Cybersecurity · pricing
Wireshark pricing
Wireshark publishes a single tier. Below is what it costs, what it covers, and how that compares with the cybersecurity tools listed alongside it.
As of 30 August 2026, Wireshark pricing is free. Figures are the vendor's list prices as recorded on this page's last check; the vendor's site is the final word.
- Entry price
- Free
- Model
- Free
- Tiers
- 1
- Free tier
- Yes
Wireshark plans, side by side
Every published tier in ascending order of price, with the number of features each one lists. An absence here means the record does not itemise it, not that the tier lacks it.
| Plan | Price | Features listed | Step up from the tier below |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free & Open Source | Free | 6 | Entry tier |
Where Wireshark stops being free
Free & Open Source, Free
- Full functionality
- Deep inspection
- Live capture
- Offline analysis
- Rich VoIP analysis
- Export capabilities
No paid tier on record
Wireshark lists a free tier and no priced tier above it in the record we hold.
What the product covers
The full Wireshark feature record, grouped as the catalogue groups it. This is the product as a whole; the record does not map every feature onto a specific tier.
Other
- Deep packet inspection
- Live capture
- Offline analysis
- 3000+ protocol support
- Rich display filters
- VoIP analysis
- Decryption support
- Scripting with Lua
Integrations
- tcpdump
- TShark
- Nmap
- Snort
Security
- Open source audited
- Community reviewed
Deployment
- On-premise deployment
Platform
- Desktop support
- Cli support
Localization
- English language support
- German language support
- French language support
- Spanish language support
- Japanese language support
- Chinese language support
- Russian language support
People bring Wireshark in for network security, packet analysis, open source. If that is not the job you are buying for, the alternatives to Wireshark are worth a look before you commit to a tier.
How that compares in Cybersecurity
Too few cybersecurity tools in this directory publish a starting price to quote a meaningful median, so the table below is a like-for-like list rather than a ranking.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Rated | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wireshark (this page) | Free | free | - | |
| Hanwha Vision | On request | One-time purchase | - | vs Wireshark |
| BeyondTrust | On request | quote | - | vs Wireshark |
| Feedzai | On request | quote | - | vs Wireshark |
| IDnow | On request | quote | - | vs Wireshark |
| Eagle Eye Networks | On request | Per camera per month | - | vs Wireshark |
| iDenfy | On request | Per verification | - | vs Wireshark |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry, they are not reviews hosted on Softwr. How each figure is used is set out on the Wireshark badges page.
Before you pay for Wireshark
Three things this page cannot tell you, and all three change the bill. The record carries a price and a billing period but not the unit - per-seat and flat-rate pricing are indistinguishable in this data, so a five-person team may be looking at five times the figure above. It carries no annual rate, so any discount for paying yearly is not something this page can quote. And it carries no trial length.
What it can tell you is the shape of the ladder: a single tier at Free. Because there is a free tier, the cheapest way to answer the rest is to use it before paying anything.
Wireshark runs on desktop, cli, and is published by Wireshark Foundation of Global (Open Source). The full record is on the Wireshark review, and the rest of the category is under best cybersecurity tools.
Wireshark pricing questions
- How much does Wireshark cost?
- Wireshark publishes a single tier, Free & Open Source, at Free.
- Does Wireshark have a free plan?
- Yes. The Free & Open Source tier costs nothing and covers full functionality, deep inspection, live capture.
- Which cybersecurity tools can I use without paying?
- 1 of the 8 cybersecurity tools listed alongside Wireshark have a free tier: Google Authenticator.
- What am I actually paying for with Wireshark?
- The record lists 24 features across 6 areas: other, integrations, security, deployment, platform, localization. In practice it is brought in for network security, packet analysis, open source.
- Does Wireshark charge per user?
- The record carries a price and a billing period for each of its 1 tiers, but not the unit that price is charged in. Per-seat and flat-rate billing look identical in this data, so check the vendor's page before budgeting for a team.
- Are these Wireshark prices current?
- They are what the catalogue entry holds, refreshed when the entry is. Vendors change pricing without notice and nobody at Softwr re-verifies each tier by hand, so treat this as a structured summary and the vendor's own pricing page as the authority.
- What should I compare Wireshark against before paying?
- The closest cybersecurity tools in this directory are Hanwha Vision, BeyondTrust, Feedzai, IDnow. Each has a side-by-side comparison with Wireshark covering price, platforms and features.