head to head · open source
lynis vs webterminal
lynis has 16,355 GitHub stars, 1,635 forks, 224 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. webterminal has 1,715 stars, 560 forks, 8 open issues and last shipped 11 months ago. lynis leads on adoption by 854% (16,355 vs 1,715 stars). lynis is written in Shell under GPL-3.0; webterminal is written in Python under LGPL-3.0. lynis has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, webterminal 33%. lynis was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (devops, devops-tools), 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.
← all 8884 open source comparisons
Side by side
| lynis | webterminal | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 16K | ★ 1.7K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | LGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Shell | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-16 | 2025-10-11 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.6K | ⑂ 560 |
| 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 webterminal if
- You want the webterminal feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the LGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and webterminal 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 webterminal
Webterminal is open source bastion server. It uses Python and Django. It puts SSH, RDP, VNC, Telnet, and SFTP access into browser. It lives in Python/Django DevOps and compliance ecosystem. Project category is Business Software and Compliance Risk Management. GitHub description also mentions websocket, OTP dynamic password, cloud desktop, automation, and file management. Repository uses LGPL 3.0 license and has 1715 stars, 560 forks, eight open issues. Project supports English and Chinese documentation.
read the full webterminal overview →
More in Business Software
Related comparisons
More Compliance & Risk Management projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Compliance & Risk Management field.
Frequently asked questions
Is lynis or webterminal more popular?
lynis has 16,355 GitHub stars and webterminal has 1,715. lynis has the larger community by that measure.
Are lynis and webterminal free?
Both are open source. lynis is licensed under GPL-3.0 and webterminal under LGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between lynis and webterminal?
lynis is written in Shell and webterminal in Python. 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 webterminal?
Choose lynis if you want the larger community (16,355 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose webterminal if its feature set, stack or LGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.