ImHex vs Qiling Framework

ImHex is a hex editor for reverse engineers and programmers, available for Linux, macOS, and Windows. Its Pattern Language uses C-like syntax to describe structures and data types, which ImHex can use to parse and highlight file contents. The hex view supports searching, byte patching, patch management, and undo and redo. Analysis features include data inspection, file type parsing, byte type and entropy graphs, and detection of encrypted or compressed files. A YARA view scans files with rules, highlights matches, and lets users jump to them. The in-app Content Store offers community patterns, libraries, processor nodes, encodings, themes, and YARA rules; developers can also build plugins with libimhex, the API, and Content Registry. ImHex is free. Most of the application is GPLv2-only, while libimhex and the UI plugin library are LGPLv2.1. It generally requires a GPU with OpenGL 3.0 support; slower software-rendered releases are available. macOS release binaries require macOS 15 or higher.

Qiling Framework is free software for emulating and instrumenting binaries for reverse engineering and security analysis. It runs machine code in an isolated environment and supports debugging across architectures and platforms. Listed architectures include x86, x86_64, ARM, ARM64, MIPS, and 8086; supported formats include PE, Mach-O, ELF, and COM. Hooks can observe instructions, basic blocks, memory access, exceptions, system calls, and I/O. APIs provide access to registers, memory, filesystems, operating systems, debugging, and execution-state saving and restoration. Qiling can also hot patch running code, including loaded libraries. Its IDA Pro plugin can emulate binaries in IDA, display live context, run scripts, save and load snapshots, and deobfuscate code. Qiling uses Unicorn for CPU emulation and adds operating-system awareness, executable loading, dynamic linking, and syscall and I/O handling. Installation options include pip, source, and Docker. It is licensed under GPL version 2 or a later version at the user's option. Some syscalls or operating-system APIs may not be implemented, and users may need to implement or map them.