Falco vs Tracee

Falco is a free, open source runtime security project for Linux and self-hosted environments. It monitors hosts, containers, Kubernetes, and cloud environments for abnormal behavior, potential threats, and compliance violations in real time. Events are compared with built-in detection rules, and users can create rules for their own environments. Sources include Linux kernel system calls, Kubernetes audit logs, cloud events such as AWS CloudTrail, and events from GitHub and Okta. For kernel event monitoring, Falco uses an eBPF driver by default and offers a kernel module for wider compatibility. Installation options cover Linux hosts, Docker containers, and Kubernetes, including official Helm charts; supported architectures include x86_64 and ARM64. Falcosidekick can forward events to more than 50 systems, including email, chat, message queues, serverless functions, and databases. Falco is hosted by the CNCF as a graduated project. Detection depends on having appropriate rules in place, while resource use varies with server load and workload. The project recommends testing performance in the target environment.

Tracee is a free, open-source runtime security and observability tool for Linux. Using eBPF, it watches system calls, network activity, and file operations in real time, then emits events for behavior patterns that may indicate threats. Events can include process lineage, file paths, and network connections. Listed uses include security monitoring, compliance monitoring, troubleshooting, and forensic investigation. Tracee is designed to operate without code changes and lists low overhead, container awareness, and adjustable policies. Deployment options are an executable binary, a Docker Hub image, or a Helm chart in Aqua Security’s registry; the quickstart covers Kubernetes installation with that chart. Prometheus scraping is enabled by default, with metrics at :3366/metrics. It supports x86 and arm64 processors and documents long-term kernel versions 5.4, 5.10, 5.15, 6.2, and 6.5, while some distribution kernels may work. Instrumentation needs elevated capabilities, with privileged or root execution described as easiest. Tracee does not run directly on macOS.