head to head · open source
lighthouse vs lynis
lighthouse has 30,785 GitHub stars, 9,765 forks, 470 open issues and last shipped yesterday. lynis has 16,355 stars, 1,635 forks, 224 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. lighthouse leads on adoption by 88% (30,785 vs 16,355 stars). lighthouse is written in JavaScript under Apache-2.0; lynis is written in Shell under GPL-3.0. lighthouse has attracted 32% as many forks as stars, lynis 10%. lighthouse was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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 | lynis | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 31K | ★ 16K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Shell |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.8K | ⑂ 1.6K |
| 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 lynis if
- You want the lynis feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Shell
- You evaluated both and lynis fits your workflow better
About lighthouse
Lighthouse is an open source, automated auditing tool for web applications and web pages. It analyzes a target URL and collects modern performance metrics alongside insights into developer best practices, producing a structured report that scores and explains what it finds. The project lives in the JavaScript ecosystem, is distributed under the Apache 2.0 license, and is maintained under the GoogleChrome organization. It has been developed for roughly eleven years and is published to npm as the lighthouse package.
read the full lighthouse overview →
About lynis
Lynis is an agentless, GPL 3.0 security auditing and hardening tool that runs on the UNIX based system itself, built for system administrators, auditors, security officers, and penetration testers who need to assess security defenses and test compliance against standards such as ISO27001, PCI DSS, and HIPAA.
read the full lynis overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is lighthouse or lynis more popular?
lighthouse has 30,785 GitHub stars and lynis has 16,355. lighthouse has the larger community by that measure.
Are lighthouse and lynis free?
Both are open source. lighthouse is licensed under Apache-2.0 and lynis under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between lighthouse and lynis?
lighthouse is written in JavaScript and lynis in Shell. 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 lynis?
Choose lighthouse if you want the larger community (30,785 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose lynis if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.