head to head · open source
trivy vs kcl
trivy has 38,915 GitHub stars, 818 forks, 269 open issues and last shipped yesterday. kcl has 2,440 stars, 177 forks, 19 open issues and last shipped yesterday. trivy leads on adoption by 1,495% (38,915 vs 2,440 stars). trivy is written in Go under Apache-2.0; kcl is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. trivy has attracted 2% as many forks as stars, kcl 7%. kcl was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (infrastructure-as-code, kubernetes), 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
| trivy | kcl | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 39K | ★ 2.4K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 818 | ⑂ 177 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick trivy if
- You weight community size — 39K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick kcl if
- You want the kcl feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and kcl fits your workflow better
About trivy
[![GitHub Release][release img]][release] [![Test][test img]][test] [![Go Report Card][go report img]][go report] [![License: Apache 2.0][license img]][license] [![GitHub Downloads][github downloads img]][release] ![Docker Pulls][docker pulls] [📖 Documentation][docs] Trivy ([pronunciation][pronunciation]) is a comprehensive and versatile security scanner. Trivy has scanners that look for security issues, and targets where it can find those issues. Targets (what Trivy can scan): Container Image Filesystem Git Repository (remote) Virtual Machine Image Kubernetes Scanners (what Trivy can find there): OS packages…
read the full trivy overview →
About kcl
KCL: Constraint based Record & Functional Language English 简体中文 Introduction Features What is it for Installation Documentation Contributing Introduction KCL is an open source, constraint based record and functional language that enhances the writing of complex configurations, including those for cloud native scenarios. With its advanced programming language technology and practices, KCL is dedicated to promoting better modularity, scalability, and stability for configurations. It enables simpler logic writing and offers ease of automation APIs and integration with homegrown systems. What is it for? You can use…
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Frequently asked questions
Is trivy or kcl more popular?
trivy has 38,915 GitHub stars and kcl has 2,440. trivy has the larger community by that measure.
Are trivy and kcl free?
Both are open source. trivy is licensed under Apache-2.0 and kcl under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between trivy and kcl?
trivy is written in Go and kcl 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, trivy or kcl?
Choose trivy if you want the larger community (38,915 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose kcl if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.