Independent reviews for sysadmins
The record says one thing. The network says another.
TechScan365 reviews IPAM, address discovery and subnet planning tools by a single test: how well each one keeps your documented address plan and the live network in agreement. Conflicts, undocumented statics, scopes running dry — the tools that surface those earn their place.
| Address | On record | On the wire | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10.20.4.1 | core-sw01 · gateway | answers · ARP | Agrees |
| 10.20.4.10 | dc01 · static | answers · ARP | Agrees |
| 10.20.4.22 | prn-2f-east · reserved | two MACs claim it | Conflict |
| 10.20.4.37 | — | answers · Ubiquiti MAC | Not on record |
| 10.20.4.58 | nas-old · static | silent 41 days | Stale record |
| 10.20.4.100–199 | DHCP scope · 100 leases | 96 leased | Scope 96% full |
| Discrepancies to resolve | 4 | ||
Independent. Not phpIPAM, NetBox Labs, SolarWinds, ManageEngine or any other vendor. Reviews are ours; trademarks are theirs.
Nothing hosted. TechScan365 carries no software. Every product link opens the maker’s own product page.
Your address space. Scanning advice assumes networks you administer or are authorized in writing to assess.
Three registers
Plan, record, verify
Address management is a loop. A plan becomes a record; discovery checks the record against reality; the differences go back into the record. Each category covers one part of that loop.
- Draws the planSubnet Planning & CalculatorsWhat should the address plan be?Carve prefixes, size VLANs and check the arithmetic before anything is configured.LizardSystems LanCalculator
- Holds the recordIPAM SoftwareWhere does the record live?One register for subnets, reservations, owners and DNS names, instead of a shared workbook.phpIPAM · NetBox · SolarWinds IP Address Manager · GestioIP · Micetro
- Reads the wireAddress Discovery ScannersWhat is actually answering?Sweep a range and compare what replies with what the record claims.ManageEngine OpUtils · Angry IP Scanner · LizardSystems Network Scanner
Guides
Jobs you are probably doing this quarter
Step-by-step procedures with commands and settings, written for the admin who has to do the work.
- DHCP reservations vs static IPs for printers, servers and IoTWhen to hard-code an address and when to reserve it in DHCP, with PowerShell and Kea examples, a per-device rule set and the mistakes behind conflicts.
- Find genuinely free IP addresses before you assign a staticWhy a failed ping doesn't mean an address is free, and a layered check with Angry IP Scanner, ARP, DNS and DHCP before you hard-code a static IP.
- Move IP tracking off the spreadsheet and into phpIPAMA step-by-step migration from an IP spreadsheet to phpIPAM: clean the data, build sections and subnets, import, then let scheduled scans reconcile the record.
- Plan subnets and VLANs for a new branch officeSize, split and document subnets and VLANs for a new branch: a worked /22 example, VLSM order, a calculator cross-check and the record to create before go-live.
Index
Every tool in the ledger
| Tool | Role | Licence | Runs on |
|---|---|---|---|
| Angry IP ScannerAnton Keks | Reads the wire | GPLv2 | Windows, macOS, Linux (Java; bundled in the Windows and macOS packages) |
| GestioIPGestioIP | Holds the record | GPLv3 | Self-hosted web app (Perl + Apache/mod_perl + MySQL/MariaDB) on Linux; Docker Compose |
| LizardSystems LanCalculatorLizardSystems | Draws the plan | Free personal · paid business | Windows 10/11, Windows Server 2012 R2–2019 |
| LizardSystems Network ScannerLizardSystems | Reads the wire | Free personal · paid business | Windows (vendor lists Windows 7 to 10, Server 2008 R2 to 2016) |
| ManageEngine OpUtilsManageEngine (Zoho Corp.) | Reads the wire | Free edition + paid | Windows or Linux server; web console |
| MicetroBlueCat (formerly Men & Mice) | Holds the record | Commercial · trial | Linux or Windows server (VM, bare metal or cloud); overlays existing DNS/DHCP |
| NetBoxNetBox Labs | Holds the record | Apache 2.0 + paid | Self-hosted (Python/Django + PostgreSQL + Redis on Linux) or NetBox Cloud |
| phpIPAMphpIPAM project | Holds the record | GPLv3 | Self-hosted web app (PHP on Apache or nginx + MySQL/MariaDB) on Linux; Docker |
| SolarWinds IP Address ManagerSolarWinds | Holds the record | Commercial · trial | Windows Server 2012 R2–2025 with SQL Server; web console |
Head to head
When the shortlist is down to two
How tools are judged
One question, asked of every product
When the address plan and the network disagree, does this tool notice, tell you clearly, and make the fix easy to record? Reviews are built from vendor documentation, licensing and pricing pages, release notes, public demos and trials, and what administrators report after running the product for a while. Feature counts come second.