares before a security review | Network Scanner | Read/write verdict per share, filterable |
| Finding the file server nobody documented | Network Scanner | Share names and comments make server roles obvious |
| "Which port is this laptop plugged into?" | Engineer's Toolset | Switch Port Mapper — no free tool does this |
| Firmware/OS inventory across 200 devices | Engineer's Toolset | MIB Scanner sweeps one OID across a whole range |
| Intermittent WAN latency | Engineer's Toolset | TraceRoute with per-hop uptime and device description |
| Weekly baseline to detect new devices | Angry IP Scanner + task scheduler | CSV export diffed between runs, at no cost |
| Mixed Mac/Linux/Windows shop | Angry IP Scanner | The only one of the three that runs outside Windows |
Angry IP Scanner for the ten-second answer, plus whichever specialist tool matches the estate: Network Scanner in a Windows/SMB shop, Engineer's Toolset where there are managed switches to map. They do not conflict — they operate at different layers.
How we assess these tools
The capability tables on this site are built from each vendor's published documentation and product screenshots, and describe features as the vendor documents them. We do not publish benchmark figures we cannot reproduce, and we do not rank by affiliate payout — see about this site.
Version numbers, pricing tiers and free-edition limits change without notice. The vendor's own site is the authority on all three, and every download link here points straight at it.