head to head · open source
tfsec vs dep-scan
tfsec has 7,038 GitHub stars, 558 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped 6 months ago. dep-scan has 1,286 stars, 138 forks, 82 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. tfsec leads on adoption by 447% (7,038 vs 1,286 stars). tfsec is written in Go under MIT; dep-scan is written in Python under MIT. tfsec has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, dep-scan 11%. dep-scan was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (compliance, devsecops), 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
| tfsec | dep-scan | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 7.0K | ★ 1.3K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Go | Python |
| Last push | 2026-03-25 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 558 | ⑂ 138 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick tfsec if
- You weight community size — 7.0K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick dep-scan if
- You want the dep-scan feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and dep-scan fits your workflow better
About tfsec
tfsec is a static analysis security scanner for Terraform code, written in Go and released under the MIT license. It lives in the infrastructure as code and DevSecOps ecosystem, alongside tools such as linters and CI scanners. The project is now part of Trivy, Aqua Security's broader open source security scanner, and its Terraform scanning engine forms the foundation of Trivy's IaC and misconfiguration scanning capabilities. The repository remains available, but engineering attention is directed at Trivy going forward.
read the full tfsec overview →
About dep-scan
OWASP dep scan is a next generation security and risk audit tool that checks project dependencies for known vulnerabilities, advisories and license limitations, built for developers and security teams that audit local repositories or container images.
read the full dep-scan overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is tfsec or dep-scan more popular?
tfsec has 7,038 GitHub stars and dep-scan has 1,286. tfsec has the larger community by that measure.
Are tfsec and dep-scan free?
Both are open source. tfsec is licensed under MIT and dep-scan under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between tfsec and dep-scan?
tfsec is written in Go and dep-scan 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, tfsec or dep-scan?
Choose tfsec if you want the larger community (7,038 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose dep-scan if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.