PE Explorer vs Qiling Framework
PE Explorer
pe-explorer.comQiling Framework
qiling.ioSide by side
| Figure | PE Explorer | Qiling Framework |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $4.92/mo | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 8 | 1 |
| Spec score · Reverse Engineering Tools | 7.6 (#30) | 8.3 (#8) |
| Purpose | PE Explorer inspects, edits, and repairs Windows Portable Executable files, including EXE and DLL files. | Qiling combines binary emulation and instrumentation for reverse engineering and security analysis. |
Plans
PE Explorer
- Personal License – Update and Support Renewal$59 a year
- 1 User License – Update and Support Renewal$115 a year
- Personal (Home) License$129, paid once
- Business License$229.95, paid once
- 5 User License – Update and Support Renewal$449 a year
- 10 User License – Update and Support Renewal$799 a year
- 5 User Business License$949.95, paid once
- 10 User Business License$1,599, paid once
In their own words
PE Explorer
PE Explorer has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.
Qiling Framework
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.