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Zeek vs Suricata: catalog facts
Zeek	Suricata
Free The software is free under its open-source licence. Hosting, hardware and external…	Free The open-source software is available without a license fee. Hosting, hardware and…
macOS, Linux	Linux, Command line
Protocol analysers produce semantic logs of what happened on the network rather than raw packets, and its scripting…	Supports monitoring, detection and inline prevention deployments.
It produces a large volume of logs that need somewhere to go, and writing custom detections means learning…	Requires suitable traffic access and maintained rules.
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License: BSD-3-Clause	License: GPL-2.0
Not stated if an account is needed	Not stated if an account is needed
Not stated if it works offline	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 22, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 22, 2026

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