A small accounting firm’s IT contractor has an hour before close of business to answer one question: which machines on the office network have Remote Desktop or file sharing reachable, and what’s running on the NAS? She could open a terminal and type an Nmap command she half-remembers, or start a Windows app, press Scan, and read the list. Both paths get an answer. How good that answer is, and how long it takes to trust it, is what this comparison is about.
Nmap is the long-established open network mapper that most other scanners are measured against. Advanced Port Scanner is Famatech’s free Windows tool, a sibling of Advanced IP Scanner built around one job: show which ports answer on which hosts. Point both at the same office LAN of around 40 devices, plus a server running a known set of services, and the gap between them shows up fast.
Before you scan: Port scanning belongs on networks and hosts you own or are explicitly authorized to test.
At a glance
| Nmap | Advanced Port Scanner | |
|---|---|---|
| License | Nmap Public Source License (free for end users; OEM terms for redistribution) | Freeware |
| Platforms | Windows, macOS, Linux, BSD | Windows only |
| Interface | Command line, plus Zenmap GUI | GUI only |
| Host discovery | Many methods (ARP, ICMP, TCP/UDP probes) | Ping/ARP-based discovery of the range |
| TCP scanning | Yes, several scan types | Yes |
| UDP scanning | Yes | No |
| Service/version detection | Extensive (-sV, large signature database) |
Basic, for common services |
| OS detection | Yes (-O) |
No |
| Scripting | Nmap Scripting Engine, hundreds of scripts | No |
| Output formats | Normal, XML, grepable, all at once (-oA) |
Results window, export via menu |
| Remote actions | None | RDP, HTTP/FTP open, Radmin, shared folders |
| Learning curve | Steep | Minimal |
Getting a first result
Advanced Port Scanner is ready in seconds. You enter a range such as 192.168.1.1-254, leave the preset list of popular ports or type your own (22,80,443,445,3389), and press Scan. Each live host expands to show open ports and, for familiar services, a name and sometimes a version string. For a non-specialist, that’s the fastest route from question to screenshot we’ve found.
Nmap’s first useful command is short, but you have to know it:
nmap -sV -p 22,80,443,445,3389 192.168.1.0/24The output is plain text per host, ending with a one-line summary. For a single machine you care about, a full sweep is:
nmap -p- -sV -O 192.168.1.20On Windows it relies on the Npcap packet driver, which the Windows package brings along. Zenmap, the official GUI, wraps the same engine with saved profiles and a topology view, which softens the curve a little.
Detection depth
This is the biggest gap. Advanced Port Scanner tells you a port is open and gives a best guess of what service. That covers most everyday questions: is RDP exposed, is there a web admin page on the printer, is SMB reachable.
Nmap tells you which exact software and version, often the OS family, and, through the Nmap Scripting Engine, far more: SMB protocol versions and signing settings, TLS certificate details and expiry dates, HTTP page titles, SSH host keys. Point it at a Windows server running IIS with SMBv1 still enabled, and Nmap will typically identify the IIS version, flag SMBv1, and read the certificate expiry; Advanced Port Scanner reports the same open ports but with generic names. For an audit you need to hand to someone, that difference is decisive.
Nmap also scans UDP, which matters for SNMP (161), DNS (53) and some VoIP gear. Advanced Port Scanner is TCP only.
Speed and control
On a LAN of around 40 devices scanned for a list of common ports, both tools typically finish in a comparable time, under a minute. Nmap gives you every lever: timing templates (-T3, -T4), rate limits, retries, host timeouts. That control matters on fragile networks with old printers or industrial devices that dislike aggressive probing; you can slow Nmap right down. Advanced Port Scanner offers far fewer knobs.
Output and follow-up
Nmap’s XML output (-oX) and grepable output (-oG) are made for pipelines: import into spreadsheets, diff two scans with ndiff, feed other tools. That makes it the natural choice for repeated checks, such as confirming each month that nothing new is listening. Our device inventory guide shows one way to use it.
Advanced Port Scanner’s strength is what you can do next. Right-click a host to open its web interface, launch RDP, browse shared folders or connect with Radmin. For hands-on troubleshooting, that’s convenient.
Where each falls short
- Nmap: real learning curve, easy to run a scan that’s slower or noisier than intended, results that need interpreting, and it’s the kind of tool some corporate endpoint policies flag or restrict. Clear it with your security team before running it on a managed network.
- Advanced Port Scanner: Windows only, no UDP, shallow service detection, no OS fingerprinting, no scripting, and nothing to schedule or automate.
Verdict
Pick Advanced Port Scanner if you’re on Windows, want to know quickly which common ports are open across your office, and then want to act on a host with a right-click. It’s the kinder tool for office managers and junior IT, and the one we use in our guide to checking open ports on your own PC.
Pick Nmap if you need exact service versions, UDP, OS hints or scripted checks, work on macOS or Linux, or need output you can store, diff and hand to an auditor. It’s the reference instrument, and worth the hour it takes to learn the basics.
Many admins end up using both: Advanced Port Scanner for a quick look, Nmap when the answer has to be precise. The Port & Service Scanners category covers the wider field, including where Wireshark fits when you need to see the traffic itself rather than which ports answer.