Tcpreplay vs Scapy: 2026 Comparison
Tcpreplay is a free offensive security tool. Scapy 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:
Network engineers and security testers who need to validate IDS/IPS signatures or stress-test firewalls will find Tcpreplay invaluable because it lets you replay real pcap files at line rate without touching production traffic. The tool is free, actively maintained on GitHub with 1,308 stars, and handles the packet-level precision that commercial replay tools charge thousands for. Skip this if you need GUI-driven scenario building or support for encrypted traffic manipulation; Tcpreplay is command-line only and works best when you already have clean packet captures to work from.
Network engineers and red teamers who need to craft custom packets for vulnerability research or protocol testing should reach for Scapy; its Python-native API lets you build exploit payloads and network probes faster than GUI tools, and the active community has been battle-tested on everything from IPv6 fuzzing to MPLS manipulation for over two decades. Skip this if your team lacks Python fluency or needs packet capture and analysis in a single interface; Scapy is a library for building things, not a Wireshark replacement.
