Scanopy is for IT teams and MSPs who want a dedicated network diagram automation tool which works alongside their existing monitoring platform. LibreNMS is for teams with Linux skills that want free, self-hosted monitoring with basic topology visualization. The table below puts the two side by side on discovery, the four topology views, pricing, and licensing, including LibreNMS's trade-offs.
Scanopy vs LibreNMS: head to head
| Scanopy | LibreNMS | |
|---|---|---|
| DiscoveryProtocols used to find devices and map connections | SNMP LLDP CDP ARP TCP/UDP | SNMP CDP LLDP [10] |
| ServicesNo No service awareness Basic Common port detection Yes Application-level fingerprinting | Yes240+ types | No |
| Network ViewsWhich topology views the tool produces from discovery. L2 Physical switch ports and links L3 Subnets, VLANs, routing Workload VM/container host nesting Application Service-dependency / app grouping Yes supported Tag ? unverified Greyed not supported | L2 map built from xDP (CDP/LLDP) and ARP; no L3 subnet map. [30] | |
| Live UpdatesWhether diagrams update automatically after the initial scan | Yes | No |
| Open SourceOSI OSI-approved open source license Source available Source code available, restricted license No Proprietary | OSI AGPL-3.0 | OSI GPL-3.0 |
| PricingStarting price or pricing model | Starts at $11.99 monthly, unlimited hosts | Free |
| Also IncludesCapabilities beyond network diagramming | Docker Visualization | Monitoring |
How they compare
LibreNMS and Scanopy CE are both free and self-hosted, so that's the fair matchup here — Scanopy's AGPL-3.0 Community edition, not the paid product. LibreNMS is GPL-licensed, self-hosted network monitoring: strong SNMP auto-discovery, alerting, and graphing, with topology visualization as a secondary, plugin-based feature. Scanopy is dedicated documentation: one daemon, four switchable views (L2, L3, workloads, applications), and per-host service fingerprinting, with no monitoring or alerting.
The practical difference is what the mapping costs you in effort. LibreNMS's topology comes from the Weathermap plugin, which the LibreNMS docs say "does not work on any supported versions of PHP" and recommend against, pointing users to Custom Maps where the layout is hand-placed rather than generated. Standing it up also means managing Linux, PHP 8.2+, and MariaDB. Scanopy's map is automatic and is the core product, not a plugin. If you want free, self-hosted monitoring and you're comfortable administering the stack, LibreNMS is excellent and the maps are a bonus. If you want automatic network documentation that refreshes on a schedule without manual map layout, Scanopy CE is the closer fit — and it pairs naturally with LibreNMS if you want both.
LibreNMS has years of development behind it and an active community, and Scanopy does no monitoring — it isn't trying to replace it. For the documentation side specifically, Scanopy's automatic multi-view map is the stronger tool; for free self-hosted monitoring, LibreNMS is the one to beat.
When to choose which
Choose Scanopy when: You want automated docs over self-hosted monitoring: automatic L2, L3, workload, and application views, per-host service detection, flat pricing regardless of host count, and a free, self-hostable Community edition. It sits alongside your monitoring stack rather than replacing it.
Choose LibreNMS when: Teams with Linux server management skills that want free monitoring with some topology visualization. If you're already running LibreNMS for monitoring, the weathermap plugin adds basic mapping without another tool.
This is a focused, two-tool comparison.Weighing other options too? See the best LibreNMS alternatives. For all 13 tools side by side, see the full comparison of automated network diagram tools.
Sources
Try Scanopy
Scanopy deploys a lightweight daemon that discovers your network and builds a live topology map. No per-device fees, unlimited hosts. It pairs with whatever monitoring tool you already use.
Started as a homelabber, now deep in SNMP MIBs, Layer 3 topology, and service fingerprinting - building the network documentation tool I wished existed.