Network Utility Was Removed in macOS Ventura. Here's What to Use Instead.
If you upgraded to macOS Ventura and went looking for Network Utility, you already know it’s gone. Apple quietly removed it from /System/Library/CoreServices/Applications/ when Ventura shipped in October 2022, and it hasn’t come back. No migration path, no replacement bundled in. Just gone.
For most users that’s fine. For developers, network engineers, and anyone who relied on it for quick diagnostics, it’s annoying. The tools it provided weren’t flashy, but they were immediately accessible and they worked.
What Network Utility Did
If you never used it, Network Utility was a macOS utility that wrapped several common network diagnostic tools into a simple GUI. No Terminal required, everything in one window:
- Info: network interface details and statistics
- Ping: check reachability and latency to a host
- Traceroute: follow the path packets take to a destination
- Nmap (Port Scan): scan for open ports on a host
- Lookup: DNS lookups
- Whois: domain registration info
- Finger: user information lookups
It first shipped with Mac OS X 10.0 back in 2001 and lasted over 20 years before being removed. Apple’s reasoning was presumably that all of these functions are available through Terminal commands. Which is true. But running traceroute from Terminal and being able to paste in a hostname, adjust hop count, and read the results in a table are two different experiences.
The Command Line Still Works
Before going further: if you’re comfortable in Terminal, everything Network Utility did is still available:
ping -c 5 google.com
traceroute google.com
nslookup google.com
whois google.com
nmap -p 80,443 example.com
For quick one-off tasks, this is often the fastest path. The limitation is when you’re doing several different checks on the same host, or when you want to share results with someone who isn’t comfortable in Terminal.
NetUtil: The Direct Replacement
I built NetUtil specifically because I wanted Network Utility back. Not a clone of the original UI, but the same core set of tools, rebuilt as a modern native Mac app.
It covers everything the original did: ping, traceroute, DNS lookup, port scan, interface info, and more. Privacy-first, no data leaves your machine, no subscriptions. It’s a one-time purchase.
You can download it at netutil.app.
Other Options
If you want to explore before committing to anything:
Terminal commands work for everything, as described above. If you’re already spending most of your day in a terminal, this might be all you need.
Wireless Diagnostics (still included in macOS) has some overlap for Wi-Fi specific issues. Open it with Option-click on the Wi-Fi menu bar icon or through Spotlight.
iStatistica / iStat Menus show network interface statistics but aren’t diagnostic tools in the same sense.
For most developers who used Network Utility regularly, NetUtil is the closest direct replacement. The command-line tools are always there for scripting and automation, but when you just need to quickly check why a host isn’t responding, having it in a window makes the job faster.
NetUtil is available on the Mac App Store and at netutil.app.