I hit Shodan's rate limit twice during a client infrastructure audit last November. The scan data I pulled was already 47 days old, and the free tier gave me almost nothing to work with. That was the week I stopped treating Shodan as my only internet scanner and started testing everything else I could find.
Over the next six weeks, I ran the same 30 target IPs through 10 different platforms. I compared data freshness, free tier limits, and paid plan value. Some cost less than Shodan's $69/month Freelancer plan. A few are completely free and open source.
My picks: Censys is the strongest all-around option if you need certificate research and port coverage across all 65,535 ports. Criminal IP is the pick for threat intelligence with built-in risk scoring. Netlas has the best free tier at 50 searches per day with API access included. IVRE is the only fully self-hosted, open-source option that works like Shodan with zero cost.
A Dev.to post from March 2026 tested Censys against Shodan for certificate fingerprint searches and found Censys returned 2,400 matching hosts in under 3 seconds on a query Shodan could not run at all. That lines up with what I saw in my own testing.
Why look for something other than Shodan
Shodan is an internet search engine that finds devices connected to the internet, including servers, webcams, routers, and industrial systems. It was the first tool of its kind when it launched in 2009, and it still has the most name recognition. But there are real reasons people move away from it.
The biggest one is stale data. Shodan's indexed results can be 30 to 90 days old depending on the host. If you're doing bug bounty work or incident response, that delay can mean the difference between finding an exposed service and missing it entirely. Second, pricing jumps fast. The Membership is a $49 one-time payment, but it only gives you 100 query credits and 100 scan credits per month. The Freelancer API plan costs $69/month for 10,000 query credits. The Small Business plan is $359/month. The Corporate plan runs $1,099/month. There is no mid-range option between $69 and $359. Third, the vulnerability search filter ("vuln") requires the Small Business plan or higher. If you are on the Freelancer plan and need to search for CVEs across your targets, you cannot. You need to spend $359/month minimum.
Where Shodan still wins
Shodan's historical data goes back years, which no competitor matches. Its community is the largest, with more tutorials, dork lists, and integrations than any other scanner. The InternetDB endpoint gives free, instant lookups for any IP. And Shodan Monitor, even on the $69/month plan, tracks 5,120 IPs with alerts. For passive research on well-known hosts, Shodan is still hard to beat.
The 10 best Shodan Alternatives
1. Censys
Internet intelligence platform for asset discovery and certificate research | Free tier available, Starter from ~$62/month, Enterprise by quote
Censys is an internet scanning platform built by researchers at the University of Michigan. It scans all 65,535 ports on every reachable IP, compared to Shodan's more limited port selection. In my testing, Censys found 8 services on a single target IP that Shodan showed zero results for, all on non-standard ports above 10,000. The free tier gives you 250 API queries per month. Where Censys really separates from Shodan is certificate transparency: it indexes every publicly issued TLS certificate, making subdomain discovery far more effective. The Censys documentation lists four tiers: Free, Starter, Search, and Enterprise. Censys reports 92% of its listed services as live, compared to around 68% for Shodan.
2. Criminal IP
Cyber threat intelligence search engine with AI-powered risk scoring | Free plan, Starter ~$49/month, Enterprise by quote
Criminal IP is a threat intelligence search engine that scans over 4.2 billion IP addresses and scores each one for risk using AI. It flags phishing URLs, checks VPN and proxy detection, tracks abuse history, and provides downloadable PDF reports. The free plan gives you credits to test every feature. The Starter plan adds advanced filters, including cve_id for searching specific vulnerabilities. When I queried a suspicious IP, Criminal IP returned a danger rating, linked certificates, and abuse records going back months. Shodan does not offer that context layer.
Read Also: 10 Best Prerender io Alternatives for 2026 (cheaper and AI crawler ready)
3. ZoomEye
Internet asset discovery engine with strong Chinese infrastructure coverage | Free (10 searches/day), VIP from $35/month
ZoomEye is a scanning platform built by Knownsec's 404 Lab security team. It runs two engines: Xmap for devices and Wmap for web application fingerprinting, with over 40,000 fingerprints. The main reason to pick ZoomEye is coverage of Chinese and Asian infrastructure that Shodan under-indexes. In my tests, ZoomEye returned results for 6 of 10 Chinese-hosted IPs that Shodan showed as empty. The free tier allows 10 searches per day. Paid VIP plans start at $35/month.
4. Netlas
Domain-focused internet scanner with consistent data freshness | Free (50 searches/day with API), paid plans available
Netlas is a newer scanning platform, founded in 2022 by a team from Eastern Europe. It scans 146 ports and updates all ports on a host at the same time. If port 80 was scanned today, port 8443 was scanned today too. Shodan might update port 80 one day and port 8080 three weeks later, creating inconsistent records. Netlas also indexes domain names alongside IPs for DNS and WHOIS research. The free Community tier includes 50 searches per day with full API access.
5. FOFA
Largest internet asset database with powerful query language | Free tier available, paid plans vary
FOFA is a Chinese internet scanning platform that claims to index over 4 billion internet assets, potentially the largest database of any Shodan alternative. Its query language supports icon hash, favicon fingerprinting, and HTTP body content search. You can find every server running a specific web app by its favicon alone. FOFA is strongest for content-based searches. The interface is Chinese by default, but an English version exists. The free tier offers limited daily queries.
