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tcpdump vs Cocoa Packet Analyzer: catalog facts
tcpdump	Cocoa Packet Analyzer
Free Free and open source under the BSD licence.	Free Downloadable directly from the developer site with no price shown.
Windows, macOS, Linux, Command line	macOS
Available on practically every Unix system, including embedded ones Writes standard pcap files that every other tool can read	Native macOS interface with menu bar capture QUIC, HTTP/3 and TLS 1.3 decryption
Needs elevated privileges to capture Output is dense and takes practice to read	Current version requires macOS 26 or later macOS only
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Closed source
License: BSD-3-Clause	License not stated
Not stated if an account is needed	Not stated if an account is needed
Not stated if it works offline	Works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 22, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 2, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.