head to head · open source
lynis vs c15t
lynis has 16,355 GitHub stars, 1,635 forks, 224 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. c15t has 1,897 stars, 218 forks, 27 open issues and last shipped yesterday. lynis leads on adoption by 762% (16,355 vs 1,897 stars). lynis is written in Shell under GPL-3.0; c15t is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. lynis has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, c15t 11%. c15t 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
| lynis | c15t | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 16K | ★ 1.9K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Shell | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-16 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.6K | ⑂ 218 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick lynis if
- You weight community size — 16K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Shell
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick c15t if
- You want the c15t feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and c15t fits your workflow better
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 →
About c15t
c15t is a TypeScript consent management platform, or CMP, released under Apache 2.0. It helps JavaScript, React, and Next.js teams build cookie banners, preference centers, privacy preferences, and headless consent flows inside their application stack instead of using a black box third party snippet.
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Frequently asked questions
Is lynis or c15t more popular?
lynis has 16,355 GitHub stars and c15t has 1,897. lynis has the larger community by that measure.
Are lynis and c15t free?
Both are open source. lynis is licensed under GPL-3.0 and c15t under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between lynis and c15t?
lynis is written in Shell and c15t in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, lynis or c15t?
Choose lynis if you want the larger community (16,355 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose c15t if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.