Naabu review
A free, CLI-focused scanner for internet-scale port and service discovery.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
Naabu is an open-source command-line port scanner written in Go for security researchers, bug bounty hunters, penetration testers, and attack-surface discovery. It enumerates responsive ports across hosts, lists, CIDR ranges, ASNs, and standard input. Scanning supports SYN, CONNECT, and UDP methods, along with IPv4 and IPv6. Host discovery includes ARP, TCP, ICMP, and IPv6 neighbor probes, giving teams several ways to identify responsive systems before deeper enumeration.
Its free, open-source model keeps the core scanner accessible across Windows, macOS, and Linux, with self-hosted and API-related platform support. Configurable scan rates, retries, and timeouts provide control over performance, while CDN/WAF exclusion helps shape internet-facing scans. Results can be written as JSON, CSV, TXT, or standard output, which suits command-line workflows and downstream automation. ProjectDiscovery Cloud, Nmap, and Shodan InternetDB integrations extend the tool beyond direct port probing.
Naabu is a good fit for teams that want a focused, scriptable scanner for internet-scale discovery and integration into security workflows. Its breadth of scan methods, target types, service detection, and output formats makes it useful for reconnaissance pipelines. The tradeoff is its CLI-first design: organizations seeking a hosted scanner or a broader graphical platform should choose an alternative. Service-version detection also depends on a local Nmap installation with the Nmap service-probes database, adding a prerequisite for that capability.
Naabu pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Supports SYN, CONNECT, UDP, IPv4, and IPv6 scanning
- Combines Nmap and Shodan InternetDB with multiple target types
- Exports JSON, CSV, TXT, and standard-output results
- Where it doesn't
- Local CLI use requires command-line familiarity
- Service-version detection requires a local Nmap installation
- Narrower CLI focus than broader port-scanning platforms
Naabu fact sheet, pricing and score →
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