diff --git a/nixos/tests/hibernate.nix b/nixos/tests/hibernate.nix
index 787929f8904d..7616a75b0214 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/hibernate.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/hibernate.nix
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ import ./make-test.nix (pkgs: {
 
       networking.firewall.allowedTCPPorts = [ 4444 ];
 
-      systemd.services.listener.serviceConfig.ExecStart = "${pkgs.netcat}/bin/nc -l -p 4444";
+      systemd.services.listener.serviceConfig.ExecStart = "${pkgs.netcat}/bin/nc -l 4444";
     };
 
     probe = { config, lib, pkgs, ...}: {
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ import ./make-test.nix (pkgs: {
       $machine->waitForShutdown;
       $machine->start;
       $probe->waitForUnit("network.target");
-      $probe->waitUntilSucceeds("echo test | nc -c machine 4444");
+      $probe->waitUntilSucceeds("echo test | nc machine 4444");
     '';
 
 })
diff --git a/nixos/tests/virtualbox.nix b/nixos/tests/virtualbox.nix
index 02a8fc680280..376c4f21dc04 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/virtualbox.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/virtualbox.nix
@@ -299,9 +299,9 @@ let
       -pf /run/dhclient.pid \
       -v eth0 eth1
 
-    otherIP="$(${pkgs.netcat}/bin/netcat -clp 1234 || :)"
+    otherIP="$(${pkgs.netcat}/bin/nc -l 1234 || :)"
     ${pkgs.iputils}/bin/ping -I eth1 -c1 "$otherIP"
-    echo "$otherIP reachable" | ${pkgs.netcat}/bin/netcat -clp 5678 || :
+    echo "$otherIP reachable" | ${pkgs.netcat}/bin/nc -l 5678 || :
   '';
 
   sysdDetectVirt = pkgs: ''
@@ -461,11 +461,11 @@ in mapAttrs mkVBoxTest {
     my $test1IP = waitForIP_test1 1;
     my $test2IP = waitForIP_test2 1;
 
-    $machine->succeed("echo '$test2IP' | netcat -c '$test1IP' 1234");
-    $machine->succeed("echo '$test1IP' | netcat -c '$test2IP' 1234");
+    $machine->succeed("echo '$test2IP' | nc '$test1IP' 1234");
+    $machine->succeed("echo '$test1IP' | nc '$test2IP' 1234");
 
-    $machine->waitUntilSucceeds("netcat -c '$test1IP' 5678 >&2");
-    $machine->waitUntilSucceeds("netcat -c '$test2IP' 5678 >&2");
+    $machine->waitUntilSucceeds("nc '$test1IP' 5678 >&2");
+    $machine->waitUntilSucceeds("nc '$test2IP' 5678 >&2");
 
     shutdownVM_test1;
     shutdownVM_test2;
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/misc/playonlinux/default.nix b/pkgs/applications/misc/playonlinux/default.nix
index 4050f8bf5894..b604905320b2 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/misc/playonlinux/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/misc/playonlinux/default.nix
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 , gnupg1compat
 , icoutils
 , imagemagick
-, netcat
+, netcat-gnu
 , p7zip
 , python2Packages
 , unzip
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ let
       gnupg1compat
       icoutils
       imagemagick
-      netcat
+      netcat-gnu
       p7zip
       unzip
       wget
diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/vm/windows/bootstrap.nix b/pkgs/build-support/vm/windows/bootstrap.nix
index ebea819b1910..3b06d8f47490 100644
--- a/pkgs/build-support/vm/windows/bootstrap.nix
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/vm/windows/bootstrap.nix
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 { stdenv, fetchurl, vmTools, writeScript, writeText, runCommand, makeInitrd
-, python, perl, coreutils, dosfstools, gzip, mtools, netcat, openssh, qemu
+, python, perl, coreutils, dosfstools, gzip, mtools, netcat-gnu, openssh, qemu
 , samba, socat, vde2, cdrkit, pathsFromGraph, gnugrep
 }:
 