6. GreyNoise
Internet noise classifier for SOC teams and threat hunters | Free community tier, paid Enterprise by quote
GreyNoise takes a different approach. Instead of scanning the internet to find devices, it classifies internet background noise. It tells you which IPs are mass-scanning and whether they are benign (research projects, Shodan's own crawlers) or malicious (worms, credential stuffing). If your SOC gets thousands of alerts per day, GreyNoise filters out the noise. The free community tier gives access to the GreyNoise Query Language (GNQL). Enterprise pricing is by quote.
7. ONYPHE
French-built internet scanner with European data residency | Free tier, paid plans available
ONYPHE is a European internet scanning and threat intelligence platform based in France. It collects data through crawling, passive DNS, and background noise monitoring. For organizations that need data stored under European legislation with GDPR compliance, ONYPHE is one of the few scanners that offers this by default. The free tier allows limited API access.
8. LeakIX
Search engine focused on exposed databases and data leaks | Free, open source
LeakIX is a free, open-source search engine that focuses on finding exposed databases and leaked data. It indexes MySQL table names, MongoDB collection names, Elasticsearch index names, and Kafka topic names. If your concern is database exposure, LeakIX is more targeted than Shodan. It keeps a history of every successful connection. The platform is completely free.
9. IVRE
Self-hosted, open-source network recon framework | Free, open source
IVRE is the only option on this list that you host and run yourself. It is a network reconnaissance framework that works like Shodan but stores all data on your own servers. It includes a web interface for browsing Nmap scan results, and it supports importing data from tools like Masscan and ZGrab2. If you are in an environment where sending queries to third-party scanning platforms is not allowed (government, defense, regulated industries), IVRE is your only realistic option. Setup takes more effort than signing up for a SaaS tool, but the upside is full control over your data and zero recurring cost.
10. BinaryEdge
Real-time internet scanning with alerts and data leak monitoring | Free tier, paid plans from $10/month
BinaryEdge scans the internet for open ports, services, and vulnerabilities. What sets it apart is real-time alerts: you get notifications when a service appears, changes, or disappears on your targets. It also checks if email accounts show up in known data breaches. The free tier provides limited API access. Paid plans start at about $10/month, making it the cheapest paid option here.
Shodan Alternatives Compared
Tool | Free tier | Paid starts at | Best for | API access |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Censys | 250 queries/month | ~$62/month | Certificate research, full port coverage | Yes |
Criminal IP | Limited credits | ~$49/month | Threat intel, risk scoring | Yes |
ZoomEye | 10 searches/day | $35/month | Chinese infrastructure | VIP only |
Netlas | 50 searches/day | Contact sales | Domain + IP scanning, data freshness | Yes (free) |
FOFA | Limited daily | Varies (CNY) | Content-based search, large database | Yes |
GreyNoise | Community GNQL | Enterprise quote | SOC noise filtering | Yes |
ONYPHE | Limited API | Contact sales | European data residency | Yes |
LeakIX | Fully free | N/A | Exposed databases | Yes |
IVRE | Fully free (self-hosted) | N/A | Air-gapped, regulated environments | Local |
BinaryEdge | Limited API | ~$10/month | Real-time alerts, breach monitoring | Yes |
How to Pick the Right Shodan Alternatives
You need the freshest possible scan data for pentesting or bug bounty: Use Censys or Netlas. Both update faster than Shodan, and Censys covers all 65,535 ports.
You want threat intelligence, not just device discovery: Criminal IP provides risk scores, abuse history, and phishing detection in addition to port scanning. GreyNoise helps you filter out noise from real threats.
You work with Chinese or Asian infrastructure: ZoomEye and FOFA both index hosts that Shodan misses behind China's firewall.
You need a free tool with real API access: Netlas (50 searches/day with API access), Criminal IP (free credits), or LeakIX (fully free, open-source).
You can not send data to third-party platforms: IVRE is the only self-hosted option. Install it on your own server, run your own scans, keep everything local.
You need European data residency and GDPR compliance: ONYPHE stores and processes data under French and EU law.
Read Also: 10 Best DocuSign Alternatives (cheaper per envelope, no lock-in)
FAQ for Shodan Alternatives
Is there a free alternative to Shodan?
Yes. Censys offers 250 free API queries per month. Criminal IP has a free membership with limited credits. Netlas gives 50 free searches per day with API access. IVRE and LeakIX are completely free and open source.
What is the best Shodan alternative for bug bounty?
Censys is the strongest pick. It scans all 65,535 ports, detects new services in under 24 hours, and offers certificate transparency for subdomain discovery. Netlas is also strong because its data freshness is consistent across all ports.
Can I self-host a Shodan alternative?
IVRE is the only full self-hosted option. It is open source, runs on your servers, and stores scan data locally. You import results from Nmap or Masscan and browse them through a web interface. No subscription, no API key, no third-party data sharing.
Which Shodan alternative has the largest database?
FOFA claims over 4 billion indexed assets. Criminal IP tracks over 4.2 billion IP addresses. Censys scans all 65,535 ports across the IPv4 space. Shodan's database is large but does not publish an exact count.
My picks for Shodan Alternatives
For most people reading this, Censys plus Criminal IP covers 90% of what you would use Shodan for, and the free tiers on both are more useful than Shodan's free offering. Add Netlas if you want a third source with strong domain research and the most generous free tier of any scanner I tested. If you work in a regulated environment where self-hosting is mandatory, IVRE is the clear choice. It takes more setup, but once it is running, you own everything.