DeviceShelf vs Fing, LanScan Pro, Advanced IP Scanner & Angry IP Scanner
Compare DeviceShelf with Fing, LanScan, Advanced IP Scanner and Angry IP Scanner — and choose the network scanner that fits your workflow.
DeviceShelf is built for people who want Fing-like visibility without an account, telemetry or subscription.
Scan your LAN locally, identify devices, find risky services and monitor presence — while your network data stays on your machine unless you explicitly enable an optional online lookup.
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All four are good tools and each fills a different niche — where another one is the better fit, we say so:
- Choose Fing if you want a polished, mobile-first cloud ecosystem.
- Choose Angry IP Scanner if you want a fast, free, open-source scanner.
- Choose LanScan Pro if you want a simple macOS-only scanner.
- Choose Advanced IP Scanner if you work mainly on Windows and need RDP / shared-folder access.
- Choose DeviceShelf if you want one private app for desktop, mobile and server monitoring — with security reports, live monitoring, no account and no telemetry.
How do these five network scanners differ?
Fing is mobile-first and cloud-backed, with its key features behind an account and a subscription. Angry IP Scanner is a free, open-source sweep that deliberately stops at an IP and port list. LanScan Pro is a simple scanner for macOS only. Advanced IP Scanner is Windows-only and built around RDP and shared folders. DeviceShelf is the only one of the five that runs on macOS, Windows and Linux as well as iOS and Android, keeps every scan on your own machine and is a one-time purchase instead of a subscription. It also bundles device identification, a security report, live monitoring and an optional 24/7 server edition in one app.
Feature comparison
| Feature | DeviceShelf | Fing | LanScan Pro | Advanced IP Scanner | Angry IP Scanner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Desktop: macOS / Windows / Linux | All three | mac/Win (Linux: agent on Pi) | macOS only | Windows only | All three |
| Mobile apps (iOS / Android) | ✓ | ✓ | — | — | — |
| Open source | — | — | — | — | ✓ (GPL) |
| Pricing | One-time purchase | Free + Premium sub | Free + paid in-app purchases | Free | Free |
| Local-first, no account needed | ✓ | Account-based | ✓ (opt. iCloud sync) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Device identification (vendor / type) | ✓ | ✓ (cloud DB) | ~ basic | ~ basic | ~ basic |
| AI device ID & chat (your own key) | ✓ | — | — | — | — |
| Passive DHCP fingerprinting (Fingerbank) 1 | ✓ | — | — | — | — |
| Open ports & services | ✓ | ~ basic | ✓ (TCP, custom) | ~ common | ✓ configurable |
| Security report / deep probes (TLS, SSH, SMB, HTTP) | ✓ | ~ security checks | — | — | — |
| Presence monitoring & alerts | ✓ | ✓ (Premium) | — | — | — |
| Per-device bandwidth 2 | ✓ | ~ (Fingbox hardware) | — | — | — |
| Physical topology map (LLDP / CDP) 2 | ✓ | — | — | — | — |
| Built-in syslog server | ✓ | — | — | — | — |
| Diagnostics (ping / traceroute / DNS / speed test) | ✓ | ~ speed test | ~ basic | ~ ping | ~ ping |
| Wake-on-LAN | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ~ plugin |
| Quick-connect (SSH / RDP / VNC / SMB) | ✓ | — | — | ✓ (RDP/Radmin/shares) | ✓ (openers) |
| Export / reports | ✓ | ~ Premium | ✓ CSV | ✓ CSV | ✓ |
| 24/7 headless server edition | ✓ included | — | — | — | ~ CLI |
| REST API / webhooks | ✓ | — | — | — | — |
| MCP server (local AI assistant access) | ✓ | — | — | — | — |
✓ = yes · — = no · ~ = limited or add-on required. Comparison as of June 2026, best-effort from each product's public pages; features may differ by plan and platform.
1 Basic DHCP fingerprinting runs locally; the Fingerbank online lookup is opt-in and off by default.
2 Platform- and permission-dependent: live bandwidth uses packet capture (e.g. Npcap on Windows); the topology map needs LLDP/CDP-capable switches.
When each tool is the better pick
Fing — the best fit if you live on your phone: a polished mobile app, a large crowd-sourced device database and a connected ecosystem (with an account and, for some features, the Fingbox hardware).
LanScan Pro — a clean, inexpensive macOS-only app for a quick scan with port checks and CSV export. Great if you only ever use a Mac and want something minimal.
Advanced IP Scanner — a free Windows tool with handy remote actions (RDP, Radmin, shared folders, shutdown). Windows-only, no security report.
Angry IP Scanner — the cross-platform, open-source classic. Fast, scriptable, free, with custom "openers". Best if open source and a tiny footprint matter most.
