netcat
Hacker ApprovedThe most recommended of 8 network diagnostic tools
Small, fast tool for raw TCP and UDP connections, widely used for probing ports and as a telnet replacement. Caveat: it does not handle telnet options or drive a PTY.
Small, fast tool for raw TCP and UDP connections, widely used for probing ports and as a telnet replacement. Caveat: it does not handle telnet options or drive a PTY.
21 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 19
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 90%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 19 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 9.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Probing ports, replacing telnet
“The modern replacement for telnet used in the "probe a port" fashion is nc/netcat.”
Comment from 11 Feb 2026 in “The Day the Telnet Died” “There's always nc hostname 23 unless you need authentication”
Comment from 11 Feb 2026 in “The Day the Telnet Died” “A more "proper" tool for that is netcat”
Comment from 10 Feb 2026 in “The Day the Telnet Died” - Comment from 10 Feb 2026 in “The Day the Telnet Died”
Small and fast over TCP or UDP
“It's small, quick, and can send or receive over TCP or UDP.”
Comment from 11 Feb 2026 in “The Day the Telnet Died” “Not useful very often, but fast and kind of cool”
Comment from 2 Feb 2026 in “4x faster network file sync with rclone (vs rsync) (2025)” “much faster than going over ssh”
Comment from 24 Aug 2026 in “Migrating a Synology NAS to a UniFi UNAS Pro 8 with Robocopy, SMB Multichannel” Better than base telnet
“the ones above are basically far better direct telnet alternatives”
Comment from 11 Feb 2026 in “The Day the Telnet Died” “Netcat or socat, both of which are far better than base Telnet”
Comment from 11 Feb 2026 in “The Day the Telnet Died” Around for decades, stable
“Netcat has been around for a long, long time now.”
Comment from 11 Feb 2026 in “The Day the Telnet Died” “this has been fine working since the 80s”
Comment from 12 Jul 2026 in “Croc: Securely transfer files and folders between two computers”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Does not handle telnet options or PTYs
“I don't believe you can get netcat to drive a PTY”
Comment from 11 Feb 2026 in “The Day the Telnet Died” “Using netcat results in showing Unicode replacement symbols, instead of answering to telnet options.”
Comment from 11 Feb 2026 in “The Day the Telnet Died” “still don't serves me when I actually want to use telnet”
Comment from 12 Feb 2026 in “The Day the Telnet Died”
Other network diagnostic tools people recommend
The four most recommended other network diagnostic tools, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
See all 8 network diagnostic tools, rankedWhat people said
22 of the 23 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“much faster than going over ssh”
“this assumes pc1 has a publicly”
“this has been fine working since the 80s”
“A simple nc -c (or openssl s_client -crlf) lets you do all of that.”
“Netcat gives you raw TCP as stdin/stdout without injecting or interpreting control codes.”
“really you should just use netcat”
“still don't serves me when I actually want to use telnet”
“It's small, quick, and can send or receive over TCP or UDP.”
“Using netcat results in showing Unicode replacement symbols, instead of answering to telnet options.”
“even if netcat and many other tools have replaced it”
“What these offer is tried and tested secure code for client side needs, clear options and you don't need to hand roll code for.”
“I don't believe you can get netcat to drive a PTY”
“the ones above are basically far better direct telnet alternatives”
“Netcat has been around for a long, long time now.”
“The modern replacement for telnet used in the "probe a port" fashion is nc/netcat.”
“Netcat or socat, both of which are far better than base Telnet”
“There's always nc hostname 23 unless you need authentication”
“You want nc (usually with -v) or socat.”
“A more "proper" tool for that is netcat”
“Not useful very often, but fast and kind of cool”
“nc (netcat) is pre-installed on all platforms where ssh is”
“Throw in nc and a while loop, and you can have a server too!”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.