Alternatives to masscan
Scan large sets of IP addresses for open ports. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
masscan
Scan large sets of IP addresses for open ports.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as masscan.
Nmap
The network mapper: find out which hosts are up, which ports are open and what is listening on them.
Nmap adds service and version detection, OS fingerprinting and scripting plus Windows installers, but it runs slower on huge ranges and uses a custom non-OSI licence instead of AGPL-3.0.
Naabu
Discover listening network ports with a command-line scanner.
Naabu is an MIT-licensed port scanner for Windows, macOS and Linux with several scan methods and optional Nmap integration, aimed at host lists rather than massive ranges.
RustScan
Discover open ports with a configurable scanner written in Rust.
RustScan is a GPL-3.0 port scanner written in Rust that runs on Windows too and supports follow-up scripts and hand-off to other scanning tools.
Angry IP Scanner
A fast, friendly IP and port scanner that needs no installation and runs on Windows, Mac and Linux.
Angry IP Scanner is a portable GUI scanner for Windows, macOS and Linux that finds hosts and open ports, suited to local networks rather than internet-scale sweeps.
ZMap
A fast single-packet network scanner designed for surveys across very large address ranges.
ZMap is a Linux single-packet scanner for very large address ranges with 10 gigabit tuning, under a non-open-source listing instead of AGPL-3.0.
Also worth comparing
These listings name masscan as their own alternative, so the relationship runs both ways.
Advanced Port Scanner
A free Windows port scanner that finds open ports and identifies the programs running on them.
masscan is an AGPL-3.0 command-line scanner for macOS and Linux built for large address sets, so Windows users lose the native graphical tool.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
Shodan
A search engine that indexes internet-connected devices and the services they expose.
Censys
An internet intelligence platform for searching hosts, services and TLS certificates across the internet.
hping3
Packet crafting tool for TCP/IP testing and probing.
httpx
Inspect HTTP services with ProjectDiscovery's command-line toolkit.
Zenmap
The official cross-platform graphical interface for the Nmap network scanner.
