HomeGuru vs HE.NET Network Tools
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
HomeGuru
Control your home's lights and appliances with this app designed for SmartLinc INSTEON controllers. View and manage configured scenes, sending on, off, or fade commands directly from your device. It offers a faster and more user-friendly experience than web interfaces.
- Control lights and appliances
- View and manage scenes
- Send on, off, and fade commands
- Automatic device support
- User-friendly interface
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If you have a SmartLinc INSTEON controller from SmartLabs (part #2412N, not an INSTEON Hub), HomeGuru is the perfect way to control your home's lights and appliances. It allows you to view a list of all configured scenes in your house, view their status and control them by sending on, off or fade commands to them. It is much quicker and friendlier than using the web interface to the device, especially if you use authentication. HomeGuru supports all the devices the SmartLinc knows about automatically, no further configuration is necessary. IMPORTANT: HomeGuru supports SmartLinc firmware version 3.0 (iPhone 2.0). It is known to work with 2.8 without device status. (To check your version, look for Firmware Version under the General Settings.) Make sure you have a supported version before purchasing. If you have communication problems with your SmartLinc, please contact us for assistance or send an error report under your controller in settings.
HE.NET Network Tools
A comprehensive suite of network diagnostic tools for professionals. It offers features like ARP/NDP lookup, DNS queries, IP calculations, bandwidth testing, and port scanning. Securely manage two-factor authentication codes and view network routing tables.
- ARP/NDP lookup
- DNS lookup
- IP Calculator
- iperf bandwidth test
- Port Scan
- SSL/TLS Information
- Two-factor authentication code storage
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This suite of networks tools implements most of the network diagnostics that you need as a Network Engineer or System Administrator. Please help us improve it by giving us feedback. + ARP / NDP: Lookup local devices found on your network using either ARP (IPv4) or NDP (IPv6). + Bonjour Browser: See what DNS-SD/Bonjour services are available on your network + DNS lookup: Search for a servers DNS zone records such as SOA, NS, A, AAAA, MX, PTR. + Interface Information: Get information regarding your device's current network state. + IP Calculator: Calculate the Netmask, Wildcard, Network, Host range, and Broadcast for a given subnet. + iperf: Check bandwidth against remote iperf services. + One Time Password: Securely store and view your TOTP and HOTP (two-factor authentication) codes. TOTP codes are available on the Apple Watch. + Ping: Send ICMP packets to a single IPv4/IPv6 address. + Ping Sweep: Send ICMP packets to an entire subnet range. + Traceroute: Find the route packets take to reach your destination. + Progressive Traceroute: Get detailed statistics for a given route. + Port Scan: Scan a list of TCP ports on any server. + Routing Table: See your local device's routing table. + SSL/TLS Information: Check available ciphers, protocols and what's being used when connecting to a remove service. + Whois: Get information regarding network resources. + NO ADS! Note: Recent iOS releases secure certain low-level network information, and as such will not be available in-app, such as MAC addresses for other network devices.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: HE.NET Network Tools at 4.0 against HomeGuru's 3.7. HE.NET Network Tools also leads on ratings volume (72 vs 3) and review sentiment (76% vs 64%). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
HE.NET Network Tools holds the better App Store score, 4.0 against 3.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: HE.NET Network Tools has 72 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 64% of HomeGuru's written reviews are positive against 76% of HE.NET Network Tools's.
HomeGuru ships an update every 4 months, HE.NET Network Tools every 2 months. Both last shipped on October 22, 2026.
| Parameter | HomeGuru | HE.NET Network Tools |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.7 (3 ratings) | 4.0 (72 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 63.6% of reviews | 75.9% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 3 | 72 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 4 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 15.6 | 13.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 5 MB | 9 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | zenwheel | Hurricane Electric, LLC |
Customer experience
HomeGuru
HE.NET Network Tools
Bugs and requests
HomeGuru
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
HE.NET Network Tools
Reported bugs
12 issues- Interface Information crashes app immediately
- iperf3 fails with 'operation not permitted' error
- iperf2 crashes on iOS 8+
- DNS lookups not responding after updates
- iperf3 only runs for 1 second despite longer duration settings
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- iperf3 fails to start intermittently
- App crashes when selecting tools from menu
- Crashes on iOS 11 and later versions
- Neighbor Discovery crashes on iPhone 6
- Dark mode text hard to read on iPhone
- App crashes on iPad for multiple functions
- Ping and basic tools crash on iOS 11+
Requested features
12 requests- Vision Pro compatibility and controls
- SRV record lookup in DNS tool
- IPv6 subnet calculator
- WOL (Wake-on-LAN) magic packet support
- MTR (My Traceroute) tool
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- Telnet command for port testing
- Stop/pause button for running tests
- Multiple iperf test execution
- Configurable iperf parameters and bandwidth limits
- LAN device scanning capability
- Dark mode text color options
- Apple Watch app with full functionality
In-app purchases
HomeGuru
No in-app purchases
HE.NET Network Tools
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is HomeGuru free?
Is HE.NET Network Tools free?
Which has better reviews, HomeGuru or HE.NET Network Tools?
Do HomeGuru or HE.NET Network Tools have ads?
Which is updated more often, HomeGuru or HE.NET Network Tools?
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