head to head · open source
kyverno vs Harden-Windows-Security
kyverno has 8,168 GitHub stars, 1,602 forks, 703 open issues and last shipped today. Harden-Windows-Security has 4,746 stars, 337 forks, 5 open issues and last shipped yesterday. kyverno leads on adoption by 72% (8,168 vs 4,746 stars). kyverno is written in Go under Apache-2.0; Harden-Windows-Security is written in C# under MIT. kyverno has attracted 20% as many forks as stars, Harden-Windows-Security 7%. kyverno 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
| kyverno | Harden-Windows-Security | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 8.2K | ★ 4.7K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | C# |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.6K | ⑂ 337 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick kyverno if
- You weight community size — 8.2K 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 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 kyverno
Kyverno is a Kubernetes native policy engine that lets platform engineering teams define security, compliance, automation, and governance rules as policy as code, using the Kubernetes tools they already run rather than a separate policy language.
read the full kyverno 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 kyverno or Harden-Windows-Security more popular?
kyverno has 8,168 GitHub stars and Harden-Windows-Security has 4,746. kyverno has the larger community by that measure.
Are kyverno and Harden-Windows-Security free?
Both are open source. kyverno is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Harden-Windows-Security under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between kyverno and Harden-Windows-Security?
kyverno is written in Go 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, kyverno or Harden-Windows-Security?
Choose kyverno if you want the larger community (8,168 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Harden-Windows-Security if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.