head to head · open source
lynis vs pwndoc
lynis has 16,355 GitHub stars, 1,635 forks, 224 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. pwndoc has 2,895 stars, 519 forks, 122 open issues and last shipped 8 days ago. lynis leads on adoption by 465% (16,355 vs 2,895 stars). lynis is written in Shell under GPL-3.0; pwndoc is written in JavaScript under MIT. lynis has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, pwndoc 18%. lynis was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (security-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
| lynis | pwndoc | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 16K | ★ 2.9K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Shell | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-16 | 2026-09-10 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.6K | ⑂ 519 |
| 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 pwndoc if
- You want the pwndoc feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and pwndoc 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 pwndoc
PwnDoc is a JavaScript pentest reporting application released under the MIT license. It lives in the information security and penetration testing ecosystem, and it is positioned as a tool for audit work, vulnerability reporting, and compliance or risk management workflows. The project describes itself as a pentest report generator, with the stated aim of helping users spend more time testing and less time documenting by sharing data such as vulnerabilities among users.
read the full pwndoc overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is lynis or pwndoc more popular?
lynis has 16,355 GitHub stars and pwndoc has 2,895. lynis has the larger community by that measure.
Are lynis and pwndoc free?
Both are open source. lynis is licensed under GPL-3.0 and pwndoc under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between lynis and pwndoc?
lynis is written in Shell and pwndoc in JavaScript. 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 pwndoc?
Choose lynis if you want the larger community (16,355 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose pwndoc if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.