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Best for: Commercial reverse engineering and binary analysis

Best for: Reverse engineering a binary when you need a decompiler and cannot pay for IDA

Commercial licenses are sold by Hex-Rays. Processor coverage, decompilers and collaboration features depend on the plan.

Free and open source under Apache 2.0, released by the NSA.

• Interactive binary analysis with disassembly and debugging
• Scripting and plugin interfaces
• Licensed for commercial use

• A genuinely capable decompiler producing C-like output, free and open source
• Very wide processor instruction set and executable format support
• Built for teams, with shared projects and version tracking
• Extensible with Java or Python, and scriptable for automated analysis

• Paid license required
• Decompiler and architecture coverage depend on the plan

• The project warns that some versions have known security vulnerabilities
• Java-based, and the interface shows it
• A steep learning curve even for people who know assembly
• Distributed as a portable archive rather than an installer, and needs a JDK

• Official website
• Current pricing
• Full listing and sources

Sources for IDA Pro

• hex-rays.com/ida-pro

Catalog checked October 11, 2026

• Official website
• Full listing and sources

Sources for Ghidra

• github.com/NationalSecurityAgency/ghidra

Catalog checked September 21, 2026