head to head · open source
PentestGPT vs dockle
PentestGPT has 15,521 GitHub stars, 2,700 forks, 81 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. dockle has 3,294 stars, 167 forks, 53 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. PentestGPT leads on adoption by 371% (15,521 vs 3,294 stars). PentestGPT is written in Python under MIT; dockle is written in Go under Apache-2.0. PentestGPT has attracted 17% as many forks as stars, dockle 5%. dockle was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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
| PentestGPT | dockle | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 16K | ★ 3.3K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Go |
| Last push | 2026-07-14 | 2026-08-10 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.7K | ⑂ 167 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick PentestGPT if
- You weight community size — 16K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick dockle if
- You want the dockle feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and dockle fits your workflow better
About PentestGPT
PentestGPT is an MIT licensed Python framework that uses large language models to run automated penetration tests and CTF challenges, aimed at penetration testers, security engineers and CTF players who want an agent to drive the tooling rather than working through it by hand.
read the full PentestGPT overview →
About dockle
Dockle is an open source container image linter written in Go that audits already built Docker images against security and best practice checkpoints, aimed at developers and DevSecOps teams who ship containers and want that audit to run automatically.
read the full dockle overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is PentestGPT or dockle more popular?
PentestGPT has 15,521 GitHub stars and dockle has 3,294. PentestGPT has the larger community by that measure.
Are PentestGPT and dockle free?
Both are open source. PentestGPT is licensed under MIT and dockle under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between PentestGPT and dockle?
PentestGPT is written in Python and dockle 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, PentestGPT or dockle?
Choose PentestGPT if you want the larger community (15,521 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose dockle if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.