Pupy vs Merlin: 2026 Comparison
Pupy is a free offensive security tool. Merlin 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:
Red teamers and penetration testers running structured assessments need Pupy for its genuine cross-platform reach and minimal operational footprint; the 8,948 GitHub stars reflect active community maintenance that keeps payloads functional across Windows, Linux, macOS, and Android without the licensing friction of commercial C2 frameworks. The tool's strength is flexibility and cost, not operational security or defensive evasion,modern EDR will catch it unless you're actively managing MITRE ATT&CK tradecraft. This is not for teams that need polished UI, enterprise support, or built-in OPSEC features; it's for practitioners who know how C2 infrastructure works and want to customize every layer themselves.
Red teamers and penetration testers running multi-stage engagements will find Merlin's HTTP/2 C2 framework invaluable for its lightweight Golang architecture and cross-platform flexibility, which sidesteps the detection signatures that plague Metasploit-based infrastructure. The 5,516 GitHub stars and active community contributions reflect real operational adoption, not theoretical interest. Skip Merlin if your team needs built-in evasion modules or OPSEC hardening out of the box; you're doing custom development here, which means smaller teams should budget engineering time accordingly.
