Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

AbuseIPDB VS URLscan.io

Compare AbuseIPDB VS URLscan.io and see what are their differences

AbuseIPDB logo AbuseIPDB

AbuseIPDB is an IP address blacklist for webmasters and sysadmins to report IP addresses engaging in abusive behavior on their networks, or check the report history of any IP.

URLscan.io logo URLscan.io

urlscan.io is a free service to scan and analyse websites. When a URL is submitted to urlscan.io, an automated process will browse to the URL like a regular user and record the activity that this page navigation creates.
  • AbuseIPDB Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-05
  • URLscan.io Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-05-12

AbuseIPDB features and specs

  • Comprehensive IP Abuse Database
    AbuseIPDB has a large and continuously updated database of IP addresses associated with abusive behavior, such as spam, hacking attempts, and fraudulent activities. This ensures a broad coverage of potential malicious IPs.
  • User Contribution Model
    The platform allows users from around the world to report abusive IP addresses. This crowdsourced data enhances the database's accuracy and timeliness.
  • API Access
    AbuseIPDB offers API access, allowing developers to integrate IP reputation checks into their applications or systems, facilitating automated monitoring and responses.
  • Detailed Reports
    Each reported IP address comes with detailed reports, including the type of abuse, timestamps, and user comments, which can help in making informed decisions about blocking or monitoring the IP.
  • Community Engagement
    The platform has a community of users who actively contribute and update information, enabling a more dynamic and responsive database.

Possible disadvantages of AbuseIPDB

  • Potential for False Positives
    Since the data is crowdsourced, there's a potential risk of false positives, where legitimate IP addresses might be reported as abusive due to user error or malicious reporting.
  • API Rate Limits
    Free tier users of the AbuseIPDB API might encounter rate limits, restricting the number of API calls they can make in a given time period. Higher usage requires a paid plan.
  • Dependence on Community Reports
    The accuracy and comprehensiveness of the database heavily depend on user reports. If users aren't actively reporting, certain abusive IP addresses might go unlisted.
  • Historical Data Access
    Access to extensive historical data and more advanced features might be limited to premium users, which may restrict functionality for free-tier users.
  • Inconsistencies in Data Quality
    The quality and detail of the reports can vary significantly based on who reports the IP abuse, leading to potential inconsistencies in the data.

URLscan.io features and specs

  • Comprehensive Analysis
    URLscan.io provides a detailed analysis of URLs, including screenshots, domain information, and HTTP transactions, helping users gain deep insights into the content and behavior of a website.
  • Threat Detection
    It helps identify malicious URLs by checking for phishing threats, malware, and other harmful activities. This is valuable for security researchers and IT professionals.
  • Public and Private Scans
    Users can perform both public scans, which are visible to everyone, and private scans that are only accessible by the user, offering flexibility depending on privacy needs.
  • API Access
    URLscan.io provides API access, enabling automated and programmatic interaction with its service, which is beneficial for integrating into other security tools and workflows.
  • Historical Data
    It maintains a historical archive of scanned URLs, allowing users to access past scan results and observe changes in the URL's content and behavior over time.

Possible disadvantages of URLscan.io

  • Limited Free Scans
    The free version of URLscan.io has a limit on the number of scans that can be performed, which might be restrictive for users who require extensive scanning capabilities.
  • Privacy Concerns
    Public scans are accessible by anyone, which might lead to privacy issues if sensitive URLs are mistakenly scanned publicly.
  • API Rate Limits
    API usage has rate limits which could affect users who need to perform a large number of scans or need consistent high-volume access.
  • Data Retention
    Historical scan data is retained for public scans, which could be a concern for users who prefer not to have their scan data stored long-term or made publicly available.
  • Dependency on Service Availability
    As a third-party service, users are dependent on URLscan.io's availability and performance. Any downtime or issues with the service can disrupt usersโ€™ workflow.

Analysis of AbuseIPDB

Overall verdict

  • AbuseIPDB is generally considered a good tool for enhancing security measures by monitoring potential threats from suspicious IP addresses. It is valued for its ease of use, extensive database, and community-driven approach.

