head to head · open source
pentest-ai-agents vs hol-guard
pentest-ai-agents has 2,408 GitHub stars, 457 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. hol-guard has 1,062 stars, 239 forks, 94 open issues and last shipped yesterday. pentest-ai-agents leads on adoption by 127% (2,408 vs 1,062 stars). pentest-ai-agents is written in Shell under MIT; hol-guard is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. pentest-ai-agents has attracted 19% as many forks as stars, hol-guard 23%. hol-guard was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (ai-agents, ai-security, claude-code), 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
| pentest-ai-agents | hol-guard | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 2.4K | ★ 1.1K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Shell | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-10-06 | 2026-11-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 457 | ⑂ 239 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick pentest-ai-agents if
- You weight community size — 2.4K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Shell
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick hol-guard if
- You want the hol-guard feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and hol-guard fits your workflow better
About pentest-ai-agents
pentest ai agents 50 Claude Code subagents for penetration testing. Quick Start Cheatsheet Coverage Agents Examples Table of Contents What's New in v3.3 What's New in v3.2 Agent Map What's New in v3.1 Quick Start Cheatsheet Coverage Agents Tier 1 vs Tier 2 Examples Running Tools in a Container Findings Database Token Optimization Local Models Documentation MCP Server Prerequisites Legal License pentest ai agents is a collection of 50 Claude Code subagents that turn Claude into an offensive security research assistant. Each agent carries deep domain knowledge in a specific area: recon, web, Active Directory…
read the full pentest-ai-agents overview →
About hol-guard
HOL Guard: Open Source Antivirus for AI Agents HOL Guard reviews agent actions before they run: shell commands, file access, package installs, and MCP tool calls. It detects secret exposure, destructive operations, prompt injection, and supply chain risks, then allows, blocks, or requests approval according to your policy. Run it locally without an account. Use the CLI and local dashboard to manage protection, resolve approvals, and inspect decision history. Optional Guard Cloud adds shared history, team policy, and fleet management. Get started · Supported agents · Plugin scanner · Documentation · Contribute an…
read the full hol-guard overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is pentest-ai-agents or hol-guard more popular?
pentest-ai-agents has 2,408 GitHub stars and hol-guard has 1,062. pentest-ai-agents has the larger community by that measure.
Are pentest-ai-agents and hol-guard free?
Both are open source. pentest-ai-agents is licensed under MIT and hol-guard under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between pentest-ai-agents and hol-guard?
pentest-ai-agents is written in Shell and hol-guard in Rust. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, pentest-ai-agents or hol-guard?
Choose pentest-ai-agents if you want the larger community (2,408 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose hol-guard if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.