OpenHack
Open-source AI security agent that verifies vulnerabilities with working exploits.
OpenHack delivers real, verified vulnerabilities with PoC exploits, not noise. Its open-source model approach cuts costs dramatically, and the free tier is generous for solo devs. However, it primarily targets web application logic flaws, so teams needing deep infrastructure or mobile scanning should supplement with other tools like Semgrep or Snyk.
Verified 6d ago · liveness 76/100 · cite: rightaichoice.com/tools/openhack
- Solo developers wanting free verified security scanning
- Small teams seeking cost-effective AI-powered SAST with PoC-verified findings
- Security teams needing low-cost penetration testing on web apps
- Open-source maintainers wanting continuous security coverage
- Teams needing deep infrastructure or mobile app scanning
- Non-developers looking for a no-code GUI-only tool
- Projects that cannot install Python/CLI dependencies
We scan live Reddit threads, YouTube comments, X posts, G2 reviews and other communities — and hand you an honest verdict in under a minute.
- Honest verdict, not marketing
- Real pros & cons from real users
- Attributed quotes with receipts
3 free scans · no card needed
Skip OpenHack if you need deep infrastructure or mobile app scanning, lack Python/CLI expertise, or require a no-code GUI.
Going past the included $20/month usage on Pro Team adds extra usage costs, which can accumulate fast if you run frequent scans.
OpenHack’s flat-rate pricing (free, $20, $200) is cheaper than per-seat rivals like Snyk (starting ~$25/seat/month) and Semgrep (custom), making it ideal for small teams. Enterprise adds SSO/on-prem for larger orgs.
In short
OpenHack — Open-source AI security agent that verifies vulnerabilities with working exploits. Best for Solo developers wanting free verified security scanning, Small teams seeking cost-effective AI-powered SAST with PoC-verified findings, Security teams needing low-cost penetration testing on web apps. Free to start; paid plans from $20/mo.
What's new in OpenHack
Checked 6 days agoAcross the latest 1 update: 1 launch.
What people actually say about OpenHack — is it worth it?
We ran a structured research pass across product reviews, community discussions, and post-purchase forum threads to surface the patterns vendors won't publish themselves. Below: the recurring strengths, the hidden costs people mention most, and the cohort that consistently regrets adopting this tool.
46 mentions across 4 sources (Hacker News, YouTube, Bluesky, GitHub) · researched Jul 5, 2026.
- +Open-source MIT license enables unrestricted use and modification.
- +Generates working proof-of-concept exploits, eliminating false positives.
- +Claims up to 40x lower cost than frontier AI security agents.
- +Supports multiple languages: JS, TS, Python, Go, Java, Ruby.
- +Integrates with popular AI coding tools like Claude Code and Cursor.
- −Almost no real user testimonials for the actual security tool.
- −Brand confusion with unrelated OpenHack projects hurts discoverability.
- −Dependent on third-party AI harnesses for operation.
- −SCA feature is basic, not deep package analysis.
- −No publicly available independent benchmark results.
