head to head · open source
prowler vs HardeningKitty
prowler has 15,159 GitHub stars, 2,479 forks, 371 open issues and last shipped yesterday. HardeningKitty has 1,876 stars, 217 forks, 5 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. prowler leads on adoption by 708% (15,159 vs 1,876 stars). prowler is written in Python under Apache-2.0; HardeningKitty is written in PowerShell under MIT. prowler has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, HardeningKitty 12%. 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 | HardeningKitty | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 15K | ★ 1.9K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Python | PowerShell |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-07-21 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.5K | ⑂ 217 |
| 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 HardeningKitty if
- You want the HardeningKitty feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches PowerShell
- You evaluated both and HardeningKitty 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 HardeningKitty
HardeningKitty This is the stable version of HardeningKitty from the Windows Hardening Project by Michael Schneider. The stable version of HardeningKitty is signed with the code signing certificate of scip AG . Since this is the stable version, we do not accept pull requests in this repo, please send them to the development repo . HardeningKitty supports hardening of a Windows system. The configuration of the system is retrieved and assessed using a finding list. In addition, the system can be hardened according to predefined values. HardeningKitty reads settings from the registry and uses other modules to read…
read the full HardeningKitty overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is prowler or HardeningKitty more popular?
prowler has 15,159 GitHub stars and HardeningKitty has 1,876. prowler has the larger community by that measure.
Are prowler and HardeningKitty free?
Both are open source. prowler is licensed under Apache-2.0 and HardeningKitty under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between prowler and HardeningKitty?
prowler is written in Python and HardeningKitty in PowerShell. 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 HardeningKitty?
Choose prowler if you want the larger community (15,159 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose HardeningKitty if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.