Bad Pods vs Harpoon: 2026 Comparison
Bad Pods is a free offensive security tool. Harpoon is a free offensive security tool. Compare features, ratings, integrations, and community reviews side by side to find the best offensive security fit for your security stack.
CST VerdictBased on our analysis of available product data, here is our conclusion:
Kubernetes security teams running red-team exercises or proof-of-concept testing need Bad Pods to quickly validate whether their clusters actually block privilege escalation attacks. The 690 GitHub stars and zero cost mean you're working with battle-tested manifests that teams have already run through real environments, not theoretical security controls. Skip this if you're looking for continuous monitoring or detection; Bad Pods is an attack simulation tool, pure offense, and tells you nothing about what happens after a pod breaks out.
Security teams building container testing programs or red-teaming Kubernetes deployments should grab Harpoon for its distilled attack patterns and exploitation techniques specific to orchestration layers. At 142 GitHub stars with active community contribution, it's proven useful enough that practitioners keep referencing it in their labs and assessments. This is a reference guide and technique collection, not a scanning or detection tool, so skip it if you need automated vulnerability identification or compliance reporting; Harpoon teaches you how to break things, not find what's already broken.
