Frida vs ILSpy

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`.

ILSpy is free, open-source software for browsing and decompiling .NET assemblies on Windows, Linux, and macOS. Its Avalonia desktop interface converts assemblies to C#, including whole-project decompilation. Assemblies can come from disk, NuGet, running processes, or the Global Assembly Cache, although GAC support is limited to Windows. Search covers types, methods, and properties, with hyperlinks, bookmarks, base and derived type navigation, and an assembly metadata explorer. The application also includes BAML-to-XAML decompilation and support for ReadyToRun binaries for .NET Core. Related tooling includes Visual Studio 2022/2026 support, Visual Studio Code extensions, the ilspycmd dotnet tool, PowerShell cmdlets, and NuGet packages. Desktop plugins and a scripting API extend its use. ILSpy supports bytecode decompilation but not native-code decompilation. The project says it does not collect personally identifiable information, send user files to third-party services, or use application performance monitoring for telemetry. Release 11.1 is listed as the latest version, under the MIT License.