NetBench — Your network troubleshooting toolkit

Plug in, then diagnose.

About twenty seconds. Read the adapter, scan the LAN, pin the hosts that matter, then run the next check on the same host.

1 Plug in
NetBench reads the adapter you just joined.
2 Status
IP, subnet, gateway, DHCP and DNS, on one screen.
3 Scan
IP, hostname, MAC and vendor for hosts that answer.
4 Watch
Gateway, server, till and the path off site, with live latency.
5 Diagnose
DNS, ports, certificates and traceroute, still in the same app.

NetBench Status: this host’s LAN identity on the left, named ICMP Watch list on the right. — See the active NIC at a glance — IP, subnet, gateway, DHCP, DNS and suffix — alongside live ICMP monitoring for gateways, servers and remote hosts.

Built for troubleshooting, not monitoring infrastructure.

NetBench is the toolkit on the engineer’s laptop. Open it when you plug in, work the fault, and close it when you are done. It is the tool you carry onto site, not the monitoring platform in the server room.

It does not replace PRTG, Zabbix or a full network management system. There is no packet capture and no Nmap-style sweep. SNMP here is a read-only look at the device in front of you — name, uptime and interfaces — not a collector for the estate.

What you open it for.

The same situations, on site, without a different program for each check.

Walk into a customer site

Plug in. NetBench shows the IP, subnet, gateway, DHCP and DNS on the adapter you just connected.

Something keeps dropping

Put the gateway, server, till and internet connection into Watch. Their latency stays visible while you investigate.

What’s on this network?

Scan the subnet and see IP, hostname, MAC and vendor in one table, with the gateway and this PC marked.

Is it DNS or the service?

Run DNS, port checks and traceroute against the same host. Stay in NetBench instead of jumping between CMD, PowerShell and a browser.

The checks, one by one.

Status, Watch, Scan, DNS, ports, certificates, a read-only SNMP poll and traceroute — each one on the host you are already investigating.

Status

Plug in. Know the network.

See the active NIC, IP, subnet, gateway, DHCP, DNS, MAC and link speed in one place. NetBench gives you the network context immediately, with Copy dump when you need to send the details on.

Status page showing Ethernet 2 at 192.168.14.81/24, gateway 192.168.14.1, DNS 192.168.14.1 and 1.1.1.1, public IP 82.19.204.40.

Watch

Watch the hosts that matter

Pin the hosts that matter and watch them with continuous ICMP. Name each one as you add it — front till, NAS, core switch — so the list is readable on the next visit. See live RTT and recent latency, spot timeouts immediately, then jump straight to traceroute, DNS, ports, SSL, SNMP or Wake-on-LAN.

Compact tray Watch list with gateway, public IP, and named hosts including a timed-out front till.

Scan

Find what’s on the subnet.

Sweep the NIC’s prefix or a subnet you type in, then resolve responding hosts with ARP, DNS and OUI data. See IP, hostname, MAC and vendor in one view, with the gateway and local PC tagged automatically. Filter the results or jump straight to Watch, SSL, SNMP, ports and Wake-on-LAN.

Subnet scan of 192.168.14.0/24 as a table of IP, hostname, MAC, vendor and ping, with Trace route, DNS lookup, Port check, SNMP, Wake on LAN and Watch on each row.

DNS

Query DNS from the machine you’re on.

Use the Windows DNS client and the resolvers configured on the active NIC. See A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT and PTR records, then check SPF, DMARC, forward-confirmed reverse DNS and RBL status in the same view. Each lookup stays in the workspace and stays collapsed until you open it.

DNS lookup for riverside.example showing A, MX, SPF, DMARC records and health checks including a DMARC p=none warning.

Ports

Check the services you expect to be there.

Check the common service ports — SSH, DNS, HTTP, HTTPS, SMB and RDP — plus any custom port you need. NetBench shows the connection result and RTT in one quick pass. Saved hosts stay in the workspace as a collapsed list until you expand one.

Port check against 192.168.14.10: SSH timeout, DNS HTTP HTTPS SMB and RDP open.

SSL

See when the certificate runs out.

Open a TLS connection and read the certificate the host presents. NetBench shows the name, issuer, SANs and expiry, and warns when it is inside 30 days, mismatched, self-signed, or not trusted by Windows. Several hosts can be saved in the workspace; each stays collapsed until you expand it. Start a check from Scan or Watch when you already have the address.

SSL certificate check for portal.riverside.example showing a certificate that expires in 18 days, a matching name, and a trusted Let's Encrypt issuer.

SNMP

Read the switch without leaving the laptop.

