Qiling Framework vs radare2

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.

radare2 is a free, UNIX-like reverse-engineering framework and command-line toolset for working with binaries across many architectures. It can analyze, emulate, debug, modify, and disassemble binaries, as well as support firmware analysis and decompilation. The tools can edit local files, view kernel memory, and debug programs locally or through remote GDB and WinDbg servers. Scripting is available through an embedded JavaScript interpreter or r2pipe. Its r2pm package manager searches for, installs, updates, and uninstalls plugins and tools; listed plugins include r2ghidra, r2frida, r2yara, and r2pipe. The project identifies iaito, a Qt graphical interface, as its official GUI. Installation options include the Git repository, released binaries, Nix packaging, and source builds. Most of radare2 is licensed under LGPLv3, while dependencies and plugins may have different licenses. It supports operating systems including Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, Android, BSD, and others, alongside a broad range of architectures.