head to head · open source
SkillSpector vs vestige
SkillSpector has 19,711 GitHub stars, 1,721 forks, 136 open issues and last shipped yesterday. vestige has 648 stars, 71 forks, 46 open issues and last shipped today. SkillSpector leads on adoption by 2,942% (19,711 vs 648 stars). SkillSpector is written in Python under Apache-2.0; vestige is written in Rust under AGPL-3.0. SkillSpector has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, vestige 11%. vestige was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (agent-security, claude-code, prompt-injection), 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 | vestige | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 20K | ★ 648 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-10-08 | 2026-10-09 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.7K | ⑂ 71 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick SkillSpector if
- You weight community size — 20K 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 vestige if
- You want the vestige feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and vestige 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 vestige
Vestige is a local, deterministic safety kernel and fail closed runtime firewall for AI agents that records every memory write and agent action in a signed, append only log called Strata, so you can see exactly what your agent did and why.
read the full vestige overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is SkillSpector or vestige more popular?
SkillSpector has 19,711 GitHub stars and vestige has 648. SkillSpector has the larger community by that measure.
Are SkillSpector and vestige free?
Both are open source. SkillSpector is licensed under Apache-2.0 and vestige under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between SkillSpector and vestige?
SkillSpector is written in Python and vestige in Rust. 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 vestige?
Choose SkillSpector if you want the larger community (19,711 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose vestige if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.