head to head · open source
shannon vs arcjet-js
shannon has 50,964 GitHub stars, 5,926 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. arcjet-js has 698 stars, 35 forks, 11 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. shannon leads on adoption by 7,201% (50,964 vs 698 stars). shannon is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; arcjet-js is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. shannon has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, arcjet-js 5%. arcjet-js was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (ai-security), 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
| shannon | arcjet-js | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 51K | ★ 698 |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-27 | 2026-10-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.9K | ⑂ 35 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick shannon if
- You weight community size — 51K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick arcjet-js if
- You want the arcjet-js feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and arcjet-js fits your workflow better
About shannon
[!NOTE] Shannon 3.0 is live: deeper security code analysis, more thoroughly vetted findings, a rebuilt CLI, native CI/CD, professional PDF reports, and SARIF. Shannon is an autonomous, AI pentester for web applications and APIs. It analyzes your source code, identifies attack paths, and executes real exploits to prove vulnerabilities before they reach production. No exploit, no report. This repository is Shannon Open Source: the full agent, run locally from your command line. Launch Shannon The interactive launcher will guide you through setup and your first pentest. [!TIP] AI agents and LLMs: start with…
read the full shannon overview →
About arcjet-js
Arcjet JS SDK [Arcjet][arcjet] is the runtime security platform that ships in your AI code. Detect prompt injection, authorize agent tool calls, redact sensitive data, and block bots and abuse. Real time security building blocks you call inside your app, before an action happens. This is the monorepo containing various [Arcjet][arcjet] open source packages for JS. Why Arcjet? Your app's AI features and agents take real actions, calling tools, reading data, hitting APIs. Arcjet runs inside that code and lets you enforce security on each action in real time, then audit what happened Which package do I need? Arcjet…
read the full arcjet-js overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is shannon or arcjet-js more popular?
shannon has 50,964 GitHub stars and arcjet-js has 698. shannon has the larger community by that measure.
Are shannon and arcjet-js free?
Both are open source. shannon is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and arcjet-js under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between shannon and arcjet-js?
shannon is written in TypeScript and arcjet-js in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, shannon or arcjet-js?
Choose shannon if you want the larger community (50,964 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose arcjet-js if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.