Rekall vs Volatility 3: side-by-side comparison (2026)

Rekall: Rekall is a discontinued project that aimed to improve memory analysis methodology but faced challenges due to the nature of in-memory structure and increasing security measures.

Volatility 3: A digital artifact extraction framework for extracting data from volatile memory (RAM) samples, providing visibility into the runtime state of a system.

The table above shows where their features, integrations, deployment and company size fit differ.

Rekall is open-source with 1,999 GitHub stars. Volatility 3 is open-source with 3,977 GitHub stars. The vendor behind a product decides its roadmap, support, and longevity, so check each company's profile before you commit.

Often, yes. Rekall and Volatility 3 are both Digital Forensics products, and both cover Memory Forensics, Volatility. Use the table above to see where features, deployment and company size fit differ.