Impacket vs SharpShares: Side-by-Side Comparison (2026)
Features, pricing, ratings, and pros & cons — compared head-to-head.
Impacket is a free offensive security tool. SharpShares is a free offensive security tool. Compare features, ratings, integrations, and community reviews side by side to find the best offensive security fit for your security stack.
CST VerdictBased on our analysis of available product data, here is our conclusion:
Red teamers and penetration testers who need to build custom attack chains will find Impacket indispensable; its Python-native SMB, Kerberos, and NTLM implementations let you craft protocol-level attacks that commercial tools either can't do or won't let you customize. The 14,800+ GitHub stars reflect real adoption in offensive engagements, and the library's low-level protocol handling means you can exploit edge cases that signature-based defenses miss. Skip this if your team wants a point-and-click interface; Impacket demands Python fluency and assumes you understand the protocols you're weaponizing.
Red teamers and penetration testers running domain reconnaissance will move faster with SharpShares because it maps network shares and resolves names in a single pass where manual enumeration takes hours. The tool is free and sits on GitHub with 302 stars, meaning you're not waiting for vendor support or licensing approvals mid-engagement. Skip this if you need continuous monitoring of share access or compliance reporting; SharpShares is built for one-time discovery, not operational security controls.
