head to head · open source
akto vs h5i
akto has 1,518 GitHub stars, 292 forks, 347 open issues and last shipped yesterday. h5i has 648 stars, 65 forks, 9 open issues and last shipped today. akto leads on adoption by 134% (1,518 vs 648 stars). akto is written in Java under MIT; h5i is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. akto has attracted 19% as many forks as stars, h5i 10%. h5i was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (ai-security), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| akto | h5i | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 1.5K | ★ 648 |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 292 | ⑂ 65 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick akto if
- You weight community size — 1.5K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick h5i if
- You want the h5i feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and h5i fits your workflow better
About akto
Akto is an open source Java project under the MIT license. Its metadata presents it as an AI security platform for teams that secure AI agents, MCPs, LLMs, Agent skills, and Gen AI apps, while its README describes it as an open source API security platform. It lives in the open source API security and AI security ecosystem.
About h5i
h5i (pronounced high five) is a lightweight, pure Rust browser built for AI agents to automate web pages and control HTTP traffic directly, so autonomous application testing stays sandboxed, in scope, and auditable.
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Frequently asked questions
Is akto or h5i more popular?
akto has 1,518 GitHub stars and h5i has 648. akto has the larger community by that measure.
Are akto and h5i free?
Both are open source. akto is licensed under MIT and h5i under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between akto and h5i?
akto is written in Java and h5i in Rust. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, akto or h5i?
Choose akto if you want the larger community (1,518 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose h5i if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.