head to head · open source
prowler vs aircrack-ng
prowler has 15,159 GitHub stars, 2,479 forks, 371 open issues and last shipped yesterday. aircrack-ng has 7,850 stars, 1,402 forks, 462 open issues and last shipped 25 days ago. prowler leads on adoption by 93% (15,159 vs 7,850 stars). prowler is written in Python under Apache-2.0; aircrack-ng is written in C under GPL-2.0. prowler has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, aircrack-ng 18%. prowler 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
| prowler | aircrack-ng | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 15K | ★ 7.8K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | C |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-09 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.5K | ⑂ 1.4K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick prowler if
- You weight community size — 15K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick aircrack-ng if
- You want the aircrack-ng feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and aircrack-ng fits your workflow better
About prowler
Prowler is the Open Cloud Security Platform trusted by thousands to automate security and compliance in any cloud environment. With thousands of ready to use checks and compliance frameworks, Prowler delivers real time, customizable monitoring and seamless integrations, making cloud security simple, scalable, and cost effective for organizations of any size. The Agentic Cloud Defender Try Prowler Cloud Join our Prowler community! Description Prowler is the world’s most widely used Open Source Cloud Security Platform that automates security and compliance across any cloud environment . With thousands of ready to…
read the full prowler overview →
About aircrack-ng
Aircrack ng Badges GitHub CI Others Repository versions Description Aircrack ng is a complete suite of tools to assess WiFi network security. It focuses on different areas of WiFi security: Monitoring: Packet capture and export of data to text files for further processing by third party tools. Attacking: Replay attacks, deauthentication, fake access points and others via packet injection. Testing: Checking WiFi cards and driver capabilities (capture and injection). Cracking: WEP and WPA PSK (WPA 1 and 2). All tools are command line which allows for heavy scripting. A lot of GUIs have taken advantage of this…
read the full aircrack-ng overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is prowler or aircrack-ng more popular?
prowler has 15,159 GitHub stars and aircrack-ng has 7,850. prowler has the larger community by that measure.
Are prowler and aircrack-ng free?
Both are open source. prowler is licensed under Apache-2.0 and aircrack-ng under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between prowler and aircrack-ng?
prowler is written in Python and aircrack-ng in C. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, prowler or aircrack-ng?
Choose prowler if you want the larger community (15,159 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose aircrack-ng if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.