Nmap vs Riverbed NPM+ comparison

Nmap and Riverbed are both solutions in the Network Monitoring Software category. Nmap is ranked #17 with an average rating of 8.7, while Riverbed is ranked #41 with an average rating of 9.0. Nmap holds a 0.8% mindshare in NMS, compared to Riverbed’s 0.5% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Nmap users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Riverbed users who would recommend it.

Nmap

Read 23 Nmap reviews

2,468 Views
2,246 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Riverbed NPM+

Read 2 Riverbed NPM+ reviews

965 Views
830 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Nmap

Riverbed NPM+

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Nmap and Riverbed NPM+ based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Network Monitoring Software solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Nmap vs. Riverbed NPM+ Report (Updated: March 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Nmap vs. Riverbed NPM+

March 2026

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Helped 885,376 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Nmap

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

17th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Riverbed NPM+

Ranking in Network Monitoring Software

41st

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Monitoring Software (28th)

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Network Monitoring Software category, the mindshare of Nmap is 0.8%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Riverbed NPM+ is 0.5%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Network Monitoring Software Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Nmap	0.8%
Riverbed NPM+	0.5%
Other	98.7%

Network Monitoring Software

Featured Reviews

Sai Aditya Panda

Student at a consultancy with 11-50 employees

Penetration testing has become efficient as I identify open ports and security risks with confidence

Nmap could potentially become a GUI and provide automatic reports with one-click downloads. For example, the report could show all the open ports for an IP address with a professionally formatted report. This is a far-fetched suggestion and not really required, but it could make the work a little better. On a scale of one to ten, I give Nmap a solid nine. I mean, how can you fix something that is not broken? Nmap is already the best, and I do not think there are any other features that can be added. Its job is reconnaissance, so I do not think there is more to add to it. However, if I get any ideas, I will let them know about this.

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Satyam Kumar

Senior Technical Engineer at a consultancy with 1-10 employees

Provides deep packet visibility for tracing failed transactions and helps improve enterprise-level monitoring

Many improvements are needed for Riverbed NPM+, particularly in NetIM, which does not perform as well as SolarWinds' single module NPM solution. Additionally, within Riverbed Portal, there is an Application Map module that could be improved. It can show the application's architecture and connectivity to the network. The applications map feature needs enhancements for better customization since currently, it is quite limited. The enhancements I recommend are not for the entire Riverbed product suite, but specifically for the application map feature within the Portal of Riverbed NPM+. This Portal is one of the dashboard modules and while there is potential for improvement, it must be enhanced significantly to provide better functionality. Currently, you cannot trace by transaction number alone; knowing the source and destination IP is necessary. For instance, if I transfer money and a transaction fails, tracing that transaction ID is not captured in AppResponse. I have raised this concern, and if this feature is implemented, it would greatly benefit banking customers, especially because it is not available with their competitors either.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"Nmap's performance is great, and I've never noticed any issues in this respect. It really doesn't put a heavy load on the machine when using it."

"Nmap has a powerful command line tool and a set of diagnostic features."

"It is most efficient network scanner right now."

"It helps us secure the network infrastructure."

"The solution detects the operating systems, which makes testing the software much easier before making the payload."

"The tool's most valuable feature is its scripts. These scripts prove beneficial when security features may obscure or block connections. Nmap helps identify vulnerabilities across different systems, including web servers and various server types."

"Nmap is mostly helpful during compliance checks. We run the scanner to see how many devices are on our network and find vulnerabilities in those that aren't compliant. We also use it monthly to scan our network and identify devices that aren't connected properly. This helps us detect any issues related to the operating systems of these devices."

"Nmap is easy to use. It's a command-line interface, and the output is quite good."

More Nmap pros

"Riverbed NPM+ provides a holistic view of the network and deeper insights into traffic and packet analysis."

"Alluvio Network Performance Management is good for troubleshooting."

Cons

"The challenge often lies in finding suitable courses and professional resources."

"I would like something more user-friendly to use and export data to various software."

"Since I started using Nmap, it has been completely based on the command prompt and I think it would help other users if they implemented a decent GUI as well."

"There could be a specific option to check non-pingable endpoints for the product."

"Nmap needs to improve its scanning speed."

"The solution should increase the number of features under a free license."

"The price is high and could be cheaper."

"There are concerns with the stability of the product, making it an area where improvements are required."

More Nmap cons

"Currently, you cannot trace by transaction number alone; knowing the source and destination IP is necessary."

