head to head · open source
PayloadsAllTheThings vs pacu
PayloadsAllTheThings has 82,683 GitHub stars, 17,585 forks, 36 open issues and last shipped 16 days ago. pacu has 5,398 stars, 801 forks, 38 open issues and last shipped 6 months ago. PayloadsAllTheThings leads on adoption by 1,432% (82,683 vs 5,398 stars). PayloadsAllTheThings is written in Python under MIT; pacu is written in Python under BSD-3-Clause. PayloadsAllTheThings has attracted 21% as many forks as stars, pacu 15%. PayloadsAllTheThings was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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 | pacu | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 83K | ★ 5.4K |
| License | MIT | BSD-3-Clause |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-10-30 | 2026-05-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 18K | ⑂ 801 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick PayloadsAllTheThings if
- You weight community size — 83K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick pacu if
- You want the pacu feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and pacu 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 pacu
Quick reference Where to get help : the Rhino Security Labs Discord, or Stack Overflow Where to file issues : Maintained by : Rhino Security Labs What is Pacu? Pacu is an open source AWS exploitation framework, designed for offensive security testing against cloud environments. Created and maintained by Rhino Security Labs, Pacu allows penetration testers to exploit configuration flaws within an AWS account, using modules to easily expand its functionality. Current modules enable a range of attacks, including user privilege escalation, backdooring of IAM users, attacking vulnerable Lambda functions, and much…
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Frequently asked questions
Is PayloadsAllTheThings or pacu more popular?
PayloadsAllTheThings has 82,683 GitHub stars and pacu has 5,398. PayloadsAllTheThings has the larger community by that measure.
Are PayloadsAllTheThings and pacu free?
Both are open source. PayloadsAllTheThings is licensed under MIT and pacu under BSD-3-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between PayloadsAllTheThings and pacu?
PayloadsAllTheThings is written in Python and pacu in Python. 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 pacu?
Choose PayloadsAllTheThings if you want the larger community (82,683 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose pacu if its feature set, stack or BSD-3-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.