head to head · open source
opa vs dep-scan
opa has 12,425 GitHub stars, 1,706 forks, 310 open issues and last shipped yesterday. dep-scan has 1,324 stars, 140 forks, 82 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. opa leads on adoption by 838% (12,425 vs 1,324 stars). opa is written in Go under Apache-2.0; dep-scan is written in Python under MIT. opa has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, dep-scan 11%. opa 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
| opa | dep-scan | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 12K | ★ 1.3K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-10-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.7K | ⑂ 140 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick opa if
- You weight community size — 12K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick dep-scan if
- You want the dep-scan feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and dep-scan fits your workflow better
About opa
Open Policy Agent Open Policy Agent (OPA) is an open source, general purpose policy engine that enables unified, context aware policy enforcement across the entire stack. OPA is proud to be a graduated project in the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) landscape. For details read the CNCF announcement. Get started with OPA Write your first Rego policy with the Rego Playground or use it to share your work with others for feedback and support. Have a look at the Access Control examples if you're not sure where to start. Install the VS Code extension to get started locally with live diagnostics, debugging and…
About dep-scan
Introduction OWASP dep scan is a next generation security and risk audit tool based on known vulnerabilities, advisories, and license limitations for project dependencies. Both local repositories and container images are supported as the input, and the tool is ideal for integration with ASPM/VM platforms and in CI environments. Contents Features Precise reachable data flows Reachability matrix Rust reachability (via rusi) Go reachability (via golem) .NET reachability (via dosai) JVM, JavaScript, Python, and PHP reachability (via atom) Vulnerability Data sources Linux distros Quick Start Scanning projects locally…
read the full dep-scan overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is opa or dep-scan more popular?
opa has 12,425 GitHub stars and dep-scan has 1,324. opa has the larger community by that measure.
Are opa and dep-scan free?
Both are open source. opa is licensed under Apache-2.0 and dep-scan under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between opa and dep-scan?
opa is written in Go and dep-scan 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, opa or dep-scan?
Choose opa if you want the larger community (12,425 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose dep-scan if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.