head to head · open source
ProjectDiscovery vs osv-scanner
ProjectDiscovery has 31,319 GitHub stars, 3,877 forks, 107 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. osv-scanner has 11,061 stars, 794 forks, 113 open issues and last shipped yesterday. ProjectDiscovery leads on adoption by 183% (31,319 vs 11,061 stars). ProjectDiscovery is written in Go under MIT; osv-scanner is written in Go under Apache-2.0. ProjectDiscovery has attracted 12% 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. 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
| ProjectDiscovery | osv-scanner | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 31K | ★ 11K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.9K | ⑂ 794 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick ProjectDiscovery if
- You weight community size — 31K 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 ProjectDiscovery
Nuclei is a high performance, open source vulnerability scanner built by ProjectDiscovery, part of the ProjectDiscovery ecosystem. It operates as a CLI tool using a simple YAML based DSL to define custom vulnerability checks, enabling precise, real world exploitation simulation to eliminate false positives.
read the full ProjectDiscovery 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 ProjectDiscovery or osv-scanner more popular?
ProjectDiscovery has 31,319 GitHub stars and osv-scanner has 11,061. ProjectDiscovery has the larger community by that measure.
Are ProjectDiscovery and osv-scanner free?
Both are open source. ProjectDiscovery is licensed under MIT and osv-scanner under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between ProjectDiscovery and osv-scanner?
ProjectDiscovery 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, ProjectDiscovery or osv-scanner?
Choose ProjectDiscovery if you want the larger community (31,319 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.