Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

NetStress VS netcat

Compare NetStress VS netcat and see what are their differences

NetStress logo NetStress

NetStress is a user-friendly benchmarking tool that is mostly used by networking professionals to measure the network performance of both wired and wireless connections.

netcat logo netcat

Netcat is a featured networking utility which reads and writes data across network connections...
  • NetStress Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-07-04
  • netcat Landing page
    Landing page //
    2018-11-19

NetStress features and specs

  • Easy to Use
    NetStress offers a user-friendly interface which makes it easy for both beginners and experienced users to perform network performance tests.
  • Comprehensive Testing
    NetStress provides a range of testing features, allowing users to assess various aspects of their network's performance, such as throughput and latency.
  • Real-time Graphs
    The software includes real-time graphical displays of network performance metrics, providing users with instant feedback during tests.
  • Local Network Testing
    NetStress is designed to test wireless and wired networks on a local scale, which can be particularly useful for home or small office environments.

Possible disadvantages of NetStress

  • Limited to Local Networks
    NetStress is intended for local network testing only, which may not be suitable for those looking to test larger or external networks.
  • Limited Advanced Features
    While it provides core network testing capabilities, users seeking more advanced or enterprise-level features might find NetStress lacking.
  • Windows-Only
    NetStress is limited to the Windows platform, which excludes Mac and Linux users from utilizing this tool.
  • Static Testing
    The tool is primarily focused on static testing scenarios and may not support dynamic assessment of networks under varying load conditions.

netcat features and specs

  • Versatility
    Netcat can be used for a wide variety of network-related tasks, including port scanning, file transfers, and working as a backdoor.
  • Simplicity
    Netcat operates with simple command-line arguments, making it easy to use for those familiar with command-line interfaces.
  • Speed
    Netcat is lightweight and performs network operations quickly, without the overhead associated with more complex tools.
  • Scriptability
    Netcat is highly scriptable, allowing users to automate network tasks by including it in bash or other scripts.
  • Cross-Platform
    Netcat is available on multiple operating systems including Unix, Linux, and Windows, making it a versatile tool for different environments.

Possible disadvantages of netcat

  • Security
    Netcat can be misused, as it is often favored by attackers for creating reverse shells and other malicious activities.
  • Lack of Encryption
    Netcat does not natively support encrypted connections, meaning data transmitted can be vulnerable to interception.
  • Minimal Logging
    Netcat provides minimal logging capabilities, which can make it difficult to track usage or troubleshoot issues.
  • Basic Functionality
    Netcat provides core networking functions but lacks advanced features found in specialized tools.
  • Cannot Handle High Load
    Netcat is not designed to handle high traffic loads effectively, making it less suitable for some enterprise use cases.

NetStress videos

Netstress

netcat videos

Linux Terminal 101: Netcat

More videos:

  • Review - Advanced Netcat and TCP Fun - Hak5 1922
  • Review - Netcat 101: Remote Shells in Windows, HakTip 86

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to NetStress and netcat)
Monitoring Tools
33 33%
67% 67
Network & Admin
100 100%
0% 0
Log Management
33 33%
67% 67
Productivity
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare NetStress and netcat

NetStress Reviews

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netcat Reviews

9 Best Angry IP Scanner Alternatives Reviewed 2021 (Free & Paid)
Netcat lacks a lot of the documentation you can easily find with software like AngryIP or Nmap which in my opinion is its biggest drawback. If you’re thinking about trying out Netcat, check out our Netcat Cheat Sheet to quickly pull up powerful and useful commands. Netcat is compatible with Windows, Linux, and macOS systems.
Top 5 Best Port Scanners
Netcat is one of the oldest network tools in the "Unixverse", it's been there since 1995, and the last official version is from 2004. Although it has many forks and variants that work pretty well on modern operating systems, like ncat from the Nmap suite, or this alternative Netcat version from Mike Frysinger.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, netcat should be more popular than NetStress. It has been mentiond 7 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.

NetStress mentions (1)

  • How do you Load Test your Wireless router? I did a 1 Hour Continuous Network Speed Test.
    I have a few laptops I use for testing purposes, I connect them all to it and run netstress between them http://nutsaboutnets.com/archives/netstress/ To be fair I've not needed to load test my stuff in a long time but it worked last time I tried it. Source: over 3 years ago

netcat mentions (7)

  • could not connect to the rhel-9 from putty in windows machine
    If you don't like using telnet, that's fine. Don't use it. There are plenty of other options available. Use netcat. Or use netcat. Or use netcat. Or read and write directly to /dev/tcp/hostname/port using shell constructs. Or run openssl s_client if you suspect something complicated is listening on the other end. There is more than one way to do it and ways that are not your way still work. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • The HTTP crash course nobody asked for
    Reminder, there are many different netcats, here are some of the most commons: - netcat-traditional http://www.stearns.org/nc/ - netcat-openbsd : https://github.com/openbsd/src/blob/master/usr.bin/nc/netcat.c (also packaged in Debian) - ncat https://nmap.org/ncat/ - netcat GNU: https://netcat.sourceforge.net/ (quite rare) To prevent any confusion, I like to recommend socat: http://www.dest-unreach.org/socat/. - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago
  • Gaining remote access to a computer with a reverse shell attack in Node.js
    A common tool to execute a reverse shell is called netcat. If you're using macOS, it should be installed by default. You can check by running nc -help in a terminal window. - Source: dev.to / almost 3 years ago
  • Programm to send and receive TCP/UDP Packets
    You could try using Ncat on Windows or netcat on Linux, though it's a command-line only tool if that matters. Source: about 3 years ago
  • Is there a way to copy a file from a remote shell to local without using scp?
    If you have netcat, you can easily set up a transfer from one machine to the other:. Source: almost 4 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing NetStress and netcat, you can also consider the following products

iperf - A TCP, UDP, and SCTP network bandwidth measurement tool

Wireshark - Wireshark is a network protocol analyzer for Unix and Windows. It lets you capture and interactively browse the traffic running on a computer network.

JPerf - This project gives a better UI and new functionalities to the initial JPerf 1.

tcpdump - tcpdump is a common packet analyzer that runs under the command line.

netperf - Netperf is a benchmark that can be used to measure the performance of many different types of networking. It provides tests for both unidirectional throughput, and end-to-end latency. - HewlettPack...

Ettercap - Ettercap is a suite for man in the middle attacks on LAN.