Metasploit Payloads vs Donut: 2026 Comparison
Metasploit Payloads is a free offensive security tool. Donut 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:
Penetration testers and red teamers doing hands-on assessments will find Metasploit Payloads essential because it eliminates payload fragmentation across engagements; you're working from a single, versioned repository instead of scattered exploits and delivery mechanisms. With nearly 2,000 GitHub stars and active maintenance by the Rapid7 community, the payload library stays current with common target environments. Skip this if your team uses commercial red team platforms like Cobalt Strike or Mythic; Metasploit Payloads assumes you're comfortable managing the framework yourself and building custom encoding chains rather than relying on point-and-click UI features.
Red teamers and penetration testers who need to deliver .NET and PE payloads that evade memory-scanning EDR will find Donut essential; it generates position-independent shellcode that executes directly from memory without touching disk, eliminating the most common detection vector. With 4,492 GitHub stars and active community contributions, the tool has been battle-tested across real engagements and stays current with Windows API changes. Skip this if you're looking for post-exploitation frameworks with built-in C2 capability or if your scope is limited to external reconnaissance; Donut is narrowly focused on the injection problem and assumes you already have payload delivery sorted.
