head to head · open source
rengine vs Nettacker
rengine has 8,852 GitHub stars, 1,344 forks, 164 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Nettacker has 5,613 stars, 1,184 forks, 249 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. rengine leads on adoption by 58% (8,852 vs 5,613 stars). rengine is written in HTML under GPL-3.0; Nettacker is written in Python under Apache-2.0. rengine has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, Nettacker 21%. rengine was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (information-gathering, penetration-testing, pentesting), 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
| rengine | Nettacker | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 8.9K | ★ 5.6K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | HTML | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-21 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.3K | ⑂ 1.2K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick rengine if
- You weight community size — 8.9K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches HTML
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Nettacker if
- You want the Nettacker feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and Nettacker fits your workflow better
About rengine
reNgine is an open source automated reconnaissance framework for web applications, built for penetration testers, bug bounty hunters and corporate security teams who need a configurable, repeatable recon process with the results correlated and stored in one place.
read the full rengine overview →
About Nettacker
OWASP Nettacker is an open source, Python based automated penetration testing and information gathering framework for cyber security professionals and ethical hackers who need to run reconnaissance, vulnerability assessment, and network security audits efficiently.
read the full Nettacker overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is rengine or Nettacker more popular?
rengine has 8,852 GitHub stars and Nettacker has 5,613. rengine has the larger community by that measure.
Are rengine and Nettacker free?
Both are open source. rengine is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Nettacker under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between rengine and Nettacker?
rengine is written in HTML and Nettacker in Python. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, rengine or Nettacker?
Choose rengine if you want the larger community (8,852 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Nettacker if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.