head to head · open source
rengine vs reconftw
rengine has 8,941 GitHub stars, 1,346 forks, 164 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. reconftw has 8,369 stars, 1,267 forks, 5 open issues and last shipped 12 days ago. rengine leads on adoption by 7% (8,941 vs 8,369 stars). rengine is written in HTML under GPL-3.0; reconftw is written in Shell under MIT. rengine has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, reconftw 15%. rengine was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 7 topic tags (bug-bounty, bugbounty, hacking, osint), 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 | reconftw | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 8.9K | ★ 8.4K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | HTML | Shell |
| Last push | 2026-11-08 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.3K | ⑂ 1.3K |
| 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 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 rengine
reNgine: The Ultimate Web Reconnaissance & Vulnerability Scanner 🚀 reNgine 2.2.0 is released! reNgine 2.2.0 comes with bounty hub where you can sync and import your hackerone programs, in app notifications, chaos as subdomain enumeration tool, ability to upload multiple nuclei and gf patterns, support for regex in out of scope subdomain config, additional pdf report template and many more. Check out What's new in reNgine 2.2.0! What is reNgine? reNgine is your ultimate web application reconnaissance suite, designed to supercharge the recon process for security pros, pentesters, and bug bounty hunters. It is go…
read the full rengine overview →
About reconftw
reconFTW reconFTW is a powerful automated reconnaissance tool designed for security researchers and penetration testers. It streamlines the process of gathering intelligence on a target by performing subdomain enumeration, vulnerability scanning, OSINT and more. With a modular design, extensive configuration options, and support for distributed scanning via AX Framework, reconFTW is built to deliver comprehensive results efficiently. reconFTW leverages a wide range of techniques, including passive and active subdomain discovery, web vulnerability checks (e.g., XSS, SSRF, SQLi), OSINT, directory fuzzing, port…
read the full reconftw overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is rengine or reconftw more popular?
rengine has 8,941 GitHub stars and reconftw has 8,369. rengine has the larger community by that measure.
Are rengine and reconftw free?
Both are open source. rengine is licensed under GPL-3.0 and reconftw under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between rengine and reconftw?
rengine is written in HTML 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, rengine or reconftw?
Choose rengine if you want the larger community (8,941 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose reconftw if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.