head to head · open source
lighthouse vs windows_hardening
lighthouse has 30,785 GitHub stars, 9,765 forks, 470 open issues and last shipped yesterday. windows_hardening has 2,658 stars, 331 forks, 21 open issues and last shipped 18 days ago. lighthouse leads on adoption by 1,058% (30,785 vs 2,658 stars). lighthouse is written in JavaScript under Apache-2.0; windows_hardening is written in PowerShell under MIT. lighthouse has attracted 32% as many forks as stars, windows_hardening 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 | windows_hardening | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 31K | ★ 2.7K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | PowerShell |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-08-31 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.8K | ⑂ 331 |
| 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 windows_hardening if
- You want the windows_hardening feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches PowerShell
- You evaluated both and windows_hardening 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 windows_hardening
HardeningKitty and Windows Hardening Settings is a PowerShell project for Windows security baselines, compliance checklists, and system hardening. It began as a simple Windows 10 hardening list and later became a tool that supports Microsoft guidelines, CIS Benchmarks, DoD STIG, BSI SiSyPHuS Win10, and the project's own list. The project lives in the Windows PowerShell and security baseline ecosystem.
read the full windows_hardening overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is lighthouse or windows_hardening more popular?
lighthouse has 30,785 GitHub stars and windows_hardening has 2,658. lighthouse has the larger community by that measure.
Are lighthouse and windows_hardening free?
Both are open source. lighthouse is licensed under Apache-2.0 and windows_hardening under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between lighthouse and windows_hardening?
lighthouse is written in JavaScript and windows_hardening 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 windows_hardening?
Choose lighthouse if you want the larger community (30,785 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose windows_hardening if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.