dnSpyEx vs Frida

dnSpyEx is an unofficial continuation of dnSpy, a debugger and .NET assembly editor for working with assemblies without source code. It can debug .NET Framework, .NET, and Unity game assemblies, with breakpoints, tracepoints, conditional breakpoints, exception breakpoints, and multiple-process debugging. Editing covers metadata and methods or classes in C# and Visual Basic, plus low-level IL method bodies. The project lists C# and Visual Basic decompilers using the ILSpy engine, along with a BAML decompiler and disassembler. Assembly search, class and method usage analysis, caller finding, bookmarks, and project export are also included. A public API supports extensions, and the C# Interactive window can control or script dnSpyEx. The latest stable release listed is v6.6.0, which adds a .NET 10 distribution. It is free under GPLv3. Release notes describe Wine compatibility adjustments for Linux, not native Linux support. Dynamic methods cannot be debugged because of CLR limitations.

Frida is a dynamic instrumentation toolkit for developers, reverse-engineers, and security researchers. It lets users place scripts in running processes to hook functions, inspect APIs, and trace application code without source code. Documented uses include API tracing, diagnostics, encrypted-protocol analysis, and black-box testing.

Frida supports injected, embedded, and preloaded instrumentation. When injection is unavailable, Frida Gadget can be embedded in a program, including on jailed iOS and Android systems. Supported targets include Windows, macOS, GNU/Linux, iOS, watchOS, tvOS, Android, FreeBSD, and QNX. Language bindings include Node.js, Python, Swift, .NET, Qt/Qml, and Go, alongside a C API. The CLI tools require Python and run on Windows, macOS, or GNU/Linux; the documented installation command is `pip install frida-tools`.