Opportunities › Real-time network traffic monitoring and visualization › Proposed app
Portglass
See every connection your computer makes, live, with all data kept on your device
- Score
- 53
- confidence 57
- Evidence
- 5
- items on the page
- Rivals
- 2
- named in sources
- First version
- 45 d
- estimate
- Type
- Desktop app
- PWA: runs in the browser, installs on Mac and Windows
- Market since
- 2003
- Mature market · AI estimate
ScreensConcept
Desktop app: Monitoring live network connections and auditing system activity requires sustained observation and analysis at a computer. Sample screens on a computer, in the proposed brand. Their numbers are sample data.
Live map
Capturing locally14 apps
About this appAI proposal
Portglass shows which apps on your computer are talking to which servers, as it happens. A small local helper watches connections on macOS, Linux or Windows and streams them to a live map in the Portglass app. Nothing is uploaded: capture, history and map stay on your device.
It is for privacy-minded people, developers and small teams who want to audit what software does in the background. Pick an app, see where it connects, how much it sends, and whether that is new. Export a log when you need to show someone.
Existing tools are often tied to one platform, cost real money, or leave you with command-line output. Portglass is one visual tool across all three systems, with a free core and plain pricing.
- Tagline
- Look through the glass. See what your computer says.
- Voice
- CalmPlainPrecise
- Why this name
- A port is where connections happen; glass is something you look through. Together: clear sight of your network, in two plain words.
In the first version
Members say which features they would use. It tells PWAS what people want; it changes no score.
Live connection map
Apps on one side, remote hosts on the other, with lines that thicken with bandwidth. Click any node to focus on it.
No member yet
Same view on every OS
One interface for macOS, Linux and Windows, so a team does not need a different tool for each machine.
No member yet
Local only by design
Capture, history and settings stay on your device. The free core needs no account and sends nothing out.
No member yet
New-connection alerts
A quiet notice when an app contacts a host it has never used before. Mark it expected or suspicious.
No member yet
Brand identityAI proposal
Check the name against trademark registers before using it.
Palette
#12302EDeep Pine · primary#F5F2EAPaper · surface#16211FInk · text#E4572ESignal Orange · accent / alerts#2E86ABHarbor Blue · data#7BA05BMoss · data / safe
Typography
Aa
Portglass
PricingAI proposal
Verified: Little Snitch's pricing page lists two one-time plans from €59 to €63.49, plus prices on request for larger customers. Personal sits just under that. Free and Team tiers are starting points to test.
Free
Free
- Live connection map
- Per-app bandwidth, 24 hours
- New-connection alerts
Personal
$49 once
- Everything in Free
- 30-day history
- Filters and saved views
- CSV and JSON export
- One year of updates
Team
$6 a month
- Everything in Personal
- Per seat, 5 seats minimum
- Shared approved-host lists
- Snapshot reports
What it could be worthEstimate
What a software business making this much sells for today, from real deals. Pick a monthly revenue.
If it makes
Worth about
$194,000
Sale range $132,000 to $263,000
$120,000 a year in revenue
From 87 software businesses listed and sold on Empire Flippers in the last year, revenue vetted by the broker: they sell for about 19× their monthly revenue, most between 13× and 26×.
Measured on profit, the middle deal is 32× monthly net profit: about 2.7 years of profit.
An estimate, not an offer or financial advice. A real price depends on profit, growth, churn, how much of the work is the owner's, and the buyer.
How it would growAI proposal
How the product would reach new customers through its own use, and how the first ones would be found. A plan to test, not a result.
- Built-in loop
- No loop in the product. Portglass has no built-in sharing loop. Users find it through developer and privacy communities, comparison content and word of mouth. Exported reports may carry a small credit, but that is secondary.
- Do they become customers?
- People reached by search and community posts can buy directly. To test: whether free users on one OS upgrade to Personal, and whether any teams ask for shared host lists.
- First customers
- Independent developers and security freelancers on macOS and Linux who already audit app traffic and want a visual, local tool.
- Where to reach them
- GitHub and open-source forums: Reach people following the privacy-focused network visualizer project, the verified signal. Offer a free beta.
- Privacy and security communities: Post short clips of unexpected connections found with the free core, in privacy and self-hosting groups.
- Developer newsletters: Offer a walkthrough on auditing an app's network use, with the free tier.
- First milestone
- 200 free installs and 15 paid Personal licenses within 60 days, from one community.
Why people already pay for this
- VerifiedGitHub repository gained 359 stars in 14 days
- Public claimThe signal describes a real-time network traffic visualizer focused on privacy and cross-platform support (macOS, Linux, Windows)
- Public claimThe project explicitly positions itself as an alternative to Little Snitch, a paid commercial product
- AI inferenceThe repository has 359 stars and 22 forks on GitHub, with 18 open issues, indicating active user interest and development
- Verified
Tech stack
Every proposal builds on the same PWA base, installable from the browser on any phone or computer. Dashed boxes are what this app adds.
- AppNext.js and TypeScript
- PWAManifest and service worker
- UITailwind CSS
- Data and authSupabase Postgres
- PaymentsStripe
- EmailResend
- HostingVercel
- This app · Local capture agentSmall signed native helper (Rust or Go)A browser cannot capture packets or see which app owns a connection. The helper does, on each OS.
- This app · Local link to the appAuthenticated localhost WebSocketStreams events from the helper to the PWA without traffic leaving the device.
RisksAI inference
- TechnicalPacket capture and per-app attribution need elevated rights and differ on each OS. Driver, permission and code-signing work for three platforms may take longer than the PWA itself.
- PlatformA PWA depends on a separate installed helper. Browsers may restrict calls to localhost, and the two-part install adds friction.
- CommercialFree alternatives exist, and the material shows a free open-source project already positioned against Little Snitch. Willingness to pay for a viewer without blocking is untested.
- RegulatoryTeam use on work machines can raise employee-monitoring and consent rules. Keep traffic local and share only host lists.
- Intellectual propertyReusing open-source capture code brings license terms. Check them, and clear the name Portglass before use.
Everything marked AI proposal or AI inference was written by a model from the evidence on the opportunity page. The proposed name must be checked against trademark registers before it is used.