head to head · open source
lighthouse vs aircrack-ng
lighthouse has 31,005 GitHub stars, 9,785 forks, 470 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. aircrack-ng has 7,850 stars, 1,402 forks, 462 open issues and last shipped 25 days ago. lighthouse leads on adoption by 295% (31,005 vs 7,850 stars). lighthouse is written in JavaScript under Apache-2.0; aircrack-ng is written in C under GPL-2.0. lighthouse has attracted 32% as many forks as stars, aircrack-ng 18%. lighthouse 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
| lighthouse | aircrack-ng | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 31K | ★ 7.8K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | C |
| Last push | 2026-11-01 | 2026-10-09 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.8K | ⑂ 1.4K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick lighthouse if
- You weight community size — 31K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick aircrack-ng if
- You want the aircrack-ng feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and aircrack-ng fits your workflow better
About lighthouse
Lighthouse Lighthouse analyzes web apps and web pages, collecting modern performance metrics and insights on developer best practices. Using Lighthouse Using Lighthouse in Chrome DevTools Using the Chrome extension Using the Node CLI CLI options Using the Node module Viewing a report Online Viewer Docs & Recipes Developing Lighthouse Setup Run Tests Docs Associated Products and Projects Lighthouse Integrations in Web Perf services Lighthouse Integrations in non Web Perf services Plugins Related projects FAQ How does Lighthouse work? Can I configure the lighthouse run? How does Lighthouse use network throttling…
read the full lighthouse overview →
About aircrack-ng
Aircrack ng Badges GitHub CI Others Repository versions Description Aircrack ng is a complete suite of tools to assess WiFi network security. It focuses on different areas of WiFi security: Monitoring: Packet capture and export of data to text files for further processing by third party tools. Attacking: Replay attacks, deauthentication, fake access points and others via packet injection. Testing: Checking WiFi cards and driver capabilities (capture and injection). Cracking: WEP and WPA PSK (WPA 1 and 2). All tools are command line which allows for heavy scripting. A lot of GUIs have taken advantage of this…
read the full aircrack-ng overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is lighthouse or aircrack-ng more popular?
lighthouse has 31,005 GitHub stars and aircrack-ng has 7,850. lighthouse has the larger community by that measure.
Are lighthouse and aircrack-ng free?
Both are open source. lighthouse is licensed under Apache-2.0 and aircrack-ng under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between lighthouse and aircrack-ng?
lighthouse is written in JavaScript and aircrack-ng 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, lighthouse or aircrack-ng?
Choose lighthouse if you want the larger community (31,005 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose aircrack-ng if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.