Ghidra vs Vivisect
Ghidra
github.comVivisect
github.comSide by side
| Figure | Ghidra | Vivisect |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Reverse Engineering Tools | 8.7 (#5) | 7.6 (#35) |
| Collaboration | The official announcement lists a multi-user collaboration repository and undo/redo support. | Users can share workspaces between Vivisect instances or run a VivServer to share a directory of workspace files over a network or localhost. |
| Extensibility | Users can develop Ghidra extensions and scripts using Java or Python. | The project lists an extendible UI and scripts, plus an API. |
| License | The repository includes the Apache License, Version 2.0, which grants no-charge, royalty-free copyright and patent licenses subject to its terms. | The GitHub repository identifies its license as Apache-2.0. |
| Purpose | Ghidra is a software reverse engineering framework maintained by the NSA Research Directorate. | Vivisect is a static analysis platform, and the related Vdb tool is a cross-platform debugger built on much of the same architecture. |
Plans
In their own words
Ghidra
Ghidra is a software reverse engineering framework maintained by the NSA Research Directorate. It analyzes compiled code with tools for disassembly, assembly, decompilation, graphing and scripting, and supports many processor instruction sets and executable formats. The framework can operate interactively or in automated workflows, including work intended to address team and scale needs in complex reverse engineering. Users can write extensions and scripts in Java or Python. Development options include a GhidraDev plugin for Eclipse and support for script editing and module projects in Visual Studio Code. The project describes compiled-code analysis on Windows, macOS and Linux. Installation requires a 64-bit JDK 25 and an official multi-platform release archive. Ghidra is free under the Apache License, Version 2.0, whose terms grant no-charge, royalty-free copyright and patent licenses. The repository warns that some versions have known security vulnerabilities and directs users to security advisories. Its policy directs vulnerability reports to GitHub private vulnerability reporting rather than public issues.
Vivisect
Vivisect is a free, Apache-2.0 static analysis platform for binaries, with the related Vdb tool providing cross-platform debugging. Its pure-Python tools perform static and dynamic analysis, including built-in static and symbolic analysis, in a hybrid workflow. Analysis can run through an extensible UI, scripts, an API, or headlessly; command-line bulk processing can save a .viv workspace. Distributed analysis is available through cobra. Vivisect runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows, and lists i386, amd64, ARMv7, Thumb16, Thumb, AArch64, MSP430, and H8 architectures. Python 3.6 and newer are supported and installation is available through pip. The gui extra adds PyQt5 dependencies. Workspaces can be shared between instances or served over a network or localhost, with connected updates propagating as events arrive. Vdb can attach by process ID or command-line substring, or start and attach to a process.