head to head · open source
tfsec vs ossec-hids
tfsec has 7,038 GitHub stars, 558 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped 6 months ago. ossec-hids has 5,057 stars, 1,074 forks, 125 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. tfsec leads on adoption by 39% (7,038 vs 5,057 stars). tfsec is written in Go under MIT; ossec-hids is written in C under GPL-2.0. tfsec has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, ossec-hids 21%. ossec-hids was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (compliance), 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 | ossec-hids | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 7.0K | ★ 5.1K |
| License | MIT | GPL-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | C |
| Last push | 2026-03-25 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 558 | ⑂ 1.1K |
| 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 ossec-hids if
- You want the ossec-hids feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and ossec-hids 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 ossec-hids
OSSEC is an open source host based intrusion detection system written in C and released under the GNU General Public License version 2. It combines several security functions into one platform: log analysis, file integrity checking, policy monitoring, rootkit detection, real time alerting, and active response. The project describes itself as a full platform to monitor and control systems, mixing the aspects of HIDS, log monitoring, and SIM/SIEM into a single solution. It lives in the security and compliance tooling ecosystem, with topics spanning intrusion detection, file integrity management, log analysis, PCI D…
read the full ossec-hids overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is tfsec or ossec-hids more popular?
tfsec has 7,038 GitHub stars and ossec-hids has 5,057. tfsec has the larger community by that measure.
Are tfsec and ossec-hids free?
Both are open source. tfsec is licensed under MIT and ossec-hids under GPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between tfsec and ossec-hids?
tfsec is written in Go and ossec-hids in C. 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 ossec-hids?
Choose tfsec if you want the larger community (7,038 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose ossec-hids if its feature set, stack or GPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.