head to head · open source
lighthouse vs HardeningKitty
lighthouse has 31,005 GitHub stars, 9,785 forks, 470 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. HardeningKitty has 1,876 stars, 217 forks, 5 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. lighthouse leads on adoption by 1,553% (31,005 vs 1,876 stars). lighthouse is written in JavaScript under Apache-2.0; HardeningKitty is written in PowerShell under MIT. lighthouse has attracted 32% as many forks as stars, HardeningKitty 12%. 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 | HardeningKitty | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 31K | ★ 1.9K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | PowerShell |
| Last push | 2026-11-01 | 2026-07-21 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.8K | ⑂ 217 |
| 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 HardeningKitty if
- You want the HardeningKitty feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches PowerShell
- You evaluated both and HardeningKitty 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 HardeningKitty
HardeningKitty This is the stable version of HardeningKitty from the Windows Hardening Project by Michael Schneider. The stable version of HardeningKitty is signed with the code signing certificate of scip AG . Since this is the stable version, we do not accept pull requests in this repo, please send them to the development repo . HardeningKitty supports hardening of a Windows system. The configuration of the system is retrieved and assessed using a finding list. In addition, the system can be hardened according to predefined values. HardeningKitty reads settings from the registry and uses other modules to read…
read the full HardeningKitty overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is lighthouse or HardeningKitty more popular?
lighthouse has 31,005 GitHub stars and HardeningKitty has 1,876. lighthouse has the larger community by that measure.
Are lighthouse and HardeningKitty free?
Both are open source. lighthouse is licensed under Apache-2.0 and HardeningKitty under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between lighthouse and HardeningKitty?
lighthouse is written in JavaScript and HardeningKitty in PowerShell. 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 HardeningKitty?
Choose lighthouse if you want the larger community (31,005 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose HardeningKitty if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.