head to head · open source
tfsec vs bernstein
tfsec has 7,041 GitHub stars, 558 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped 6 months ago. bernstein has 1,312 stars, 176 forks, 368 open issues and last shipped today. tfsec leads on adoption by 437% (7,041 vs 1,312 stars). tfsec is written in Go under MIT; bernstein is written in Python under Apache-2.0. tfsec has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, bernstein 13%. bernstein was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (compliance), 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
| tfsec | bernstein | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 7.0K | ★ 1.3K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Python |
| Last push | 2026-03-25 | 2026-09-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 558 | ⑂ 176 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick tfsec if
- You weight community size — 7.0K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick bernstein if
- You want the bernstein feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and bernstein fits your workflow better
About tfsec
tfsec is a static analysis security scanner for Terraform code, written in Go and released under the MIT license. It lives in the infrastructure as code and DevSecOps ecosystem, alongside tools such as linters and CI scanners. The project is now part of Trivy, Aqua Security's broader open source security scanner, and its Terraform scanning engine forms the foundation of Trivy's IaC and misconfiguration scanning capabilities. The repository remains available, but engineering attention is directed at Trivy going forward.
read the full tfsec overview →
About bernstein
Bernstein is an open source, Apache 2.0 governance and orchestration framework for fleets of AI agents, built for teams that want to write their operating rules declaratively, have those rules enforced at runtime, and keep a verifiable, replayable record of what every agent did.
read the full bernstein overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is tfsec or bernstein more popular?
tfsec has 7,041 GitHub stars and bernstein has 1,312. tfsec has the larger community by that measure.
Are tfsec and bernstein free?
Both are open source. tfsec is licensed under MIT and bernstein under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between tfsec and bernstein?
tfsec is written in Go and bernstein in Python. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, tfsec or bernstein?
Choose tfsec if you want the larger community (7,041 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose bernstein if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.