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ with stdenv.lib;
 let
   controller = import ./controller {
     inherit stdenv writeScript vmTools makeInitrd;
-    inherit samba vde2 openssh socat netcat coreutils gzip gnugrep;
+    inherit samba vde2 openssh socat netcat-gnu coreutils gzip gnugrep;
   };
 
   mkCygwinImage = import ./cygwin-iso {
diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/vm/windows/controller/default.nix b/pkgs/build-support/vm/windows/controller/default.nix
index 06a0a2293064..9009702113ea 100644
--- a/pkgs/build-support/vm/windows/controller/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/vm/windows/controller/default.nix
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 { stdenv, writeScript, vmTools, makeInitrd
-, samba, vde2, openssh, socat, netcat, coreutils, gnugrep, gzip
+, samba, vde2, openssh, socat, netcat-gnu, coreutils, gnugrep, gzip
 }:
 
 { sshKey
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ let
     ${coreutils}/bin/chmod 600 /ssh.key
   '' + (if installMode then ''
     echo -n "Waiting for Windows installation to finish..."
-    while ! ${netcat}/bin/netcat -z 192.168.0.1 22; do
+    while ! ${netcat-gnu}/bin/netcat -z 192.168.0.1 22; do
       echo -n .
       # Print a dot every 10 seconds only to shorten line length.
       ${coreutils}/bin/sleep 10
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ let
     ${samba}/sbin/smbd -D
 
     echo -n "Waiting for Windows VM to become available..."
-    while ! ${netcat}/bin/netcat -z 192.168.0.1 22; do
+    while ! ${netcat-gnu}/bin/netcat -z 192.168.0.1 22; do
       echo -n .
       ${coreutils}/bin/sleep 1
     done
diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/vm/windows/default.nix b/pkgs/build-support/vm/windows/default.nix
index f9f1d75c70d6..c668e7569a44 100644
--- a/pkgs/build-support/vm/windows/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/vm/windows/default.nix
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ pkgs:
 let
   bootstrapper = import ./bootstrap.nix {
     inherit (pkgs) stdenv vmTools writeScript writeText runCommand makeInitrd;
-    inherit (pkgs) coreutils dosfstools gzip mtools netcat openssh qemu samba;
+    inherit (pkgs) coreutils dosfstools gzip mtools netcat-gnu openssh qemu samba;
     inherit (pkgs) socat vde2 fetchurl python perl cdrkit pathsFromGraph;
     inherit (pkgs) gnugrep;
   };
diff --git a/pkgs/desktops/xfce/panel-plugins/xfce4-sensors-plugin.nix b/pkgs/desktops/xfce/panel-plugins/xfce4-sensors-plugin.nix
index 770f34490235..3314d313ad2c 100644
--- a/pkgs/desktops/xfce/panel-plugins/xfce4-sensors-plugin.nix
+++ b/pkgs/desktops/xfce/panel-plugins/xfce4-sensors-plugin.nix
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 { stdenv, fetchurl, pkgconfig, intltool, gnome2, libxfce4ui,
-  libxfce4util, xfce4panel, libnotify, lm_sensors, hddtemp, netcat
+  libxfce4util, xfce4panel, libnotify, lm_sensors, hddtemp, netcat-gnu
 }:
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
@@ -26,14 +26,14 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     libnotify
     lm_sensors
     hddtemp
-    netcat
+    netcat-gnu
    ];
 
   enableParallelBuilding = true;
 
   configureFlags = [
     "--with-pathhddtemp=${hddtemp}/bin/hddtemp"
-    "--with-pathnetcat=${netcat}/bin/netcat"
+    "--with-pathnetcat=${netcat-gnu}/bin/netcat"
   ];
 
   meta = {
diff --git a/pkgs/tools/networking/netcat/default.nix b/pkgs/tools/networking/netcat-gnu/default.nix
similarity index 100%
rename from pkgs/tools/networking/netcat/default.nix
rename to pkgs/tools/networking/netcat-gnu/default.nix
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index fc0d7f1f6063..df4f8d066eca 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -2795,7 +2795,9 @@ in
 
   netboot = callPackage ../tools/networking/netboot {};
 
-  netcat = callPackage ../tools/networking/netcat { };
+  netcat = netcat-openbsd;
+
+  netcat-gnu = callPackage ../tools/networking/netcat-gnu { };
 
   netcat-openbsd = callPackage ../tools/networking/netcat-openbsd { };