Arkime vs PFQ v6.2: Side-by-Side Comparison (2026)
Features, pricing, ratings, and pros & cons — compared head-to-head.
Arkime is a free network detection and response tool. PFQ v6.2 is a free network detection and response tool. Compare features, ratings, integrations, and community reviews side by side to find the best network detection and response fit for your security stack.
CST VerdictBased on our analysis of available product data, here is our conclusion:
Security teams operating on-premises or hybrid networks with packet capture requirements should adopt Arkime for PCAP indexing and retrospective threat hunting; the open-source model means zero licensing friction at scale, and the tool's ability to ingest and search months of network traffic at line rate beats commercial alternatives on cost-per-terabyte. Arkime excels in the Detect function of NIST CSF 2.0, particularly for forensic investigation after an incident surfaces. This is not suitable for organizations needing real-time alerting, automated response, or managed service support; you're running it yourself.
Linux infrastructure teams running high-throughput packet capture workloads will extract the most from PFQ v6.2 because its in-kernel processing model eliminates the user-space bottleneck that commodity tools like tcpdump hit under load. The 523 GitHub stars and active Linux kernel integration speak to adoption among teams that actually process millions of packets per second, not theoretical capacity. Skip this if your team needs GUI dashboards or vendor-backed threat intelligence; PFQ v6.2 is a framework for engineers comfortable reading C code and tuning kernel parameters, not a point-and-click NDR appliance.
