head to head · open source
lynis vs Comp AI
lynis has 16,611 GitHub stars, 1,645 forks, 224 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. Comp AI has 2,074 stars, 442 forks, 36 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. lynis leads on adoption by 701% (16,611 vs 2,074 stars). lynis is written in Shell under GPL-3.0; Comp AI is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. lynis has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, Comp AI 21%. Comp AI was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (compliance, gdpr), 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
| lynis | Comp AI | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 17K | ★ 2.1K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Shell | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-16 | 2026-10-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.6K | ⑂ 442 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick lynis if
- You weight community size — 17K 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 Comp AI if
- You want the Comp AI feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Comp AI fits your workflow better
About lynis
[Documentation] [Documentation]: Do you like this software? Star the project and become a stargazer. lynis Lynis Security auditing and hardening tool, for UNIX based systems. Lynis is a security auditing tool for systems based on UNIX like Linux, macOS, BSD, and others. It performs an in depth security scan and runs on the system itself. The primary goal is to test security defenses and provide tips for further system hardening . It will also scan for general system information, vulnerable software packages, and possible configuration issues. Lynis was commonly used by system administrators and auditors to…
read the full lynis overview →
About Comp AI
Comp AI The open source compliance platform. Learn more » Discord · Website · Documentation · Issues · Roadmap About AI that handles compliance for you in hours. Comp AI is the fastest way to get compliant with frameworks like SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA and GDPR. Comp AI automates evidence collection, policy management, and control implementation while keeping you in control of your data and infrastructure. Recognition ProductHunt Vercel Built With Next.js Trigger.dev Prisma Tailwind CSS Upstash Vercel Contact us Contact our founders at hello@trycomp.ai to learn more about how we can help you achieve compliance…
read the full Comp AI overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is lynis or Comp AI more popular?
lynis has 16,611 GitHub stars and Comp AI has 2,074. lynis has the larger community by that measure.
Are lynis and Comp AI free?
Both are open source. lynis is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Comp AI under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between lynis and Comp AI?
lynis is written in Shell and Comp AI 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 Comp AI?
Choose lynis if you want the larger community (16,611 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Comp AI if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.