head to head · open source
shannon vs beelzebub
shannon has 50,964 GitHub stars, 5,926 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. beelzebub has 2,227 stars, 220 forks, 5 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. shannon leads on adoption by 2,188% (50,964 vs 2,227 stars). shannon is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; beelzebub is written in Go under GPL-3.0. shannon has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, beelzebub 10%. beelzebub was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (cybersecurity), 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 | beelzebub | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 51K | ★ 2.2K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-10-27 | 2026-10-28 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.9K | ⑂ 220 |
| 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 beelzebub if
- You want the beelzebub feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and beelzebub 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 beelzebub
Beelzebub Open source deception framework. Deploy realistic decoys. Observe attacker behavior. Turn interactions into security evidence. Explore Beelzebub Platform · Documentation · Quick start Beelzebub gives security teams a configurable way to study activity directed at decoy services. Define the environment an attacker encounters, choose how it responds, and capture the interaction for investigation. Run the framework independently or connect it to Beelzebub Platform. Why Beelzebub Deploy decoys that fit your environment. Define services, routes, and response rules in YAML. Use static handlers for…
read the full beelzebub overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is shannon or beelzebub more popular?
shannon has 50,964 GitHub stars and beelzebub has 2,227. shannon has the larger community by that measure.
Are shannon and beelzebub free?
Both are open source. shannon is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and beelzebub under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between shannon and beelzebub?
shannon is written in TypeScript and beelzebub 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, shannon or beelzebub?
Choose shannon if you want the larger community (50,964 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose beelzebub if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.