Comparison

Strait vs NetInspector

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

Head to head
About

Strait

Inspect your browser tab's network path with this privacy-focused tool. It reveals exit IP details, iCloud Private Relay status, DNS comparisons, and WebRTC leak checks. Generate shareable reports for debugging and verification.

Highlights
  • Tab exit IP details (IPv4/IPv6, ASN, owner, location)
  • Native/system exit IP comparison
  • iCloud Private Relay status
  • VPN-like interface and system proxy state
  • TLS snapshot
  • DNS comparison (system vs. DoH)
  • WebRTC leak check
  • One-tap copyable report
Features
Read full description

Strait is a privacy-first network path inspector for your active browser tab. WHAT YOU SEE - Tab exit IP — IPv4 and IPv6, with ASN, owner, and coarse location - Native/system exit IP — for side-by-side comparison - iCloud Private Relay verdict — active, shadowed by VPN, or not observed, classified against Apple's published egress IP ranges - VPN-like interface and system proxy state — based on the default route, not just utun presence - TLS snapshot — version, ALPN, certificate leaf, issuer, and expiry from a native probe (clearly labeled as Strait's probe, not the browser's reused connection) - DNS comparison — system resolver vs. DNS-over-HTTPS - WebRTC leak check — surfaces public srflx candidates that bypass the tab's exit ONE-TAP COPYABLE REPORT Every check produces a clean text report you can paste into a bug ticket, a forum post, or a chat with your network admin. The copy report is the power-user source of truth. HONEST UNCERTAINTY Strait labels every value with its source and confidence. When timing data is hidden, when a probe is from the companion instead of the tab connection, or when a result is inferred — the UI says so. PRIVACY BY CONSTRUCTION - No analytics, no telemetry, no remote logging - No account, no sign-in - No browsing history or per-host log leaves the device - External calls are limited to documented probe endpoints and only run when you check a tab - Strait does not route your traffic — it is not a VPN WHO IT'S FOR - iCloud+ subscribers who want a readable answer to "is Private Relay doing anything here?" - Privacy-sensitive users who run VPNs and want to verify them - Web, SRE, and security debugging users who need a compact browser-side network report WHAT STRAIT IS NOT Not a VPN. Not a packet sniffer. Not a passive collector of browsing history. Not a replacement for Web Inspector. Strait is a focused, on-demand path inspector. TO ENABLE Strait ships as a Safari Web Extension. After installing, open Settings > Apps > Safari > Extensions and turn on Strait. Then tap the Strait icon in the browser toolbar on any page.

About

NetInspector

Features
Read full description

NetInspector shows you what is answering on your Wi-Fi, and remembers it, so you can see what changed. Tap Scan and every device that responds appears on an interactive 3D map: your router at the centre, the Internet above it, and everything else grouped around it by what it looks like — computers, phones, smart-home gadgets, cameras, printers and TVs. Every one shows its address at a glance. Tap for details, pinch to zoom, drag to turn the map around. WHAT YOU SEE • The name a device reports, from Bonjour or reverse DNS • Its IP address, and the open ports it answers on • How fast it replied • A best guess at what kind of device it is • Exactly when it was last seen, to the second WHAT CHANGED NetInspector keeps every scan and compares each one with the one before, so you can see when an address started answering, stopped answering, changed the name it reports, or opened and closed ports. New and changed entries are highlighted on the map, and ones you have not seen for a while drift towards its edge. The Addresses tab is the longer view: every address that has ever answered on this network, when it was first and last seen, and how many scans it appeared in — which is how you tell a fixture from a visitor. WHAT iOS DOES NOT ALLOW, AND WHY IT MATTERS Apple does not give apps on iPhone or iPad access to hardware (MAC) addresses. No app can read them, and NetInspector will not pretend otherwise. That has two consequences worth knowing before you buy into anything: • There is no manufacturer column. Manufacturer is looked up from the hardware address, so without it there is nothing to look up. • Devices are identified by IP address alone. If your router gives a device a new address, it appears as a new entry; if it reuses an old address for something else, that looks like the same entry. The app says so on screen rather than quietly guessing. If you want a device followed across address changes, that needs a Mac. The macOS version of NetInspector reads hardware addresses and tracks devices properly. FINDS DEVICES OTHERS MISS Discovery combines ping, TCP connection checks and Bonjour, so devices that ignore ping still show up. You choose which ports to check and how many addresses to test at once. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Everything stays on your device. No account, no analytics, no advertising, and nothing is sent to us or to anyone else. Erase your history whenever you like.

Screenshots

Strait3 screens
NetInspector3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Strait at every 2 days against NetInspector's weekly. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Strait ships an update every 2 days, NetInspector weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 2, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 8 level
Strait versus NetInspector: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStraitNetInspector
PriceFreeFree
Rating5.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 days — betterWeekly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Mac — better
Requires iOS17.016.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size5 MB7 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperJiawei YeTraLand.com

In-app purchases

None

Strait

No in-app purchases

None

NetInspector

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Strait free?
Strait is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is NetInspector free?
NetInspector is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Strait or NetInspector have ads?
Neither Strait nor NetInspector shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Strait or NetInspector?
Strait ships an update every 2 days, and NetInspector weekly. Most recently, Strait was updated on October 2, 2026 and NetInspector on October 9, 2026.

Other comparisons