Pwndbg vs Pwntools: 2026 Comparison
Pwndbg is a free penetration testing tool. Pwntools is a free penetration testing tool. Compare features, ratings, integrations, and community reviews side by side to find the best penetration testing fit for your security stack.
CST VerdictBased on our analysis of available product data, here is our conclusion:
Reverse engineers and exploit developers who spend hours stepping through stripped binaries will move faster with Pwndbg than vanilla GDB; its contextual heap inspection and ROP gadget search eliminate repetitive manual work. The project's 9,244 GitHub stars and active maintenance reflect real adoption among security researchers who've made it part of their standard toolkit. Skip this if your team needs a GUI debugger or support for Windows-native binaries; Pwndbg is Linux-first and command-line only.
Penetration testers and red teamers who need to write exploits fast will get the most from Pwntools; its Python library handles the tedious low-level socket work, ROP gadget chaining, and shellcode generation so you spend time on vulnerability logic instead of boilerplate. The 13k GitHub stars reflect real adoption in both professional engagements and CTF competitions, where iteration speed matters. Skip this if your team codes exploits in C or expects a GUI; Pwntools is pure command-line and Python, with a learning curve if you're not comfortable scripting.
