head to head · open source
pentest-ai vs vuln-bank
pentest-ai has 1,685 GitHub stars, 314 forks, 2 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. vuln-bank has 933 stars, 340 forks, 10 open issues and last shipped 9 days ago. pentest-ai leads on adoption by 81% (1,685 vs 933 stars). pentest-ai is written in Python under MIT; vuln-bank is written in HTML under MIT. pentest-ai has attracted 19% as many forks as stars, vuln-bank 36%. pentest-ai was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (ai-security, devsecops), 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 | vuln-bank | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 1.7K | ★ 933 |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Python | HTML |
| Last push | 2026-09-13 | 2026-09-11 |
| Forks | ⑂ 314 | ⑂ 340 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick pentest-ai if
- You weight community size — 1.7K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick vuln-bank if
- You want the vuln-bank feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches HTML
- You evaluated both and vuln-bank fits your workflow better
About pentest-ai
Pentest AI is an open source Python project that connects an AI client or model to a penetration testing workflow. It belongs to the AI security and application security ecosystem, and it is distributed under the MIT license. The project is published as ptai on PyPI and can be used through MCP, the CLI, or CI.
read the full pentest-ai overview →
About vuln-bank
vuln bank is a deliberately vulnerable banking application — MIT licensed, primarily written in HTML, with 933 stars and 341 forks — built so security engineers, developers, interns, QA analysts and DevSecOps practitioners can practise web, API and LLM application security testing, secure code review and CI/CD security automation in an isolated environment.
read the full vuln-bank overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is pentest-ai or vuln-bank more popular?
pentest-ai has 1,685 GitHub stars and vuln-bank has 933. pentest-ai has the larger community by that measure.
Are pentest-ai and vuln-bank free?
Both are open source. pentest-ai is licensed under MIT and vuln-bank under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between pentest-ai and vuln-bank?
pentest-ai is written in Python and vuln-bank in HTML. 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 or vuln-bank?
Choose pentest-ai if you want the larger community (1,685 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose vuln-bank if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.