head to head · open source
Zen vs Certipy
Zen has 4,225 GitHub stars, 143 forks, 14 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Certipy has 3,672 stars, 483 forks, 25 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. Zen leads on adoption by 15% (4,225 vs 3,672 stars). Zen is written in Go under MIT; Certipy is written in Python under MIT. Zen has attracted 3% as many forks as stars, Certipy 13%. Zen was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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
| Zen | Certipy | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 4.2K | ★ 3.7K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Go | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-07-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 143 | ⑂ 483 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Zen if
- You weight community size — 4.2K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Certipy if
- You want the Certipy feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and Certipy fits your workflow better
About Zen
Zen is an open source desktop application written in Go for Windows, macOS, and Linux under the MIT license. It operates as a system wide ad blocker and privacy guard, so it applies to traffic from applications on the machine rather than only to browser tabs. It lives in the desktop security and privacy ecosystem, where users want filtering without browser extensions.
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 →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Zen or Certipy more popular?
Zen has 4,225 GitHub stars and Certipy has 3,672. Zen has the larger community by that measure.
Are Zen and Certipy free?
Both are open source. Zen is licensed under MIT and Certipy under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Zen and Certipy?
Zen is written in Go and Certipy 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, Zen or Certipy?
Choose Zen if you want the larger community (4,225 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Certipy if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.