Comparison

NetMonitor vs mDNS

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

NetMonitor

This app offers a comprehensive suite of 10 professional network diagnostic tools that run entirely on your device. It allows users to scan networks, discover devices, trace routes, and test speeds without any cloud reliance, ads, or subscriptions.

Highlights
  • 10 professional network tools
  • On-device operation, no cloud
  • Device discovery with multi-phase engine
  • Visual network topology map
  • Ping, Traceroute, Speed Test, DNS Lookup
  • Background scanning and widgets
  • Network event timeline
Features
Read full description

10 professional network tools. Zero cloud. Zero ads. Zero subscriptions. Everything runs locally on your Mac. NetMonitor is a complete network monitoring and diagnostics toolkit built for macOS. Scan your network, discover every connected device, trace routes across the globe, and diagnose issues in seconds — all without creating an account or sending a single byte off your machine. WHO IT'S FOR • Network admins — Monitor infrastructure and catch rogue devices • Developers — Debug connectivity, inspect DNS, scan ports • Homelab enthusiasts — Map your entire network and track every device NETWORK DASHBOARD See your entire network at a glance. A live health score grades your connection quality in real time, combining latency, packet loss, and DNS responsiveness into a single number. Monitor gateway reachability, public IP, ISP details, and live connection events — all in one view. DEVICE DISCOVERY Find devices other apps miss. NetMonitor's multi-phase scanning engine uses ARP, Bonjour, TCP probes, and reverse DNS to build a complete picture of your network. See IP and MAC addresses, vendor names, open ports, running services, and connection history for every device. 10 BUILT-IN DIAGNOSTIC TOOLS • Ping — ICMP with TCP fallback, live latency graphs, and packet statistics • Traceroute — Hop-by-hop path analysis with timing • GeoTrace — Visual traceroute plotted on a world map • World Ping — Test reachability from 20+ global nodes simultaneously • Port Scanner — TCP scanning with preset and custom port ranges • DNS Lookup — Query A, AAAA, MX, NS, TXT, and CNAME records • Speed Test — Download and upload throughput with peak speed and jitter tracking • WiFi Heatmap — Walk-around signal survey with floorplan overlay • WHOIS — Domain registration and ownership lookup • Bonjour Browser — Discover mDNS services on your network WIFI HEATMAPPING Import a floorplan or use freeform mode, then walk around to map signal strength across your space. Identify dead zones and optimize access point placement with real data instead of guesswork. GEOTRACE See the physical path your traffic takes. GeoTrace plots each hop on a satellite map so you can visualize routing across cities, countries, and continents. IPHONE COMPANION Connect to NetMonitor on your iPhone over your local network via Bonjour. Synchronize devices, run remote diagnostics, and monitor your network from either platform. No cloud relay — communication stays on your LAN. TIMELINE & EVENT HISTORY Every scan, device change, and network event is logged. Scroll back through your network history to spot patterns, track when devices appeared or disappeared, and review past diagnostics. No data ever leaves your device. No analytics. No tracking. Just tools that work.

About

mDNS

Discover and manage Bonjour, DNS SD, and Avahi services on your local network. Filter, sort, and verify network services with detailed insights and direct access to URLs.

Highlights
  • Discover Bonjour, DNS SD, and Avahi services
  • Browse by service type with presets and custom options
  • View IPv4 and IPv6 addresses
  • Filter by instance name, hostname, type, and more
  • Sort and manage scan results
  • Perform TCP/UDP reachability checks
  • Open HTTP/HTTPS URLs in browser
Read full description

mDNS Browser helps you discover Bonjour, DNS SD (DNS Service Discovery), and common Avahi-advertised services on your local network. What you can do • Browse by service type, with useful presets and custom types • See IPv4 and IPv6 together, and filter what matters to you • Quick filter across instance name, hostname, type, addresses, and TXT records • Sort results so large scans stay manageable • Open a detail view, copy IPs and TXT lines, and run TCP or UDP reachability checks (chosen automatically from the service type) • Open HTTP or HTTPS in the system browser when a service resolves to a usable URL Privacy • Discovery runs on your LAN; the app is not designed to upload your scan results to our servers (there is no account system in the app). Notes • Whether a service appears depends on it actually advertising on the current network, and on multicast not being blocked by routers, VLANs, or firewalls. • Some services bind only to certain interfaces or subnets and may be invisible from other devices. Turn noisy LAN discovery into a clear, filterable, verifiable dashboard.

Screenshots

NetMonitor4 screens
mDNS3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: mDNS at $1.99 against NetMonitor's $4.99. mDNS also leads on iOS requirement (16.6 vs 18.0). NetMonitor's advantage is ratings volume (6 vs 1). On rating, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

NetMonitor costs $4.99 and mDNS $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for NetMonitor against 5.0 for mDNS. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: NetMonitor has 6 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
NetMonitor versus mDNS: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterNetMonitormDNS
Price$4.99$1.99 — better
Rating5.0 (6 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings)
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings6 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS18.016.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size10 MB29 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJohn Crane海锋 蓝

Customer experience

NetMonitor

All ratings6 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

mDNS

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

NetMonitor

No in-app purchases

None

mDNS

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is NetMonitor free?
NetMonitor costs $4.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is mDNS free?
mDNS costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, NetMonitor or mDNS?
NetMonitor and mDNS are both rated 5.0 out of 5 on the App Store, from 6 and 1 ratings respectively.
Do NetMonitor or mDNS have ads?
Neither NetMonitor nor mDNS shows ads.

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