What Wireshark Foundation does

The Wireshark Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (TIN: 87-2836003) headquartered in Davis, California, that stewards the development and distribution of Wireshark, the de facto standard open-source network protocol analyzer used for deep packet inspection and traffic analysis. The Foundation also stewards Stratoshark, branded as "Wireshark for the Cloud," which extends packet analysis capabilities to cloud-native environments. Both projects are developed on GitLab as free, open source software and rely on a global community of contributors spanning 60+ countries, with millions of end users worldwide.

The Foundation's portfolio centers on three core assets: Wireshark (the core protocol analyzer product), Stratoshark (the cloud-native extension), and SharkFest (an annual educational conference series staged in both the US and EU featuring lecture- and lab-based sessions). Its business model is donation-driven: all donations directly fund operations and ongoing development, and contributions are tax-deductible under its 501(c)(3) status. A merchandise storefront (Spreadshop) provides supplemental revenue, and conference programming functions as both a community-building and revenue-generating channel. The Foundation serves four primary user segments — network engineers/IT professionals, students and learners, consultants, and open source developers — through a community-led and event-driven go-to-market motion with no commercial pricing for its software products.

Governance is provided by a Board of Directors including Gerald Combs (Director, the original Wireshark creator), Janice Spampinato, Loris Degioanni, Mark Stout, Kary Rogers, Jasper Bongertz, and Sharareh Najafi, with operational leadership from an Executive Director and Treasurer. The organization is independently governed with no parent company, venture capital, or private equity involvement, and it operates as a global entity with no geographic restrictions on distribution.

Name

Wireshark Foundation

Legal name

Wireshark Foundation

Website

https://wiresharkfoundation.org

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Wireshark Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that stewards Wireshark, the open-source standard network protocol analyzer, and Stratoshark, its cloud-native extension. It serves a global community of network engineers, students, consultants, and developers across 60+ countries via free software, SharkFest conferences, and donation-funded operations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Contributions: The foundation operates as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization funded by donations. All donations directly fund operations and Wireshark's ongoing development. Donations are tax deductible in the United States.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

The Wireshark Foundation stewards and funds the development of Wireshark, a free, open-source network protocol analyzer that captures and interactively browses network traffic for deep packet inspection, and Stratoshark, its cloud-native counterpart. The foundation also operates SharkFest, an annual educational conference series held in the US and EU for the Wireshark developer and user community. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, it funds these programs through tax-deductible donations and merchandise sales.

Product overview

Wireshark Foundation offers a portfolio of open-source network analysis tools centered around Wireshark, the industry-standard network protocol analyzer for deep packet inspection and analysis. The product suite includes Stratoshark (described as 'Wireshark for the Cloud'), which extends packet analysis to cloud environments. Additionally, the Foundation hosts SharkFest, an educational conference series in the US and EU that provides hands-on training and knowledge sharing for the Wireshark community. The Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization stewarding these open-source projects and related educational initiatives.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Stratoshark: 'Wireshark for the Cloud' - open source network analysis software for cloud environments.
• SharkFest

Products and services

• Wireshark Wireshark is a free, open-source network protocol analyzer that enables deep inspection and analysis of hundreds of network protocols, providing real-time capture and offline analysis of network traffic for network engineers, security analysts, and IT professionals.
• Stratoshark Stratoshark is described as 'Wireshark for the Cloud,' extending packet analysis capabilities to cloud-based network environments for practitioners who need to inspect traffic in cloud infrastructure.
• SharkFest Educational Conference SharkFest is an annual educational conference series staged in the US and EU, focused on sharing knowledge, experience, and best practices among the Wireshark and other open source project developer and user communities through lecture and lab-based sessions.

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Free Software Foundation: 501(c)(3) non-profit that advocates for free software and stewards the GNU project. Comparable as a donation-funded non-profit advancing open-source software through advocacy, licensing stewardship, and community education.
• Mozilla Foundation: Non-profit stewarding the open-source Firefox browser and related tools. Directly comparable as a donation-funded, mission-driven foundation stewarding a flagship open-source project with a large global contributor and user base.
• Software Freedom Conservancy: Non-profit umbrella organization providing fiscal and legal home for multiple open-source projects. Comparable in mission and donation-funded structure to the Wireshark Foundation, though serving many projects simultaneously rather than stewarding a single flagship tool.
• Eclipse Foundation: Non-profit foundation stewarding the Eclipse IDE and other open-source developer tools, with significant corporate sponsorship. Directly comparable as a foundation-led steward of an open-source developer ecosystem serving millions of users.
• Apache Software Foundation: 501(c)(3) non-profit foundation that stewards the Apache open-source projects. Directly comparable in mission, structure, and donation/sponsorship funding model to the Wireshark Foundation, though its portfolio is much larger and spans many projects.
• Python Software Foundation: 501(c)(3) non-profit foundation stewarding the Python programming language. Comparable in structure, donor-funded governance, and stewarding role for a globally used open-source project with educational programs.
• Open Source Initiative: Non-profit advocacy organization that promotes and protects open-source software and maintains the OSI definition. Comparable as a non-profit stewarding community standards and education for open-source contributors and users.
• NumFOCUS: Non-profit stewarding open-source scientific computing projects such as NumPy and pandas. Comparable as a donation-funded non-profit foundation supporting a portfolio of open-source tools and running community/educational programs.
• ISC (Internet Systems Consortium): Non-profit that develops and maintains BIND, Kea DHCP, and other internet-infrastructure open-source software. Comparable as a donor-funded non-profit stewarding mission-critical open-source networking software relied on globally.

Broad incumbents

• Linux Foundation: Largest industry-backed non-profit stewarding Linux, Kubernetes, and many networking-adjacent projects. Comparable as a 501(c)(3) foundation model for open-source stewardship but vastly larger in scale, scope, and corporate sponsorship.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/WiresharkNews
• YouTubeyoutube.com/c/sharkFestWiresharkDeveloperandUserConference
• Facebookfacebook.com/WiresharkNews
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/wireshark-foundation

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Wireshark Foundation