head to head · open source
PentestGPT vs reconftw
PentestGPT has 15,569 GitHub stars, 2,714 forks, 81 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. reconftw has 8,138 stars, 1,235 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped yesterday. PentestGPT leads on adoption by 91% (15,569 vs 8,138 stars). PentestGPT is written in Python under MIT; reconftw is written in Shell under MIT. PentestGPT has attracted 17% as many forks as stars, reconftw 15%. reconftw was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (penetration-testing), 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
| PentestGPT | reconftw | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 16K | ★ 8.1K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Shell |
| Last push | 2026-07-14 | 2026-09-22 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.7K | ⑂ 1.2K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick PentestGPT if
- You weight community size — 16K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick reconftw if
- You want the reconftw feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Shell
- You evaluated both and reconftw fits your workflow better
About PentestGPT
PentestGPT is an MIT licensed Python framework that uses large language models to run automated penetration tests and CTF challenges, aimed at penetration testers, security engineers and CTF players who want an agent to drive the tooling rather than working through it by hand.
read the full PentestGPT overview →
About reconftw
reconFTW is an automated reconnaissance framework, written in Shell under the MIT licence, that runs a curated chain of security tools against a target domain to enumerate subdomains and hosts, gather OSINT, analyse web surfaces, and check for vulnerabilities; it is built for security researchers, penetration testers, and bug bounty hunters.
read the full reconftw overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is PentestGPT or reconftw more popular?
PentestGPT has 15,569 GitHub stars and reconftw has 8,138. PentestGPT has the larger community by that measure.
Are PentestGPT and reconftw free?
Both are open source. PentestGPT is licensed under MIT and reconftw under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between PentestGPT and reconftw?
PentestGPT is written in Python and reconftw in Shell. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, PentestGPT or reconftw?
Choose PentestGPT if you want the larger community (15,569 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose reconftw if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.