awesome-hacking vs Awesome Security
Which should you use? A side-by-side look at what each one does, who it suits, what it costs, how hard it is to set up, and where each falls short.
Open source · MIT
A curated list of links to hacking tutorials, tools and learning resources.
Open source · MIT
A curated, community-maintained list of security tools, books, and resources, organized by topic.
The short answer
Choose awesome-hacking if you need…
- Students looking for a starting map of security topics
- Security learners who want tutorials and practice targets in one place
- Developers who want to find reverse engineering or pentesting tools to evaluate
- People preparing for CTF competitions or wargames
Choose Awesome Security if you need…
- Security learners looking for well-known tools in a given area
- Penetration testers browsing scanning and recon tools
- Security engineers comparing options within a category
- Anyone wanting a broad overview of the security tooling landscape
Side-by-side
| awesome-hacking | Awesome Security | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Curated list | Curated list |
| Price | Free and open source | Free and open source |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| GitHub stars | 17.4k | 15.1k |
| Setup difficulty | Beginner | Beginner |
| How you get it | See the README | Read it online |
| Main language | — | — |
| Last code update | 2 years ago | 10 months ago |
What each one is
awesome-hacking
This is a long, hand-picked list of web links grouped by topic, such as system exploitation, reverse engineering, web security, networking, forensics, cryptography, and capture-the-flag (CTF) competitions. It points to tutorials, tools, Docker images for practice environments, and reference sites. It does not install or run software itself; you use it to find resources and then follow each linked project's own instructions.
Awesome Security
Awesome Security is a categorized list of links to security software, libraries, books, and reference material. It is organized into sections such as network scanning, endpoint protection, web security, threat intelligence, and forensics. People use it as a starting point to discover tools for a specific security task instead of searching from scratch.
Best for
awesome-hacking
- Students looking for a starting map of security topics
- Security learners who want tutorials and practice targets in one place
- Developers who want to find reverse engineering or pentesting tools to evaluate
- People preparing for CTF competitions or wargames
Awesome Security
- Security learners looking for well-known tools in a given area
- Penetration testers browsing scanning and recon tools
- Security engineers comparing options within a category
- Anyone wanting a broad overview of the security tooling landscape
Strengths
awesome-hacking
- Broad coverage across many security subfields in one document
- Links are grouped by topic and subtopic, which makes browsing easier
- MIT licensed and widely starred, with a clear contribution path via pull requests
Awesome Security
- Broad coverage across many security subfields in one place
- Organized into clear categories with short descriptions
- Widely starred and under the MIT license
Not ideal for
awesome-hacking
- Readers who need a single tool with step-by-step setup, since this is only an index of links
- Beginners with no computing background, who may need the basics first; the list assumes some technical knowledge
- Anyone expecting up-to-date recommendations, since the README shows no recent update history beyond the last push date
Awesome Security
- People who need a ready-to-run tool: this is a list of links, not software itself
- Readers wanting vetted security advice, since entries are community-submitted and the README does not describe a review process
- People needing current information on each tool, since the list may contain outdated links
Trade-offs
awesome-hacking
- It is a list of external links, so quality and availability depend on each linked project, and some links point to archived or old pages
- Some entries are dated (for example, the README mentions tools like OllyDbg and JAD that are old or unmaintained)
- The README is truncated here, so the full contents could not be checked
Awesome Security
- Entries are links with brief descriptions, so you must visit each project to evaluate it
- Community-maintained, so quality and link freshness can vary
- Truncated README in this analysis means not all sections were reviewed
Getting started
awesome-hacking
Clone the list locally (optional)
git clone https://github.com/carpedm20/awesome-hackingAwesome Security
Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/sbilly/awesome-securityFrequently asked questions
What is the difference between awesome-hacking and Awesome Security?
awesome-hacking: A curated list of links to hacking tutorials, tools and learning resources. Awesome Security: A curated, community-maintained list of security tools, books, and resources, organized by topic. awesome-hacking suits students looking for a starting map of security topics, while Awesome Security suits security learners looking for well-known tools in a given area.
Are awesome-hacking and Awesome Security free?
awesome-hacking: Free and open source. Awesome Security: Free and open source.
Is awesome-hacking or Awesome Security more popular?
awesome-hacking has more GitHub stars (17.4k) than Awesome Security (15.1k). Popularity isn't the same as fit — check which one matches your use case above.
Keep comparing
Built from our catalogue entries for both products: open-source details come from each project's README (AI-assisted, refreshed weekly) and GitHub data; AI-tool details are editorial. Spotted something wrong? Let us know from either product's page.