head to head · open source
SkillSpector vs akto
SkillSpector has 23,981 GitHub stars, 2,070 forks, 136 open issues and last shipped yesterday. akto has 1,537 stars, 294 forks, 347 open issues and last shipped yesterday. SkillSpector leads on adoption by 1,460% (23,981 vs 1,537 stars). SkillSpector is written in Python under Apache-2.0; akto is written in Java under MIT. SkillSpector has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, akto 19%. akto 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
| SkillSpector | akto | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 24K | ★ 1.5K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.1K | ⑂ 294 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick SkillSpector if
- You weight community size — 24K 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 akto if
- You want the akto feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and akto fits your workflow better
About SkillSpector
SkillSpector Security scanner for AI agent skills. Detect vulnerabilities, malicious patterns, and security risks before installing agent skills. Overview AI agent skills (used by Claude Code, Codex CLI, Gemini CLI, etc.) execute with implicit trust and minimal vetting. In the 31,132 skill analyzed subset of the research dataset, 26.1% of skills contain vulnerabilities and 5.2% show likely malicious intent . SkillSpector helps you answer: "Is this skill safe to install?" SkillSpector is part of the NVIDIA Verified Skills pipeline, which scans, evaluates, and signs agent skills before publication. Skills that…
read the full SkillSpector overview →
About akto
Akto.io API Security Contributors What is Akto? How it works • Getting Started • API Inventory • API testing • Add Test • Join Discord community • Akto is an instant, open source API security platform that takes only 60 secs to get started. Akto is used by security teams to maintain a continuous inventory of APIs, test APIs for vulnerabilities and find runtime issues. Akto offers coverage for all OWASP top 10 and HackerOne Top 10 categories including BOLA, authentication, SSRF, XSS, security configurations, etc. Akto's powerful testing engine runs variety of business logic tests by reading traffic data to…
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Frequently asked questions
Is SkillSpector or akto more popular?
SkillSpector has 23,981 GitHub stars and akto has 1,537. SkillSpector has the larger community by that measure.
Are SkillSpector and akto free?
Both are open source. SkillSpector is licensed under Apache-2.0 and akto under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between SkillSpector and akto?
SkillSpector is written in Python and akto in Java. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, SkillSpector or akto?
Choose SkillSpector if you want the larger community (23,981 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose akto if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.