head to head · open source
strix vs shannon
strix has 63,281 GitHub stars, 6,903 forks, 383 open issues and last shipped yesterday. shannon has 48,105 stars, 5,515 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped 10 days ago. strix leads on adoption by 32% (63,281 vs 48,105 stars). strix is written in Python under Apache-2.0; shannon is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. strix has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, shannon 11%. strix was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (ai-penetration-testing, ai-security, cybersecurity, ethical-hacking), 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
| strix | shannon | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 63K | ★ 48K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-08 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.9K | ⑂ 5.5K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick strix if
- You weight community size — 63K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick shannon if
- You want the shannon feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and shannon fits your workflow better
About strix
Strix is an open source AI penetration testing tool that deploys autonomous AI agents against a running codebase to find, validate, and fix application vulnerabilities, built for developers and security teams who want dynamic security testing without the cost and scheduling overhead of manual pentesting.
read the full strix overview →
About shannon
Shannon is an autonomous AI pentester for web applications and APIs that reads an application's source code, identifies attack paths, and executes real exploits so that only vulnerabilities with a working proof of concept are reported, built for AppSec, DevSecOps, and security engineering teams that ship code continuously.
read the full shannon overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is strix or shannon more popular?
strix has 63,281 GitHub stars and shannon has 48,105. strix has the larger community by that measure.
Are strix and shannon free?
Both are open source. strix is licensed under Apache-2.0 and shannon under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between strix and shannon?
strix is written in Python and shannon 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, strix or shannon?
Choose strix if you want the larger community (63,281 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose shannon if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.