NetGuard vs PCAPdroid
Side-by-side comparison of two open source alternatives
NetGuard
NetGuard provides simple and advanced ways to block access to the internet - no root required.Applications and addresses can individually be allowed or denied access to your Wi-Fi and/or mobile connection.Blocking access to the internet can help:reduce your data usagesave your batteryincrease your privacyFeatures:Simple to useNo root required100% open sourceNo calling homeNo tracking or analyticsNo advertisementsActively developed and supportedAndroid 5.1 and later supportedIPv4/IPv6 TCP/UDP supportedTethering supportedOptionally allow when screen onOptionally block when roamingOptionally block system applicationsOptionally notify when an application accesses the internetOptionally record network usage per application per addressMaterial design theme with light and dark themePRO features:Log all outgoing traffic; search and filter access attempts; export PCAP files to analyze trafficAllow/block individual addresses per applicationNew application notifications; configure NetGuard directly from the notificationDisplay network speed graph in a status bar notificationSelect from five additional themes in both light and dark versionThere is no other no-root firewall offering all these features.If you have a question or problem, you can send an e-mail to marcel+netguard@faircode.euIf you like to help people less fluent in English, you can help translate NetGuard in your languageIf you like to test new features, you can participate in the test programAll required permissions are described here
PCAPdroid
PCAPdroid is a privacy-friendly app which lets you track and analyze the connections made by the other apps in your device. It also allows you to export a PCAP dump of the traffic, inspect HTTP, decrypt TLS traffic and much more. PCAPdroid simulates a VPN in order to capture the network traffic without root. It does not use a remote VPN server, instead data is processed locally on the device. Features: * Log and examine the connections made by user and system apps * Extract the SNI, DNS query, HTTP URL and the remote IP address * Inspect HTTP requests and replies thanks to the built-in decoders * Inspect the full connections payload as hexdump/text * Decrypt the HTTPS/TLS traffic and export the SSLKEYLOGFILE * Dump the traffic to a PCAP file, download it from a browser, or stream it to a remote receiver for real-time analysis (e.g. Wireshark) * Create rules to filter out the good traffic and easily spot anomalies * Identify the country and ASN of remote server via offline DB lookups * On rooted devices, capture the traffic while other VPN apps are running If you plan to use PCAPdroid to perform packet analysis, please check out the specific section of the manual. Join the PCAPdroid international community on Telegram or on Matrix.
| Feature | NetGuard | PCAPdroid |
|---|---|---|
| License | GPL-3.0-only | GPL-3.0-or-later |
| Install sources | F-DroidGitHubIzzyOnDroid | F-DroidGitHub |
| Categories | Password ManagerVPNFirewallDev ToolsBrowser | Password ManagerDev ToolsBrowser |
| Features | Ad-FreeOpen SourceNo Tracking | Ad-FreeOpen SourceNo Tracking |
| Platforms | Android | Android |
| Website | ||
| Source code |