head to head · open source
PayloadsAllTheThings vs emba
PayloadsAllTheThings has 82,357 GitHub stars, 17,552 forks, 36 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. emba has 3,749 stars, 344 forks, 13 open issues and last shipped yesterday. PayloadsAllTheThings leads on adoption by 2,097% (82,357 vs 3,749 stars). PayloadsAllTheThings is written in Python under MIT; emba is written in Shell under GPL-3.0. PayloadsAllTheThings has attracted 21% as many forks as stars, emba 9%. emba was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (hacking, penetration-testing), 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
| PayloadsAllTheThings | emba | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 82K | ★ 3.7K |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | Shell |
| Last push | 2026-10-30 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 18K | ⑂ 344 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick PayloadsAllTheThings if
- You weight community size — 82K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick emba if
- You want the emba feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Shell
- You evaluated both and emba fits your workflow better
About PayloadsAllTheThings
Payloads All The Things A list of useful payloads and bypasses for Web Application Security. Feel free to improve with your payloads and techniques! You can also contribute with a :beers: IRL, or using the sponsor button. An alternative display version is available at PayloadsAllTheThingsWeb. :book: Documentation Every section contains the following files, you can use the template vuln folder to create a new chapter: README.md vulnerability description and how to exploit it, including several payloads Intruder a set of files to give to Burp Intruder Images pictures for the README.md Files some files referenced…
read the full PayloadsAllTheThings overview →
About emba
EMBA The security analyzer for firmware of embedded devices EMBA is designed as the central firmware analysis and SBOM tool for penetration testers, product security teams, developers and responsible product managers. It supports the complete security analysis process starting with firmware extraction , doing static analysis and dynamic analysis via emulation, building the SBOM and finally generating a web based vulnerability report. EMBA automatically discovers possible weak spots and vulnerabilities in firmware. Examples are insecure binaries, old and outdated software components, potentially vulnerable…
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Frequently asked questions
Is PayloadsAllTheThings or emba more popular?
PayloadsAllTheThings has 82,357 GitHub stars and emba has 3,749. PayloadsAllTheThings has the larger community by that measure.
Are PayloadsAllTheThings and emba free?
Both are open source. PayloadsAllTheThings is licensed under MIT and emba under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between PayloadsAllTheThings and emba?
PayloadsAllTheThings is written in Python and emba in Shell. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, PayloadsAllTheThings or emba?
Choose PayloadsAllTheThings if you want the larger community (82,357 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose emba if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.