- • Requires paid third-party tools (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor) for operation
- • Pro tier pricing not transparently listed
Viability Score
How well maintained and how widely used is OpenHack? Built from what the vendor actually publishes (docs, changelog, tutorials, integrations, pricing), whether the site is live, and how much real users discuss it. How we calculate this
Last calculated: August 2026
How we score →Key Features
- Autonomous end-to-end pentests against live systems
- AI codebase scanning with verified PoC exploits
- Open-source model support, provider agnostic
- CLI via pipx or uv, runs locally
- PR security reviews on pull requests
- One-click AI Autofix pull requests
- Full repository scanning
- Business impact prioritization beyond CVSS
- Supply chain dependency tracking
- Secret scanning for leaked keys and tokens
- Signed SBOM generation
- AI Assistant for security questions
- Basic Software Composition Analysis (SCA)
- Context-aware scanning across codebase, infra, auth flows
- Multi-stack support (JS, TS, Python, Go, Java, Ruby, Next.js, Django, Flask, Rails, Express, FastAPI)
About OpenHack
OpenHack is an open-source AI security agent built for developers and security teams. It scans codebases and autonomously pentests live systems, using open-source reasoning models to understand code semantically and validate every finding with a working proof-of-concept exploit. This verification-first approach eliminates the false positives that plague traditional pattern-matching scanners, so you get only verified, exploitable vulnerabilities like authentication bypasses, IDORs, SQL injection, and business logic flaws. The agent runs from your terminal via a CLI (`pipx install openhack`) or through the managed platform that scans across every repo in your org. It supports JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Go, Java, Ruby, and frameworks like Next.js, Django, Flask, Rails, Express, and FastAPI. On CVE-Bench, OpenHack achieves 31.25% one-day pass@1 and 27.5% zero-day pass@1 using a fully open-source model, at up to 40x lower cost than frontier-model agents like Claude Opus 4.6. The managed platform adds continuous scanning across repositories, triage by business impact (not raw CVSS), and one-click AI Autofix pull requests ready to merge. It also includes supply chain tracking, secret scanning, and signed SBOM generation for compliance. OpenHack is provider agnostic — you can connect any model from any provider, including self-hosted open-source models, and your code stays local with only inference requests leaving your environment. Compared to other AI security tools, OpenHack's open-source model approach cuts costs dramatically while keeping verification quality high — a strong choice for budget-conscious teams and open-source maintainers.
Behind the Verdict
OpenHack stands out because it doesn't just flag potential issues — it proves them. The agent builds a working exploit for each finding, which is a game-changer for security teams drowning in false positives from traditional scanners. The open-source model approach is a major cost advantage; you can run it with models you host yourself, and on CVE-Bench it performs competitively with frontier models at a fraction of the cost. The CLI is free forever, and the free tier includes basic scanning and PR reviews, making it accessible for solo developers. The managed platform adds value with business-impact prioritization, AI Autofix, and compliance features like SBOM and audit logs. Where it falls short is scope — it's focused on web application logic, so coverage for infrastructure-as-code, mobile, or low-level C/C++ is limited. Pricing is flat-rate, which is great for small teams, but the free tier's 3-project limit may feel restrictive. If you need deep infra scanning or proprietary model guarantees, look elsewhere; but for web app security on a budget, OpenHack is a strong contender.
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Real-world workflow fit
Concrete scenarios for the personas OpenHack actually fits — and what changes day-one when you adopt it.
You want to audit a personal project before release without spending money.
Outcome: Install the CLI via pipx, point it at your repo, and get verified vulnerabilities with PoCs in minutes, all free.
Your team needs continuous security scanning but has a small budget.
Outcome: Add the GitHub integration to scan every PR; get verified findings and one-click Autofix PRs for $20/month flat, saving time and reducing risk.
You need to pentest a live web application for a bug bounty.
Outcome: Run the CLI against a staging target and let it chain vulnerabilities into an exploit path, producing a detailed report with PoCs.
Use Cases
- Scan your codebase for authentication bypasses and authorization flaws before release.
- Automatically verify each security finding with a working exploit to prioritize true positives.
- Integrate into CI/CD pipeline for continuous vulnerability detection on pull requests.
- Generate compliance-ready reports for audits or internal security reviews.
- Reduce security tooling costs by using open-source models instead of per-scan proprietary fees.
- Use the CLI to pentest a live staging environment and get verified exploit chains.
Models Under the Hood
as of 2026-08-21
Limitations
- OpenHack is an open-source AI security agent that connects to any model from any provider, including self-hosted open-source models.
- The free tier is limited to 1 user and 1 project, while paid tiers add more users, projects, and premium model access.
- Enterprise plans offer on-premise deployment and custom integrations.
- The CLI requires Python and runs locally via pipx.
as of 2026-08-17
Verification history
We have re-verified OpenHack 5 times since . Each pass re-reads the vendor's own pages and re-checks every listed field against that evidence; passes where nothing had changed are marked as such.
