head to head · open source
aircrack-ng vs Harden-Windows-Security
aircrack-ng has 7,659 GitHub stars, 1,375 forks, 462 open issues and last shipped 11 days ago. Harden-Windows-Security has 4,746 stars, 337 forks, 5 open issues and last shipped yesterday. aircrack-ng leads on adoption by 61% (7,659 vs 4,746 stars). aircrack-ng is written in C under GPL-2.0; Harden-Windows-Security is written in C# under MIT. aircrack-ng has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, Harden-Windows-Security 7%. Harden-Windows-Security was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (audit), 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
| aircrack-ng | Harden-Windows-Security | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 7.7K | ★ 4.7K |
| License | GPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | C | C# |
| Last push | 2026-09-09 | 2026-09-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.4K | ⑂ 337 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick aircrack-ng if
- You weight community size — 7.7K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Harden-Windows-Security if
- You want the Harden-Windows-Security feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches C#
- You evaluated both and Harden-Windows-Security fits your workflow better
About aircrack-ng
Aircrack ng is a GPL 2.0 licensed suite of WiFi security auditing tools written in C, intended for network auditors, penetration testers, and compliance and risk management teams who assess wireless networks on hardware they control.
read the full aircrack-ng overview →
About Harden-Windows-Security
Harden Windows Security is a GitHub repository and Windows focused security project written in C under the MIT license. It provides guides and tools for hardening Windows devices by using official, supported Microsoft methods rather than third party components. The project lives in the Windows and Microsoft security ecosystem, including Defender, BitLocker, firewall configuration, audit, encryption, compliance, enterprise security, and Intune.
read the full Harden-Windows-Security overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is aircrack-ng or Harden-Windows-Security more popular?
aircrack-ng has 7,659 GitHub stars and Harden-Windows-Security has 4,746. aircrack-ng has the larger community by that measure.
Are aircrack-ng and Harden-Windows-Security free?
Both are open source. aircrack-ng is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Harden-Windows-Security under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between aircrack-ng and Harden-Windows-Security?
aircrack-ng is written in C and Harden-Windows-Security in C#. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, aircrack-ng or Harden-Windows-Security?
Choose aircrack-ng if you want the larger community (7,659 stars) or its GPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose Harden-Windows-Security if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.