Alternatives to Shodan
A search engine that indexes internet-connected devices and the services they expose. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
Shodan
A search engine that indexes internet-connected devices and the services they expose.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as Shodan.
Censys
An internet intelligence platform for searching hosts, services and TLS certificates across the internet.
Censys searches hosts, services and TLS certificates across the internet with attack surface tooling and an API, but its full platform is enterprise-focused with paid plans.
Also worth comparing
These listings name Shodan as their own alternative, so the relationship runs both ways.
Amass
OWASP tool that maps an organisation's external attack surface and assets.
Shodan is a hosted, freemium search engine of exposed devices and services with monitoring alerts, and most useful features need a paid membership instead of running a local tool.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
Qualys Community Edition
Free, cloud-based edition of the Qualys security platform for asset discovery and vulnerability assessment.
Subfinder
Find subdomains using passive online data sources.
Nmap
The network mapper: find out which hosts are up, which ports are open and what is listening on them.
ViewDNS.info
A web collection of more than 20 DNS, IP and domain lookup tools, with a paid API.
DomainTools Whois Lookup
A web-based WHOIS lookup for researching domain ownership, IP address history and domain availability.
masscan
Scan large sets of IP addresses for open ports.
