head to head · open source
osv-scanner vs afrog
osv-scanner has 11,387 GitHub stars, 834 forks, 113 open issues and last shipped yesterday. afrog has 4,455 stars, 494 forks, 111 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. osv-scanner leads on adoption by 156% (11,387 vs 4,455 stars). osv-scanner is written in Go under Apache-2.0; afrog is written in Go under MIT. osv-scanner has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, afrog 11%. osv-scanner was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (vulnerability-scanner), 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
| osv-scanner | afrog | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 11K | ★ 4.5K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 834 | ⑂ 494 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick osv-scanner if
- You weight community size — 11K 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 afrog if
- You want the afrog feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and afrog fits your workflow better
About osv-scanner
Use OSV Scanner to find existing vulnerabilities affecting your project's dependencies. OSV Scanner provides an officially supported frontend to the OSV database and CLI interface to OSV Scalibr that connects a project’s list of dependencies with the vulnerabilities that affect them. OSV Scanner supports a wide range of project types, package managers and features, including but not limited to: Languages: C/C++, Dart, Elixir, Go, Java, Javascript, PHP, Python, R, Ruby, Rust. Package Managers: npm, pip, yarn, maven, go modules, cargo, gem, composer, nuget and others. Operating Systems: Detects vulnerabilities in…
read the full osv-scanner overview →
About afrog
A Security Tool for Bug Bounty, Pentest and Red Teaming English • 中文 What is afrog afrog is a high performance vulnerability scanner with support for built in and custom PoCs. It is designed for fast verification, low false positives, and practical workflows across web targets, network services, PoC authoring, and SDK based integration. Install For source builds or go install , use Go 1.27 or later. Binary release Download the latest release from: Build from source Go install Quick start Scan a single target: Scan multiple targets from a file: Run only high and critical checks: Documentation The documentation is…
read the full afrog overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is osv-scanner or afrog more popular?
osv-scanner has 11,387 GitHub stars and afrog has 4,455. osv-scanner has the larger community by that measure.
Are osv-scanner and afrog free?
Both are open source. osv-scanner is licensed under Apache-2.0 and afrog under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between osv-scanner and afrog?
osv-scanner is written in Go and afrog in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, osv-scanner or afrog?
Choose osv-scanner if you want the larger community (11,387 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose afrog if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.