head to head · open source
strix vs akto
strix has 63,281 GitHub stars, 6,903 forks, 383 open issues and last shipped yesterday. akto has 1,516 stars, 292 forks, 347 open issues and last shipped yesterday. strix leads on adoption by 4,074% (63,281 vs 1,516 stars). strix is written in Python under Apache-2.0; akto is written in Java under MIT. strix has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, akto 19%. strix 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
| strix | akto | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 63K | ★ 1.5K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 6.9K | ⑂ 292 |
| 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 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 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 akto
Akto is an open source Java project under the MIT license. Its metadata presents it as an AI security platform for teams that secure AI agents, MCPs, LLMs, Agent skills, and Gen AI apps, while its README describes it as an open source API security platform. It lives in the open source API security and AI security ecosystem.
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Frequently asked questions
Is strix or akto more popular?
strix has 63,281 GitHub stars and akto has 1,516. strix has the larger community by that measure.
Are strix and akto free?
Both are open source. strix is licensed under Apache-2.0 and akto under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between strix and akto?
strix 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, strix or akto?
Choose strix if you want the larger community (63,281 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose akto if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.