head to head · open source
PentestGPT vs malicious-pdf
PentestGPT has 15,667 GitHub stars, 2,727 forks, 81 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. malicious-pdf has 4,449 stars, 588 forks, 4 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. PentestGPT leads on adoption by 252% (15,667 vs 4,449 stars). PentestGPT is written in Python under MIT; malicious-pdf is written in Python under BSD-2-Clause. PentestGPT has attracted 17% as many forks as stars, malicious-pdf 13%. malicious-pdf was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (penetration-testing, python), 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
| PentestGPT | malicious-pdf | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 16K | ★ 4.4K |
| License | MIT | BSD-2-Clause |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-07-14 | 2026-08-27 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.7K | ⑂ 588 |
| 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 malicious-pdf if
- You want the malicious-pdf feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-2-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and malicious-pdf 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 malicious-pdf
malicious pdf is a Python generator of 67 malicious PDF test files for penetration testers, bug bounty hunters, and red teams who need to probe how PDF viewers, converters, and web applications handle hostile document content.
read the full malicious-pdf overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is PentestGPT or malicious-pdf more popular?
PentestGPT has 15,667 GitHub stars and malicious-pdf has 4,449. PentestGPT has the larger community by that measure.
Are PentestGPT and malicious-pdf free?
Both are open source. PentestGPT is licensed under MIT and malicious-pdf under BSD-2-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between PentestGPT and malicious-pdf?
PentestGPT is written in Python and malicious-pdf 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, PentestGPT or malicious-pdf?
Choose PentestGPT if you want the larger community (15,667 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose malicious-pdf if its feature set, stack or BSD-2-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.