head to head · open source
osv-scanner vs tenzir
osv-scanner has 11,150 GitHub stars, 813 forks, 113 open issues and last shipped today. tenzir has 762 stars, 110 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped today. osv-scanner leads on adoption by 1,363% (11,150 vs 762 stars). osv-scanner is written in Go under Apache-2.0; tenzir is written in C++ under BSD-3-Clause. osv-scanner has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, tenzir 14%. tenzir 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
| osv-scanner | tenzir | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 11K | ★ 762 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Written in | Go | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-10-08 | 2026-10-08 |
| Forks | ⑂ 813 | ⑂ 110 |
| 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 tenzir if
- You want the tenzir feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and tenzir fits your workflow better
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 →
About tenzir
Tenzir is a data pipeline engine for security teams — written in C++ and released under the BSD 3 Clause licence — that lets SOC analysts, detection engineers, and incident responders collect, transform, enrich, and route security telemetry instead of only storing it.
read the full tenzir overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is osv-scanner or tenzir more popular?
osv-scanner has 11,150 GitHub stars and tenzir has 762. osv-scanner has the larger community by that measure.
Are osv-scanner and tenzir free?
Both are open source. osv-scanner is licensed under Apache-2.0 and tenzir under BSD-3-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between osv-scanner and tenzir?
osv-scanner is written in Go and tenzir 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, osv-scanner or tenzir?
Choose osv-scanner if you want the larger community (11,150 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose tenzir if its feature set, stack or BSD-3-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.