head to head · open source
prowler vs aircrack-ng
prowler has 14,830 GitHub stars, 2,389 forks, 371 open issues and last shipped yesterday. aircrack-ng has 7,654 stars, 1,375 forks, 462 open issues and last shipped 9 days ago. prowler leads on adoption by 94% (14,830 vs 7,654 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 | ★ 7.7K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | C |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-09 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 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 an Apache 2.0, Python based open source cloud security platform that automates security and compliance assessments across AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud through thousands of ready to use checks, aimed at cloud security, compliance, and DevSecOps teams that need continuous posture management without a commercial licence.
read the full prowler overview →
About aircrack-ng
Aircrack ng is a GPL 2.0 licensed suite of WiFi security auditing tools written in C, intended for network auditors, penetration testers, and compliance and risk management teams who assess wireless networks on hardware they control.
read the full aircrack-ng overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is prowler or aircrack-ng more popular?
prowler has 14,830 GitHub stars and aircrack-ng has 7,654. 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 (14,830 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.