Poll SNMPv1 or v2c for sysName, uptime and every interface — status, speed and traffic. Turn on Live to refresh rates every few seconds, or walk a custom OID. Start it from Scan or Watch when you already have the address.

SNMP monitor of 192.168.14.2 showing sysName sw-core, 12 day uptime, and interfaces with live in/out rates.

Trace

Follow the path, hop by hop.

Trace the route from your laptop to any host. See each hop, IP address, RTT and reverse DNS name, with timeouts clearly marked. Start a traceroute directly from Watch or Scan when you’re already investigating a host.

Traceroute to 8.8.8.8: hop 1 is the LAN gateway, hop 3 times out, destination reached at hop 6.

For MSPs and field engineers

Every customer network, ready to load.

Save named hosts by customer and reload them into Watch when you return. Arrive, plug in, load the site — the devices that matter are already there.

Workspace

Riverside Dental

Gateway
Core Switch
DC01
Front Till
NAS

The engineer arrives, plugs the laptop in, and loads Riverside Dental. Gateway, core switch, domain controller, till and NAS are already on Watch.

NetBench opens on the workspace list. Load a customer and their monitors come back, along with the DNS lookups, port checks, SSL results, scan, SNMP poll and switch map you saved. Changes save as you work. Share or back up one workspace, or back up all of them, and restore that file on another PC.

Your network troubleshooting toolkit

£29.99/year

Use on up to 3 PCs

Try everything free for 7 days
No account. No card.

Download NetBench

Technical questions

How scan, DNS, SNMP, offline use and licensing actually behave.

Is there a free trial?

Yes. Download NetBench and use the full app for 7 days on that PC. No account or card is required. When the trial ends, paste a license key from a yearly subscription to keep going.

Is this Nmap, SNMP or packet capture?

Scan uses ICMP echo and ARP, then adds vendor information from the OUI and hostnames from DNS. Port checks use TCP connect against a small set of common ports, or a port you specify. SNMP is a separate read-only tool: GET and WALK over v1 or v2c, never SET, and never a promiscuous packet capture or an Nmap-style full TCP sweep.

What does the SSL check look at?

NetBench opens a TLS connection and reads the certificate the server presents: name, issuer, subject alternative names and expiry. It warns when a certificate is expired or inside 30 days of expiry, when the name does not match, or when Windows does not trust the chain. Revocation is not checked, so the result still comes back on a LAN with no path to the internet.

Will a subnet scan hammer the LAN?

No. NetBench sends one ICMP echo to each usable address in the prefix you scan — the active LAN, or a CIDR you enter. Large prefixes are capped so plugging into a /16 does not result in a 65,000-host sweep from your laptop.

What does a workspace keep?

A workspace is one customer visit. It keeps the named monitors on Watch and the checks you have already run: DNS lookups, port scans, SSL certificates, the last LAN scan, SNMP poll and switch map. Saved DNS, port and SSL results stay collapsed until you expand them. Changes save as you work. Close workspace returns to the list. Share sends that one workspace through Windows, and Backup writes it to a file another PC can restore.

Which DNS servers does NetBench use?

The Windows DNS client and the resolvers configured on this machine. That means you are testing what the PC on this network actually resolves, rather than querying a public resolver through a website.

Does NetBench work without internet access?

Yes. The LAN troubleshooting tools do not require internet access. During the 7-day trial, and after a successful license check, NetBench continues working offline, including a short grace period if the license server cannot be reached. After the trial, a current subscription is required.

What happens if I don't renew?

NetBench continues working until the end of the period you have already paid for. After that, the app returns to the license screen until the subscription is renewed or another valid key is entered.

How many PCs can I use?

Up to 3 PCs per subscription. Paste the same key on each machine. If all 3 seats are taken, the new PC lists the active machines so you can pick which one to deactivate. That copy stops at its next check.

What if I replace my laptop?

Install NetBench on the new PC and paste your existing key. If a seat is free, it activates immediately. If all 3 seats are in use, choose which PC to deactivate — the old copy loses access at its next license check.

Where is payment handled?

Payment is handled by Stripe. Card details do not pass through Swifty Software servers. We keep the information needed to manage your subscription and license, including your email, Stripe subscription details, license key and the machines currently using the seats.

Windows says the installer is unrecognized

That is expected. The installer is not code-signed yet, so Microsoft Defender SmartScreen may show Unknown publisher. Choose Run anyway. Only do that if you downloaded it from this site.

I paid. Where is my download?

The confirmation page includes the Windows download and your license details, and we send the same information by email. If the email does not arrive, use Already subscribed at the top of this page to recover your purchase.