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
- — re-checked, vendor evidence unchanged
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
Free to cite with attribution — this page re-verifies continuously.
12-month cost
Project the real annual outlay, including the implied monthly cost when only an annual tier is published.
Vendor list price only. Add-on usage, seat overages, and contract minimums are surfaced under Hidden costs & gotchas.
Plans compared
For each published OpenHack tier: who it actually fits, and what it adds vs. the previous tier. Cross-reference the cost calculator above for projected annual outlay.
Free Solo
$0 / forever
Ideal for
Solo developers and open-source maintainers with up to 3 projects who want free verified scanning and PR reviews.
What this tier adds
Starting tier with 1 user, 3 projects, AI codebase scanning, PR reviews, and basic SCA.
Pro Team
$20 / month, flat
Ideal for
Small teams (up to 3 members) with multiple projects needing full repo scans, AI Autofix, and shared context.
What this tier adds
Adds up to 3 team members, unlimited projects, full repo scans, AI Autofix, and $20/month included usage.
Max Growth
$200 / month, flat
Ideal for
Growing security teams (up to 10 members) that need compliance reports and higher usage limits.
What this tier adds
Increases team to 10, adds $200/month usage, SBOM export, and compliance reports.
Enterprise Scale
Custom
Ideal for
Large organizations requiring SSO, audit logs, advanced RBAC, on-prem deployment, and custom integrations.
What this tier adds
Adds unlimited members, SSO/SAML, audit logs, dedicated CSM, on-premise option, and custom budget.
Where the pricing makes sense
The company stage and team size where OpenHack's pricing actually pencils out — and where peers do it cheaper.
OpenHack’s flat-rate pricing (free, $20, $200) is cheaper than per-seat rivals like Snyk (starting ~$25/seat/month) and Semgrep (custom), making it ideal for small teams. Enterprise adds SSO/on-prem for larger orgs.
Setup time & first value
How long it actually takes to get something useful out of OpenHack — broken out by persona, not the marketing-page minute.
CLI: install via pipx in under a minute, connect a model key, and start scanning within 5 minutes. Managed platform: sign up, connect your repo, and get first scan results in about 10 minutes. Full integration with CI/CD may take an hour to configure.
Switching to or from OpenHack
How to bring data in from common predecessors and how to get it back out — written for the switcher, not the buyer.
- →From Bandit: OpenHack’s CLI can scan the same Python codebase with semantic understanding, replacing Bandit’s pattern matching and adding verified PoCs.
- →From Snyk: OpenHack’s GitHub integration and AI Autofix provide a similar workflow with potentially lower cost via open-source models.
- ↗To Snyk or Semgrep: If you need broader language coverage or deep infrastructure scanning, these tools offer more mature rule sets.
- ↗To a custom pipeline: Since OpenHack is open source, you can export findings and integrate with your own triage process.
Integrations
Resources & Guides
Tutorials & Learning
Official links
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Featured Head-to-Head Comparisons
Openhack vs Sublime Security
Choose OpenHack if you need open-source, cost-efficient code security with verified exploits and deep integration into your development workflow. Choose Sublime Security if your primary concern is advanced email threats (BEC, phishing) and you need a low–false-positive AI platform that integrates with Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace.
Openhack vs Audioeye
OpenHack and AudioEye serve entirely different domains: OpenHack secures code with verified AI-driven vulnerability detection (ideal for dev teams), while AudioEye ensures web accessibility compliance (ideal for legal and UX teams). Choose based on your primary need—security or accessibility.
Openhack vs Push Security
Push Security and OpenHack serve fundamentally different security needs. Push is ideal for organizations seeking real-time browser-level defense against phishing, session hijacking, and AI tool data leakage, with deep identity integrations. OpenHack excels for developers and security teams needing cost-effective, verified vulnerability detection in code, with auto-generated exploits and fix PRs. Choose Push if browser-based threats and AI governance are urgent; choose OpenHack if you prioritize code security with minimal false positives.
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