Ettercap review
A free desktop analyzer for traffic interception, PCAP work, and Wi-Fi decryption.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
Ettercap is an open-source network security suite for authorized traffic inspection and man-in-the-middle testing. It is aimed at security professionals and network administrators who need to inspect live traffic, analyze protocols, work with PCAP files, or examine hosts on a network. The project provides text, GTK, and ncurses interfaces, giving users several ways to access its packet-analysis and interception features on Linux and macOS desktops.
Pricing is straightforward: Ettercap is free and open source, with no commercial plan structure described. That makes the full feature set available without a paid tier separating core analysis from advanced capabilities. Its published functionality includes live traffic sniffing, active and passive protocol dissection, PCAP import and export, SSL traffic interception and decryption, WEP/WPA Wi-Fi packet decryption, content filtering, packet modification, packet dropping, passive OS fingerprinting, host profiling, and plugin support. For teams evaluating tools by licensing cost, the absence of a paid upgrade path is a clear strength.
Ettercap’s strongest fit is a focused interception and analysis workflow rather than a hosted monitoring service. It supports both capture sources, PCAP handling, decryption, flow analysis, command-line tools, and remote capture through tunnels and route mangling; that remote-capture capability is not presented as a hosted remote-sensor service. The tool also gathers information about operating systems, services, ports, and network adapter vendors. Choose Ettercap when traffic interception, protocol dissection, Wi-Fi decryption, and packet manipulation are central requirements. Choose another product when you need a broader platform beyond desktop deployment or a hosted remote-sensor model.
Ettercap pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Free and open source with no commercial pricing tier
- Supports SSL interception and WEP/WPA Wi-Fi packet decryption
- Combines live sniffing, PCAP handling, filtering, and plugins
- Where it doesn't
- Desktop deployment limits it to local analyzer workflows
- Platform support is focused on Linux and macOS
- Packet modification and interception require authorized security work
Ettercap fact sheet, pricing and score →
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