head to head · open source
aircrack-ng vs ossec-hids
aircrack-ng has 7,659 GitHub stars, 1,375 forks, 462 open issues and last shipped 11 days ago. ossec-hids has 5,057 stars, 1,074 forks, 125 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. aircrack-ng leads on adoption by 51% (7,659 vs 5,057 stars). aircrack-ng is written in C under GPL-2.0; ossec-hids is written in C under GPL-2.0. aircrack-ng has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, ossec-hids 21%. ossec-hids was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (security), 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
| aircrack-ng | ossec-hids | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 7.7K | ★ 5.1K |
| License | GPL-2.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | C | C |
| Last push | 2026-09-09 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.4K | ⑂ 1.1K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick aircrack-ng if
- You weight community size — 7.7K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick ossec-hids if
- You want the ossec-hids feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and ossec-hids fits your workflow better
About aircrack-ng
Aircrack ng is a GPL 2.0 licensed suite of WiFi security auditing tools written in C, intended for network auditors, penetration testers, and compliance and risk management teams who assess wireless networks on hardware they control.
read the full aircrack-ng overview →
About ossec-hids
OSSEC is an open source host based intrusion detection system written in C and released under the GNU General Public License version 2. It combines several security functions into one platform: log analysis, file integrity checking, policy monitoring, rootkit detection, real time alerting, and active response. The project describes itself as a full platform to monitor and control systems, mixing the aspects of HIDS, log monitoring, and SIM/SIEM into a single solution. It lives in the security and compliance tooling ecosystem, with topics spanning intrusion detection, file integrity management, log analysis, PCI D…
read the full ossec-hids overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is aircrack-ng or ossec-hids more popular?
aircrack-ng has 7,659 GitHub stars and ossec-hids has 5,057. aircrack-ng has the larger community by that measure.
Are aircrack-ng and ossec-hids free?
Both are open source. aircrack-ng is licensed under GPL-2.0 and ossec-hids under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between aircrack-ng and ossec-hids?
aircrack-ng is written in C and ossec-hids in C. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, aircrack-ng or ossec-hids?
Choose aircrack-ng if you want the larger community (7,659 stars) or its GPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose ossec-hids if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.