head to head · open source
prowler vs polaris
prowler has 14,830 GitHub stars, 2,389 forks, 371 open issues and last shipped yesterday. polaris has 3,387 stars, 231 forks, 17 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. prowler leads on adoption by 338% (14,830 vs 3,387 stars). prowler is written in Python under Apache-2.0; polaris is written in Go under Apache-2.0. prowler has attracted 16% as many forks as stars, polaris 7%. 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 | polaris | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 15K | ★ 3.4K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.4K | ⑂ 231 |
| 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 polaris if
- You want the polaris feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and polaris 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 polaris
Polaris is an open source policy engine for Kubernetes, written in Go and released under the Apache 2.0 license. It lives in the Kubernetes ecosystem and supports cluster auditing, best practice validation, and a dashboard.
read the full polaris overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is prowler or polaris more popular?
prowler has 14,830 GitHub stars and polaris has 3,387. prowler has the larger community by that measure.
Are prowler and polaris free?
Both are open source. prowler is licensed under Apache-2.0 and polaris under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between prowler and polaris?
prowler is written in Python and polaris in Go. 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 polaris?
Choose prowler if you want the larger community (14,830 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose polaris if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.