head to head · open source
PayloadsAllTheThings vs Pentest-Swarm-AI
PayloadsAllTheThings has 81,477 GitHub stars, 17,436 forks, 36 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. Pentest-Swarm-AI has 2,733 stars, 499 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. PayloadsAllTheThings leads on adoption by 2,881% (81,477 vs 2,733 stars). PayloadsAllTheThings is written in Python under MIT; Pentest-Swarm-AI is written in Go under AGPL-3.0. PayloadsAllTheThings has attracted 21% as many forks as stars, Pentest-Swarm-AI 18%. Pentest-Swarm-AI 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 | Pentest-Swarm-AI | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 81K | ★ 2.7K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | Go |
| Last push | 2026-08-27 | 2026-10-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 17K | ⑂ 499 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick PayloadsAllTheThings if
- You weight community size — 81K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Pentest-Swarm-AI if
- You want the Pentest-Swarm-AI feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and Pentest-Swarm-AI fits your workflow better
About PayloadsAllTheThings
Payloads All The Things is an MIT licensed, community maintained collection of web application security payloads, bypass techniques and pentest methodology notes, written for penetration testers, bug bounty hunters, CTF players and red teamers who need a reference they can copy from during an engagement.
read the full PayloadsAllTheThings overview →
About Pentest-Swarm-AI
Pentest Swarm AI is an open source, self hosted autonomous penetration testing framework in Go that puts a swarm of AI agents against APIs and web applications for authorized security work.
read the full Pentest-Swarm-AI overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is PayloadsAllTheThings or Pentest-Swarm-AI more popular?
PayloadsAllTheThings has 81,477 GitHub stars and Pentest-Swarm-AI has 2,733. PayloadsAllTheThings has the larger community by that measure.
Are PayloadsAllTheThings and Pentest-Swarm-AI free?
Both are open source. PayloadsAllTheThings is licensed under MIT and Pentest-Swarm-AI under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between PayloadsAllTheThings and Pentest-Swarm-AI?
PayloadsAllTheThings is written in Python and Pentest-Swarm-AI 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, PayloadsAllTheThings or Pentest-Swarm-AI?
Choose PayloadsAllTheThings if you want the larger community (81,477 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Pentest-Swarm-AI if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.