head to head · open source
PentestGPT vs vuls
PentestGPT has 16,247 GitHub stars, 2,838 forks, 81 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. vuls has 12,325 stars, 1,247 forks, 92 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. PentestGPT leads on adoption by 32% (16,247 vs 12,325 stars). PentestGPT is written in Python under MIT; vuls is written in Go under GPL-3.0. PentestGPT has attracted 17% as many forks as stars, vuls 10%. vuls 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 | vuls | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 16K | ★ 12K |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | Go |
| Last push | 2026-07-14 | 2026-11-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.8K | ⑂ 1.2K |
| 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 vuls if
- You want the vuls feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and vuls fits your workflow better
About PentestGPT
[![Contributors][contributors shield]][contributors url] [![Forks][forks shield]][forks url] [![Stargazers][stars shield]][stars url] [![Issues][issues shield]][issues url] [![MIT License][license shield]][license url] [![Discord][discord shield]][discord url] PentestGPT AI Powered Autonomous Penetration Testing Agent Published at USENIX Security 2024 Official Website: pentestgpt.com » Research Paper · Report Bug · Request Feature Demo Installation Watch on YouTube PentestGPT in Action Watch on YouTube What's New in v1.0 (Agentic Upgrade) Multi Stage Pipeline The agent works through staged phases (recon →…
read the full PentestGPT overview →
About vuls
Vuls: VULnerability Scanner Vulnerability scanner for Linux/FreeBSD, agent less, written in Go. Twitter: @vuls en Abstract For a system administrator, having to perform security vulnerability analysis and software update on a daily basis can be a burden. To avoid downtime in a production environment, it is common for a system administrator to choose not to use the automatic update option provided by the package manager and to perform update manually. This leads to the following problems. The system administrator will have to constantly watch out for any new vulnerabilities in NVD (National Vulnerability…
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Frequently asked questions
Is PentestGPT or vuls more popular?
PentestGPT has 16,247 GitHub stars and vuls has 12,325. PentestGPT has the larger community by that measure.
Are PentestGPT and vuls free?
Both are open source. PentestGPT is licensed under MIT and vuls under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between PentestGPT and vuls?
PentestGPT is written in Python and vuls 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 vuls?
Choose PentestGPT if you want the larger community (16,247 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose vuls if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.