head to head · open source
prowler vs appshark
prowler has 15,159 GitHub stars, 2,479 forks, 371 open issues and last shipped yesterday. appshark has 1,755 stars, 182 forks, 17 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. prowler leads on adoption by 764% (15,159 vs 1,755 stars). prowler is written in Python under Apache-2.0; appshark is written in Kotlin under Apache-2.0. prowler has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, appshark 10%. prowler was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (compliance), 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
| prowler | appshark | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 15K | ★ 1.8K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Kotlin |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.5K | ⑂ 182 |
| 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 appshark if
- You want the appshark feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Kotlin
- You evaluated both and appshark 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…
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About appshark
Document Index 1.overview 2.startup 3.how to write rules 4.how to find compliance problems use appshark 5.a path traversal game 6.argument 7.engine config 8.result 9.faq AppShark Appshark is a static taint analysis platform to scan vulnerabilities in an Android app. Prerequisites Appshark requires a specific version of JDK JDK 11. After testing, it does not work on other LTS versions, JDK 8 and JDK 16, due to the dependency compatibility issue. Building/Compiling AppShark We assume that you are working in the root directory of the project repo. You can build the whole project with the gradle tool. After…
read the full appshark overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is prowler or appshark more popular?
prowler has 15,159 GitHub stars and appshark has 1,755. prowler has the larger community by that measure.
Are prowler and appshark free?
Both are open source. prowler is licensed under Apache-2.0 and appshark under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between prowler and appshark?
prowler is written in Python and appshark in Kotlin. 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 appshark?
Choose prowler if you want the larger community (15,159 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose appshark if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.