DeviceShelf — choose it when you want one private, cross-platform app that goes deeper: AI-assisted and Fingerbank device identification, a real security report (open ports plus TLS/SSH/SMB/HTTP probes), a physical topology map, presence monitoring with alerts, per-device bandwidth, and an optional 24/7 headless server edition — with your data staying on your device.
24/7 monitoring: the server edition next to Uptime Kuma, PRTG and Zabbix
Every DeviceShelf license includes a headless server edition
that runs around the clock in Docker, as a .deb/.rpm or as a
Windows service. It sits in a different aisle than the scanners above, so here is how
it compares to the tools people actually run for 24/7 monitoring. Since the big cloud
outages of 2025, plenty of teams keep an independent self-hosted monitor running next
to their providers' own dashboards; all four candidates below fit that job.
| Feature | DeviceShelf Server | Uptime Kuma | PRTG | Zabbix |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Setup | One container / .deb / .rpm / Windows service | One container | Windows core server / hosted | Server + web frontend + database |
| Finds & identifies LAN devices by itself | ✓ vendor, type, Fingerbank, ports | — | ~ auto-discovery | ~ discovery rules |
| L2 topology (LLDP / CDP / bridge FDB) | ✓ built in | — | ~ maps / checks | ~ maps / discovery |
| Uptime checks (ping / TCP / HTTP / DNS / push heartbeat) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Database checks (MySQL / PostgreSQL / SQL Server / Redis) | ✓ no stored DB password required | ✓ connection string | ✓ checks with credentials | ✓ ODBC / agent |
| Configurable measurement channels (HTTP JSON, SNMP traffic, protocols, files) | ✓ built in | ~ integrations | ✓ broad check library | ✓ templates / items |
| Presence and offline alerts from discovered LAN devices | ✓ | ~ manual monitors | ~ discovery / checks | ~ discovery / triggers |
| Docker container monitoring | ✓ built in | ✓ | ✓ checks | ✓ template / agent |
| Proxmox VE cluster, nodes, VMs & LXC | ✓ quorum/Ceph, utilization, I/O, storage, tasks/backups, HA, replication, updates & alarms | — | ✓ dedicated beta checks for cluster, node, VM & LXC | ✓ template / API |
| NAS disk / RAID health (Synology, QNAP, TrueNAS) | ✓ built in | — | ✓ SNMP checks | ✓ templates |
| SNMPv3 credentials & hardware health | ✓ encrypted, write-only UI | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Built-in syslog receiver | ✓ | — | ✓ check | ~ via log/trap setup |
| TLS, domain and WAN expiry checks | ✓ | ✓ certificate checks | ✓ checks | ~ templates / web checks |
| Disk-full forecast | ✓ built in | — | ~ thresholds | ~ trigger functions |
| Alert policy (quiet hours / maintenance / digest / dependencies) | ✓ built in | ~ maintenance windows | ✓ schedules / dependencies | ✓ maintenance / dependencies |
| Notification channels (SMTP, webhook, Apprise) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Public status page / read-only sharing | ✓ status page + viewer token | ✓ status pages | ~ maps / dashboards | ~ dashboards / roles |
| Reports, REST API & webhooks | ✓ built in | ~ API / notifications | ✓ API / notifications | ✓ API / actions |
| Prometheus endpoint built in | ✓ | ✓ | — | ~ exporters / integration |
| Local AI / MCP assistant access | ✓ opt-in, your provider key | — | — | — |
| Pricing | One-time purchase, flat; no per-check or per-host licenses | Free, open source | Free ≤ 100 checks, then paid licenses | Free, open source (paid support) |
Comparison as of July 2026, best-effort from each product's public pages; features may differ by version, plan and configuration.
- Choose Uptime Kuma if you want a free, open-source uptime monitor with polished status pages and don't mind configuring every check by hand.
- Choose PRTG if you run a Windows-centric enterprise environment and need its very large check catalog, including NetFlow and the new Proxmox beta checks.
- Choose Zabbix if you have an ops team, want unlimited flexibility through agents and templates, and are ready to administer the stack that comes with it.
- Choose DeviceShelf Server if you want Kuma-grade setup effort plus the network layer on top: it discovers and identifies devices on its own, maps topology, watches containers, Proxmox, SNMP hardware, syslog, certificates and disk trends out of the box, and the one-time license already covers it.
Detailed comparisons
- DeviceShelf vs Fing — the private Fing alternative
- DeviceShelf vs LanScan Pro — a cross-platform LanScan alternative
- DeviceShelf vs Advanced IP Scanner — for Mac & Linux
- DeviceShelf vs Angry IP Scanner — with device intelligence
- The best network scanners for Mac — what actually runs on macOS
- Uptime Kuma alternative — uptime monitoring that also knows what's on the network
Not sure yet? Try it on your own network
DeviceShelf has a 7-day trial, no credit card required. The fairest test: run your current scanner and DeviceShelf side by side on your own LAN and compare what each one finds and shows you.
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