head to head · open source
crowdsec vs osv-scanner
crowdsec has 14,956 GitHub stars, 719 forks, 296 open issues and last shipped yesterday. osv-scanner has 11,083 stars, 797 forks, 113 open issues and last shipped today. crowdsec leads on adoption by 35% (14,956 vs 11,083 stars). crowdsec is written in Go under MIT; osv-scanner is written in Go under Apache-2.0. crowdsec has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, osv-scanner 7%. osv-scanner was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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
| crowdsec | osv-scanner | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 15K | ★ 11K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-24 | 2026-09-25 |
| Forks | ⑂ 719 | ⑂ 797 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick crowdsec if
- You weight community size — 15K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick osv-scanner if
- You want the osv-scanner feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and osv-scanner fits your workflow better
About crowdsec
CrowdSec is an open source, MIT licensed intrusion detection and prevention system, WAF and bot detection engine that analyses logs and HTTP requests and blocks malicious IPs at the firewall, reverse proxy or CDN, built for Linux, Windows, Docker and Kubernetes operators who want community sourced threat intelligence sitting behind their own infrastructure.
read the full crowdsec overview →
About osv-scanner
OSV Scanner is an Apache 2.0 licensed vulnerability scanner written in Go that connects a project's list of dependencies with the vulnerabilities affecting them, using data from the open OSV.dev database, and it is aimed at developers, maintainers, and security teams who need to find known vulnerabilities in the dependencies they already ship.
read the full osv-scanner overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is crowdsec or osv-scanner more popular?
crowdsec has 14,956 GitHub stars and osv-scanner has 11,083. crowdsec has the larger community by that measure.
Are crowdsec and osv-scanner free?
Both are open source. crowdsec is licensed under MIT and osv-scanner under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between crowdsec and osv-scanner?
crowdsec is written in Go and osv-scanner 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, crowdsec or osv-scanner?
Choose crowdsec if you want the larger community (14,956 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose osv-scanner if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.