Packet Capture (cStor®) vs RDFP: Side-by-Side Comparison (2026)
Features, pricing, ratings, and pros & cons — compared head-to-head.
Packet Capture (cStor®) is a commercial network detection and response tool by cPacket Networks. RDFP 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 NIST CSF 2.0 coverage, core features, integrations, company size fit, here is our conclusion:
Enterprise and mid-market security teams investigating protocol-level incidents will find Packet Capture (cStor®) invaluable for its lossless capture at 10–200 Gbps paired with petabyte-scale persistent storage, letting you replay and forensically analyze traffic weeks or months after compromise. The onboard indexing and Wireshark integration mean you're not shipping raw PCAPs offsite for analysis; incident response happens at wire speed with full packet fidelity. This is deliberate forensics tooling, not a detection platform; if you need real-time threat hunting or automated anomaly flagging across the network, you'll want this feeding data to a separate NDR layer.
Security teams running Zeek for network visibility will find immediate value in RDFP for identifying unauthorized or outdated Remote Desktop clients on the wire, something most NDR platforms treat as noise rather than a detection signal. The script requires no additional infrastructure beyond existing Zeek deployments and costs nothing, making it a quick add to detect client-side RDP vulnerabilities that endpoint tools often miss. Skip this if your organization relies on application allowlisting or has already eliminated RDP from your environment; RDFP is tactical network hygiene, not a replacement for access controls.