"Many improvements are needed for Riverbed NPM+, particularly in NetIM, which does not perform as well as SolarWinds' single module NPM solution."

"Alluvio Network Performance Management is good for troubleshooting."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is open source so it is free."

"It's an open-source solution. Commerically, only the support service is available."

"Nmap is an open-source and free product."

"Nmap is open source software, which suits us well because we are a manufacturing company and not an IT company, for example. If we were an IT company, we would probably need to pay for extra support or instead go for another software solution. But as it is, we don't have any need for high-end troubleshooting tools."

"I am using the free version of Nmap."

"The product's pricing is fine. The licensing options for Nmap include perpetual licenses and volume-based licenses. For perpetual licenses, once you purchase it, there's no need to invest in renewals. And for volume-based licenses, enterprise companies can use it multiple times based on the number of users or devices they need to scan. It's a pay-as-you-go model, similar to how you pay for what you use."

"Nmap is an open-source product. You don't need a license to install it."

"The solution is free of cost."

More Nmap pricing and cost advice

"The tool's pricing is high and I would rate it one out of ten."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Manufacturing Company

12%

Construction Company

10%

Government

University

Healthcare Company

16%

Financial Services Firm

14%

Retailer

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	10
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	11

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Nmap?

Nmap is mostly helpful during compliance checks. We run the scanner to see how many devices are on our network and find vulnerabilities in those that aren't compliant. We also use it monthly to sca...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Nmap?

I am using the free version of Nmap.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Nmap?

Nmap is used for network scanning to map the network, identify devices, and assess their status. It helps determine open ports and services running on a particular endpoint or server within an ente...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Alluvio Network Performance Management?

The pricing of Riverbed NPM+ is indeed high, particularly as I work with enterprises in the banking sector primarily in India and the Middle East, and I have also interacted with clients in Europe....

See all answers

What needs improvement with Alluvio Network Performance Management?

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Alluvio Network Performance Management?

Riverbed NPM+ has many primary use cases, making this NPM solution totally different from other tools like SolarWinds. They have a solution called AppResponse, which is not an agent-based solution ...

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 8% of the time

Domotz Pro vs Nmap

Compared 8% of the time

SolarWinds NPM vs Nmap

Compared 7% of the time

OpenNMS vs Nmap

Compared 7% of the time

Azure Network Watcher vs Nmap

Compared 7% of the time

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NETSCOUT InfiniStreamNG vs Riverbed NPM+

Compared 16% of the time

Datadog vs Riverbed NPM+

Compared 13% of the time

LiveNX vs Riverbed NPM+

Compared 10% of the time

ThousandEyes vs Riverbed NPM+

Compared 8% of the time

SolarWinds NPM vs Riverbed NPM+

Compared 8% of the time

More Riverbed NPM+ Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Nmap

March 2026

Download Nmap product report

Buyer's Guide

Network Monitoring Software

March 2026

Download Riverbed NPM+ product report

Also Known As

No data available

Alluvio Network Performance Management

Overview

Nmap ("Network Mapper") is a free and open source (license) utility for network discovery and security auditing. Many systems and network administrators also find it useful for tasks such as network inventory, managing service upgrade schedules, and monitoring host or service uptime. Nmap uses raw IP packets in novel ways to determine what hosts are available on the network, what services (application name and version) those hosts are offering, what operating systems (and OS versions) they are running, what type of packet filters/firewalls are in use, and dozens of other characteristics. It was designed to rapidly scan large networks, but works fine against single hosts. Nmap runs on all major computer operating systems, and official binary packages are available for Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X. In addition to the classic command-line Nmap executable, the Nmap suite includes an advanced GUI and results viewer (Zenmap), a flexible data transfer, redirection, and debugging tool (Ncat), a utility for comparing scan results (Ndiff), and a packet generation and response analysis tool (Nping).

Nmap

Riverbed NPM+ is a SaaS-delivered service that uses Riverbed Unified Agent to collect decrypted packet data at every user and server endpoint. It fills visibility gaps caused by encrypted tunnels in Zero Trust, remote work, and cloud-native environments. Taking an agent-based deployment approach ensures flexibility, simplicity, and scalability. With this AI-driven Network Observability, Riverbed takes a revolutionary step towards faster issue detection and higher service availability.

Riverbed

Sample Customers

Lockheed Martin, Eastern Bank Boston, Perspecta, Harris Corporation, Discovery Communication

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Nmap vs. Riverbed NPM+

March 2026

Free Report: Nmap vs. Riverbed NPM+

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