head to head · open source
prowler vs ossec-hids
prowler has 14,830 GitHub stars, 2,389 forks, 371 open issues and last shipped yesterday. ossec-hids has 5,057 stars, 1,074 forks, 125 open issues and last shipped yesterday. prowler leads on adoption by 193% (14,830 vs 5,057 stars). prowler is written in Python under Apache-2.0; ossec-hids is written in C under GPL-2.0. prowler has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, ossec-hids 21%. 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 | ossec-hids | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 15K | ★ 5.1K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | C |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 1.1K |
| 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 ossec-hids if
- You want the ossec-hids 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 ossec-hids 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 ossec-hids
OSSEC is an open source host based intrusion detection system written in C and released under the GNU General Public License version 2. It combines several security functions into one platform: log analysis, file integrity checking, policy monitoring, rootkit detection, real time alerting, and active response. The project describes itself as a full platform to monitor and control systems, mixing the aspects of HIDS, log monitoring, and SIM/SIEM into a single solution. It lives in the security and compliance tooling ecosystem, with topics spanning intrusion detection, file integrity management, log analysis, PCI D…
read the full ossec-hids overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is prowler or ossec-hids more popular?
prowler has 14,830 GitHub stars and ossec-hids has 5,057. prowler has the larger community by that measure.
Are prowler and ossec-hids free?
Both are open source. prowler is licensed under Apache-2.0 and ossec-hids under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between prowler and ossec-hids?
prowler is written in Python and ossec-hids 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 ossec-hids?
Choose prowler if you want the larger community (14,830 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose ossec-hids if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.