Side by side
Arkime vs PacketSafari
Both stand on network packet analyzer software. Which one you can start free with, which one lets you read the code, and what each costs once you pay.
Free plan Open source APILinuxSelf-hosted+1
Arkime offers session search, packet inspection, and flexible packet retention without license fees. It requires an OpenSearch or Elasticsearch deployment, so teams should account for that dependency and its operation.
Visit Arkime
Free plan Open source APILinuxMac+3
Choose PacketSafari if your team needs packet-level evidence for root-cause or security investigations and wants a choice of managed or on-premises deployment. Look elsewhere if you need live capture or a published price for a paid plan.
Visit PacketSafariThe facts
| Arkime | PacketSafari | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Runs on | API, Linux, Self-hosted, Web | API, Linux, Mac, Self-hosted, Web, Windows |
| Lowest paid plan | Free or on request | Free or on request |
| Plans published | 1 | 4 |
| Maker | Not published | Not published |
| Website | arkime.com | packetsafari.com |
| On network packet analyzer software | #1 of 32 | #3 of 32 |
Arkime: what it does well
- Stores full packets in standard PCAP format.
- Supports metadata-only capture with traffic selection rules.
- Exports search results as PCAP or CSV.
- Capture can scale with more machines, CPU, or disk.
- Authentication options include OIDC.
What to know first
- Requires OpenSearch or Elasticsearch for session metadata.
- Phone indicator enrichment is limited to the U.S.
- Anonymous authentication is not recommended.
PacketSafari: what it does well
- Reports link findings to frames, streams, timestamps and decoded fields.
- Supports root-cause and security investigation workflows.
- Offers managed SaaS, isolated SaaS and on-premises deployment.
- CLI output is available in SSE, NDJSON, JSON or Markdown.
- Supports .pcap, .pcapng and .cap capture files.
What to know first
- The free evaluation covers one qualified case.
- Paid plan prices require contacting sales.
- Live capture is not supported.
Alternatives to Arkime Alternatives to PacketSafari The whole list