Why this product is good

  • AbuseIPDB is a collaborative IP address blacklist database that allows users to report and check IP addresses involved in malicious activities. It aggregates data from multiple sources, providing a comprehensive list of suspect IPs. This makes it useful for security professionals and network administrators who want to protect their systems from abuse, hacking attempts, or other malicious activities.

Recommended for

    AbuseIPDB is recommended for security professionals, network administrators, and IT teams who need to monitor and defend against IP-based threats. It is also useful for website owners and businesses that require additional layers of security to protect their online infrastructure.

AbuseIPDB videos

Episode 460 - Tools, Tips and Tricks - AbuseIPDB

URLscan.io videos

No URLscan.io videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to AbuseIPDB and URLscan.io)
Monitoring Tools
21 21%
79% 79
Security & Privacy
23 23%
77% 77
Email Marketing
19 19%
81% 81
Sysadmin Tools
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, URLscan.io should be more popular than AbuseIPDB. It has been mentiond 87 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

AbuseIPDB mentions (13)

  • Bot issue? DDoS attack? Question about WAF Managed Challenge. Trying to figure this out...
    Origin server only shows Cloudflare IP's so I decided to add this UA to my WAF with a Managed Challenge. After roughly 30 minutes and almost 100 hits on it CSR was 0%. Looking at the CF logs for the specific WAF shows IP's and locations from everywhere(US, UK, India, China, Nigeria, etc) and when I check IP's at abuseipdb.com they're all clean but none of them seem to get through the managed challenge. I removed... Source: about 2 years ago
  • Email Validator Help
    Switched to Maspik Anti-Spam, with a manually curated list of keywords, and integration with abuseipdb.com and proxycheck.io. But both of those were also causing false positives, especially from my co-worker who uses a virtual machine, so upped the tolerance to 70 on both. Source: over 2 years ago
  • ? Should I be concerned ? Compromised!
    This install of Docker is only a few days old. Most of the IPs associated are showing "banned" on abuseipdb.com. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Report Harmful Scanners/Hackers (report.scan.cf)
    People build lists like OP is all the time, have you seen https://abuseipdb.com/? Source: over 2 years ago
  • Script for automatic updating blocklist based on 2 databases
    To keep your Synology safe, regularly update list of blocked ip addresses. I'm using this script, which takes list of ip addresses from blocklist.de and abuseipdb.com and add them to my block list. I keep them blocked forever. Source: over 2 years ago
View more

URLscan.io mentions (87)

  • Fake costumer support
    The final missing piece is the link, throw that in https://urlscan.io and it will show you if it resolves to a legitimate blizzard domain, which if it does. Pretty safe to say it will be legitimate email and the error is possibly on their part regards to the mailshot/merge or its on your part and its an old blizzard name/account you've long since forgotton about. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • legit check please
    Use a site like https://urlscan.io/ to check a url. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Introducing OSINT Template Engine: An open source OSINT Tool.
    Transform OSINT sources such as shodan, bgpview & urlscan into templates which you can use to query & store any and each of the API endpoints they provide. Source: about 2 years ago
  • cbsecure.online
    Coinbase's social media presence How to report a phishing scam Coinbase.com - our homepage Urlscan - a free service to scan and analyze websites. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Administration with inbibriation
    LMAO! Who else used urlscan.io to preview what this mad man was sending over?! Source: over 2 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing AbuseIPDB and URLscan.io, you can also consider the following products

Joe Sandbox - Automated Malware Analysis - Development and Licensing of Automated Malware Analysis Tools to Fight Malware

Metadefender - Metadefender, by OPSWAT, allows you to quickly multi-scan your files for malware using 43 antivirus...

Any.Run - ANY.RUN is an online interactive sandbox for DFIR/SOC investigations. The service gives access to fast malware analysis and detection of cybersecurity threats.

MalShare - MalShare is a public malware repository providing access to malware samples that have been reported by users.

VirusTotal - VirusTotal is a free service that analyzes suspicious files and URLs and facilitates the quick...

CyberGordon - Aggregator of cyber reputation checks with more than 30 engines (threat intel sources)