head to head · open source
Certipy vs pki
Certipy has 3,672 GitHub stars, 483 forks, 25 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. pki has 509 stars, 162 forks, 46 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Certipy leads on adoption by 621% (3,672 vs 509 stars). Certipy is written in Python under MIT; pki is written in Java under GPL-2.0. Certipy has attracted 13% as many forks as stars, pki 32%. pki was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (pki), 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
| Certipy | pki | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 3.7K | ★ 509 |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Java |
| Last push | 2026-07-30 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 483 | ⑂ 162 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Certipy if
- You weight community size — 3.7K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick pki if
- You want the pki feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and pki fits your workflow better
About Certipy
Certipy is an open source Python toolkit, published under the MIT licence on PyPI as certipy ad , for enumerating and abusing Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS), built for red teamers, penetration testers, and defenders who need to assess AD CS misconfigurations in Windows Active Directory environments.
read the full Certipy overview →
About pki
Dogtag PKI is an enterprise class open source Certificate Authority suite, written in Java and licensed under GPL 2.0, for administrators who need to run their own certificate lifecycle infrastructure rather than buy it as a hosted service.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Certipy or pki more popular?
Certipy has 3,672 GitHub stars and pki has 509. Certipy has the larger community by that measure.
Are Certipy and pki free?
Both are open source. Certipy is licensed under MIT and pki under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Certipy and pki?
Certipy is written in Python and pki in Java. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Certipy or pki?
Choose Certipy if you want the larger community (3,672 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose pki if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.