HE.NET Network Tools vs Best Trace
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
Best Trace
Visualize detailed network path information to help diagnose and resolve network issues. It provides insights into your current device's network connection and offers a convenient widget for at-a-glance monitoring.
- Visual network path details
- Network problem resolution
- Current device connection info
- Home screen widget
- IP geolocation database
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****** The Industry-leading Visual Traceroute Tool ****** Best Trace is a visualization tool that can help network operators, internet companies's development and operations teams and technology enthusiasts to view network path's detail information, it also can help them resolve the needs that they want to fix the problems of the network. It is based on our(IPIP.net) own needs and customers, combined with our IP geolocation database, then we created it. We support viewing your current iOS device's network connection information and has a widget to help you see it at any time. IPIP.net focus on location-related data reduction and release, is committed to becoming the location datas more accuracy and precision. Our main products--IPIP.net function is for city-level geographic data marked based on BGP/ASN datas, that accuracy is much higher than other products. Our customers existed in all types of internet companies, most in the advertising, security, E-commerce, entertainment industry, as well as CDN, DNS, VPN, and other network productivity tools. Free users have a limit number of queries, please contact us for commercial license.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: HE.NET Network Tools at 78% against Best Trace's 15%. HE.NET Network Tools also leads on rating (4.0 vs 1.6) and device support (4 vs 2). 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 1.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 70 and 21 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 78% of HE.NET Network Tools's written reviews are positive against 15% of Best Trace's.
HE.NET Network Tools ships an update every 2 months, Best Trace monthly. The most recent releases landed on September 2, 2026 and September 21, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | HE.NET Network Tools | Best Trace |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.0 (70 ratings) — better | 1.6 (21 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 77.8% of reviews — better | 15.4% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 70 — better | 21 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Monthly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 — better | 16.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 9 MB | 4 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Hurricane Electric, LLC | Beijing Tiantexin Technology Co., Ltd. |
Customer experience
HE.NET Network Tools
Best Trace
Bugs and 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
Best Trace
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
HE.NET Network Tools
No in-app purchases
Best Trace
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is HE.NET Network Tools free?
Is Best Trace free?
Which has better reviews, HE.NET Network Tools or Best Trace?
Do HE.NET Network Tools or Best Trace have ads?
Which is updated more often, HE.NET Network Tools or Best Trace?
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