head to head · open source
SkillSpector vs pentest-ai
SkillSpector has 17,624 GitHub stars, 1,504 forks, 136 open issues and last shipped yesterday. pentest-ai has 1,677 stars, 314 forks, 2 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. SkillSpector leads on adoption by 951% (17,624 vs 1,677 stars). SkillSpector is written in Python under Apache-2.0; pentest-ai is written in Python under MIT. SkillSpector has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, pentest-ai 19%. SkillSpector was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (ai-security, mcp), 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 | pentest-ai | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 1.7K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.5K | ⑂ 314 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick SkillSpector if
- You weight community size — 18K 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 pentest-ai if
- You want the pentest-ai feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and pentest-ai fits your workflow better
About SkillSpector
SkillSpector is an open source security scanner for AI agent skills that detects vulnerabilities, malicious patterns, prompt injection, data exfiltration, and supply chain risk in Claude Code, Codex CLI, Gemini CLI, and MCP skills before they are installed — built for developers who install agent skills and for security teams that vet or publish them.
read the full SkillSpector overview →
About pentest-ai
Pentest AI is an open source Python project that connects an AI client or model to a penetration testing workflow. It belongs to the AI security and application security ecosystem, and it is distributed under the MIT license. The project is published as ptai on PyPI and can be used through MCP, the CLI, or CI.
read the full pentest-ai overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is SkillSpector or pentest-ai more popular?
SkillSpector has 17,624 GitHub stars and pentest-ai has 1,677. SkillSpector has the larger community by that measure.
Are SkillSpector and pentest-ai free?
Both are open source. SkillSpector is licensed under Apache-2.0 and pentest-ai under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between SkillSpector and pentest-ai?
SkillSpector is written in Python and pentest-ai in Python. 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 pentest-ai?
Choose SkillSpector if you want the larger community (17,624 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose pentest-ai if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.