head to head · open source
shannon vs xalgorix
shannon has 50,964 GitHub stars, 5,926 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. xalgorix has 1,289 stars, 249 forks, 2 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. shannon leads on adoption by 3,854% (50,964 vs 1,289 stars). shannon is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; xalgorix is written in Go under Apache-2.0. shannon has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, xalgorix 19%. xalgorix was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (ai-security, cybersecurity, ethical-hacking, penetration-testing), 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 | xalgorix | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 51K | ★ 1.3K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-10-27 | 2026-10-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.9K | ⑂ 249 |
| 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 xalgorix if
- You want the xalgorix feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and xalgorix 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 xalgorix
Xalgorix — Open source AI pentester that proves vulnerabilities Most scanners detect. Xalgorix proves. An autonomous LLM agent works a full pentest methodology, then an independent verifier re exploits every finding before it's reported — so you get proof, not a pile of maybes to triage. Self hosted, private, and bring your own LLM. Built in Go + TypeScript. 🚀 Quick Start · 💡 Why Xalgorix · ✨ Features · 🎯 Use Cases · ☁️ Hosted Cloud · 📖 Docs 📸 Screenshots 🖥️ Self hosted dashboard — runs locally on 127.0.0.1:9137 ☁️ Hosted cloud dashboard — the fully managed version at www.xalgorix.com 🤝 Sponsors Thanks to…
read the full xalgorix overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is shannon or xalgorix more popular?
shannon has 50,964 GitHub stars and xalgorix has 1,289. shannon has the larger community by that measure.
Are shannon and xalgorix free?
Both are open source. shannon is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and xalgorix under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between shannon and xalgorix?
shannon is written in TypeScript and xalgorix 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 xalgorix?
Choose shannon if you want the larger community (50,964 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose xalgorix if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.