The Shodan alternative for unified internet intelligence
Exposed-host and service discovery - plus DNS, WHOIS, TLS certificates and perceptual favicon search - in a single field:value search engine.
Profundis is an internet-intelligence search engine for security researchers, OSINT analysts and bug-bounty hunters. Like Shodan, it lets you discover exposed hosts, open ports and the services running on them across the public internet.
Where many engines focus on a single dataset, Profundis unifies host/service discovery with live and historical DNS, WHOIS (including reverse/registrant lookups), TLS certificates and virtual hosts - all queryable together, plus perceptual favicon similarity and an MCP server so AI agents can search natively.
What Shodan is known for
Shodan is widely known as one of the original search engines for internet-connected devices and exposed services.
Why Profundis
A unified internet-intelligence engine - exposed hosts and services, DNS (live + historical/passive), WHOIS (with reverse/registrant lookups), TLS certificates and virtual hosts - all searchable in one place with a field:value syntax (wildcards, AND/OR/NOT).
Favicon perceptual-similarity search (MMH3 + visual similarity) that finds visually similar favicons, not just exact icon-hash matches - Profundis’s signature differentiator.
An official MCP (Model Context Protocol) server, so AI agents like Claude can call Profundis search as native tools - AI-agent-native distribution.
A free tier with no signup required for the hosts and DNS anonymous preview, plus transparent credit-based pricing from Free to Basic, Professional and Enterprise.
A full OSINT tools suite: typosquatting scanner, subdomain enumeration, registrant explorer (reverse-WHOIS corporate recon), analytics-ID lookup, domain portfolio analyzer, entity-intelligence flow graph, ASN details and reverse-IP.
Profundis vs Shodan
| Capability | Profundis | Shodan |
|---|---|---|
| Exposed host & service discovery | Core feature | Core feature |
| Field:value query syntax (wildcards, AND/OR/NOT) | Across all datasets | Supported |
| Unified DNS (live + historical/passive) | Built in | Specializes in host data |
| WHOIS + reverse/registrant lookups | Built in | Varies by plan |
| TLS certificate search | Built in | Supported |
| Favicon perceptual similarity (not just exact hash) | Visual similarity | Favicon hash search |
| Official MCP server for AI agents | Native tools | - |
| Free tier with no-signup host/DNS preview | No signup to preview | Varies by plan |
| OSINT tools suite (typosquat, subdomains, registrant…) | Included | Varies by plan |
| EU-based operator (GDPR posture) | France (EU) | Varies |
“✓” marks a Profundis capability. “-” means the capability is not a documented public feature of Shodan at the time of writing - not a definitive statement about its roadmap. Based on publicly available information.
Frequently asked questions
Profundis offers a free tier and lets anonymous visitors preview hosts and DNS results with no signup required. For higher quotas, API access and the full tool suite, transparent credit-based paid plans are available from Free to Basic, Professional and Enterprise.
Both let you discover exposed hosts and services with a field:value syntax. Profundis additionally unifies live and historical DNS, WHOIS with reverse/registrant lookups, TLS certificates and virtual hosts in the same engine, and adds perceptual favicon similarity to pivot across related infrastructure.
Yes. Profundis provides an API for automated searches and an official MCP (Model Context Protocol) server, so AI agents such as Claude can call Profundis search as native tools.
Yes, and it goes further: instead of matching only the exact icon hash, Profundis uses perceptual similarity (MMH3 + visual similarity) to surface visually similar favicons - useful for tracking lookalike and related infrastructure.
Yes. Profundis is operated by Perspective Analytics SAS in France, which gives it a data-residency and GDPR-friendly posture for EU users.
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