While there is some overlap between OSINT-tool functionality and that of Vortimo Proper there are quite a few differences between the two tools:
Pros for OSINT-tool’s History Graph (HG) above Vortimo Proper:
- No client install! HG is light and requires no installation, just activating a single Chromium extension in your browser and you’re good to go.
- No database start-up before you can use it. HG is quick to use, it’s already running when you start your browser. Also means no maintaining the client software with upgrades etc. This happens automatically inside Chrome.
- Stability – HG is more stable than Vortimo Proper because it has a lot less moving parts and does not rely on a heavy-weight database (that is notoriously unstable).
- History graph ß the actual thing. Vortimo does not have this! While Vortimo Proper has a graph mode, this is not based on your navigation history but rather on extracted entities.
Cons for HG vs Vortimo Proper:
- Because HG does not have a heavy duty database it cannot effectively save the web page and therefore cannot replay pages. With HG, if the site is removed or changed, you’re out of luck – it’s gone unless you took a screenshot of it.
- You cannot search the text of pages - Vortimo indexes the text too, so you can search on the body of webpages too.
- Does not save images from pages. Vortimo indexes all images too.
- HG handles infinite scroller as one site, Vortimo has concept of visits that breaks infinite scrollers into visit chunks.
- No support for multiple projects. HG has load and save. Vortimo has projects and supports switching between them.
- HG does not have tagging at all, Vortimo has tagging for images, objects and pages.
- HG does not have annotations. With Vortimo you can annotate images, objects and pages and you can search through the notes too.
In effect HG (and in fact the entire OSINT-tool.com extension) is much lighter than Vortimo Proper.
Maybe it’s a lot easier digestible too and the barrier to entry / learning curve is also a lot smaller.