Best Shodan Alternatives in 2026

Censys grew out of academic internet measurement work, and that background still shows in how it presents data. Its host and certificate indexes let you search by domain names in certificates, open services, software banners, and network details in a structured way. For a team mapping its own attack surface, that structure makes it easier to repeat a search, save it, and compare results over time.

The free tier gives a limited number of queries each month, which is enough to test whether the index covers your assets and to learn the query syntax. Paid plans add volume, API access, and team features, so check the current pricing page before you plan a large project. The main catch is the learning curve, because precise queries need care with field names and filters. Once you learn that syntax, though, Censys is one of the most flexible tools on this list for certificate-led research.

ZoomEye is a cyberspace search engine that indexes devices, services, and web applications, with a particular strength in infrastructure hosted in Asia-Pacific regions. If your targets or your own estate include servers in that region, a search here can surface hosts that a US-focused index misses. That alone makes it a useful second check rather than a straight replacement for every use case.

The service offers a free tier with limited results, plus paid plans for higher volume and API use. Its search syntax will feel familiar if you have used other internet search engines, with filters for ports, products, countries, and organisations. The catch is that result quality varies by region and service, so cross-check important findings with a second index or a direct, authorised scan. Used that way, ZoomEye adds coverage where other tools have gaps.

BinaryEdge scans the internet and builds a data platform that covers hosts, services, and related data sources, including historical records. That history matters when you want to know what a host exposed last month, not just what it exposes today, or when you are tracing how an exposed service changed over time. Researchers who track infrastructure trends will get more from this angle than from a tool that only shows the latest snapshot.

A free tier lets you try basic searches, while paid plans raise limits and add API access. The documentation is clear about the main data types, but the site is less chatty about use cases than some rivals, so new users may need a short period of trial and error. The honest trade-off is breadth against polish: BinaryEdge is a capable index, yet it does not have the same size of community guides and tutorials as Censys or ZoomEye.

Criminal IP pairs an internet search index with threat intelligence, scoring IPs, domains, and other indicators for risk. That scoring helps a security team sort a long list of exposed hosts into a sensible order, starting with assets that look malicious, abused, or tied to known bad activity. It also links an asset to related indicators, which can speed up triage when an alert arrives with little context.

The free tier is useful for checking a handful of indicators, while paid plans add volume and API access for regular monitoring. Treat the score as a signal, not a verdict, because a high score can reflect shared hosting, a past incident, or a misconfigured service rather than current malice. When you pair the score with banner data, certificate history, and your own asset records, Criminal IP becomes a strong triage tool for threat hunting and incident response.

FOFA is a cyberspace search engine with a large index of internet assets, and it is widely used alongside Shodan and Censys for cross-checking results. Its query syntax is close enough to other search engines that most researchers can start searching quickly, with filters for protocols, products, countries, and organisations. For global infrastructure work, FOFA often returns hosts that other indexes rank lower or miss entirely.

A free tier gives limited results without registration in some cases, and paid membership raises limits and adds features. The main friction for English-speaking users is that some help material appears in Chinese first, although the search interface itself is usable in English. If you work with infrastructure in China or across Asia, FOFA is close to essential as a second source. For everyone else, it is still a solid cross-check tool.

Netlas is an internet search engine that stands out for its free tier, which has been reported to allow dozens of searches per day with API access included. That makes it a practical choice for students, independent researchers, and small teams who need regular searches without a large budget. The interface is plain and quick, and the query language covers the usual host, port, and certificate filters.

The trade-off is scale: Netlas does not claim the same index size or historical depth as Censys or BinaryEdge, so a missing result does not prove that a host is unexposed. Use it as a first pass or a daily check, then confirm important findings elsewhere. For the price, which is free to start, that is a fair deal, and the API access on the free tier is a genuine advantage over rivals that lock API use behind paid plans.

GreyNoise takes a different approach from most tools on this list. Instead of helping you find every exposed device, it watches internet-wide scanning and labels traffic that comes from mass scanners, bots, and common background noise. That context helps a defender decide whether an IP that hit their firewall is part of a broad sweep or something more targeted and worth urgent attention.

A free tier and community tools let you check individual IPs, while paid plans add API volume, integrations, and alert enrichment. GreyNoise will not replace Censys for asset discovery, and it is not meant to, so pair it with a search index when you need both views. On its own terms, though, it solves a real problem: alert fatigue caused by treating every scan as equal. Teams that tune alerts with GreyNoise tags often spend less time chasing background noise.

Onyphe is a cyber defense search engine that combines internet asset search with threat intelligence data, including information on open ports, services, and malicious indicators. Its API-first design suits teams that want to pull results into their own dashboards, scripts, or alert pipelines rather than working only in a web interface. Data categories are clearly separated, which helps when you need to explain a finding to a colleague.

A free tier lets you test searches and API calls, with paid plans for higher volume. Onyphe does not have the same volume of community tutorials as the biggest names, so expect to read the official docs carefully when you start. The payoff is a single source that covers both asset discovery and threat context, which can reduce the number of tools a small team needs to maintain. For API-led workflows, it deserves a trial.