head to head · open source
vuls vs Pentest-Swarm-AI
vuls has 12,325 GitHub stars, 1,247 forks, 92 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Pentest-Swarm-AI has 3,115 stars, 570 forks, 18 open issues and last shipped yesterday. vuls leads on adoption by 296% (12,325 vs 3,115 stars). vuls is written in Go under GPL-3.0; Pentest-Swarm-AI is written in Go under AGPL-3.0. vuls has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, Pentest-Swarm-AI 18%. Pentest-Swarm-AI was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (cybersecurity), 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
| vuls | Pentest-Swarm-AI | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 12K | ★ 3.1K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-01 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.2K | ⑂ 570 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick vuls if
- You weight community size — 12K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Pentest-Swarm-AI if
- You want the Pentest-Swarm-AI feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and Pentest-Swarm-AI fits your workflow better
About vuls
Vuls: VULnerability Scanner Vulnerability scanner for Linux/FreeBSD, agent less, written in Go. Twitter: @vuls en Abstract For a system administrator, having to perform security vulnerability analysis and software update on a daily basis can be a burden. To avoid downtime in a production environment, it is common for a system administrator to choose not to use the automatic update option provided by the package manager and to perform update manually. This leads to the following problems. The system administrator will have to constantly watch out for any new vulnerabilities in NVD (National Vulnerability…
About Pentest-Swarm-AI
The open source XBOW alternative — an autonomous API & web app pentester. Dozens of AI agents don't just scan — they exploit . They chain attacks (BOLA/IDOR, JWT forgery, mass assignment, SSRF, injection), build and score attack paths, and prove real vulnerabilities at machine speed. Built for pentesters · bug bounty hunters · red teamers · security researchers 📖 Documentation · Quick Start · vs. XBOW · Swarm vs. Multi Agent · How It Works · Roadmap Hack at machine speed. 📖 New here? Start with the documentation — quickstart, provider setup, CLI reference, and…
read the full Pentest-Swarm-AI overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is vuls or Pentest-Swarm-AI more popular?
vuls has 12,325 GitHub stars and Pentest-Swarm-AI has 3,115. vuls has the larger community by that measure.
Are vuls and Pentest-Swarm-AI free?
Both are open source. vuls is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Pentest-Swarm-AI under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between vuls and Pentest-Swarm-AI?
vuls is written in Go and Pentest-Swarm-AI in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, vuls or Pentest-Swarm-AI?
Choose vuls if you want the larger community (12,325 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Pentest-Swarm-AI if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.