head to head · open source
opa vs checkov
opa has 12,425 GitHub stars, 1,706 forks, 310 open issues and last shipped yesterday. checkov has 9,132 stars, 1,456 forks, 170 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. opa leads on adoption by 36% (12,425 vs 9,132 stars). opa is written in Go under Apache-2.0; checkov is written in Python under Apache-2.0. opa has attracted 14% as many forks as stars, checkov 16%. opa was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (compliance), 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 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| opa | checkov | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 12K | ★ 9.1K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.7K | ⑂ 1.5K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick opa if
- You weight community size — 12K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick checkov if
- You want the checkov feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and checkov fits your workflow better
About opa
Open Policy Agent Open Policy Agent (OPA) is an open source, general purpose policy engine that enables unified, context aware policy enforcement across the entire stack. OPA is proud to be a graduated project in the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) landscape. For details read the CNCF announcement. Get started with OPA Write your first Rego policy with the Rego Playground or use it to share your work with others for feedback and support. Have a look at the Access Control examples if you're not sure where to start. Install the VS Code extension to get started locally with live diagnostics, debugging and…
About checkov
Checkov is a static code analysis tool for infrastructure as code (IaC) and also a software composition analysis (SCA) tool for images and open source packages. It scans cloud infrastructure provisioned using Terraform, Terraform plan, Cloudformation, AWS SAM, Kubernetes, Helm charts, Kustomize, Dockerfile, Serverless, Bicep, OpenAPI, ARM Templates, or OpenTofu and detects security and compliance misconfigurations using graph based scanning. It performs Software Composition Analysis (SCA) scanning which is a scan of open source packages and images for Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs). Checkov also…
read the full checkov 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 opa or checkov more popular?
opa has 12,425 GitHub stars and checkov has 9,132. opa has the larger community by that measure.
Are opa and checkov free?
Both are open source. opa is licensed under Apache-2.0 and checkov under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between opa and checkov?
opa is written in Go and checkov 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, opa or checkov?
Choose opa if you want the larger community (12,425 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose checkov if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.