Compare software

kcov vs LCOV: catalog facts
kcov	LCOV
Best for: Measuring test coverage of compiled programs and shell scripts	Best for: C and C++ developers measuring test coverage with gcov
Free Free and open source under GPL-2.0 or later; donations accepted.	Free Free and open source under the GPL.
macOS, Linux, Command line	macOS, Linux, Command line
No special compilation flags needed Covers binaries, Python and shell scripts All 4 strengths for kcov No special compilation flags needed Covers binaries, Python and shell scripts HTML and Cobertura XML output for CI Live-updating report for long-running programs	Turns gcov output into readable coverage reports Can combine and manipulate coverage data from several test runs All 3 strengths for LCOV Turns gcov output into readable coverage reports Can combine and manipulate coverage data from several test runs Actively maintained
Command line only Limited to ELF and Mach-O binaries, Python and sh or bash	Depends on Perl and on coverage data from compilers such as GCC Command-line driven with no interactive interface
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License: GPL-2.0-or-later	License: GPL-2.0-or-later
No account needed	No account needed
Offline features available	Offline features available
Official website Full listing and sources Sources for kcov simonkagstrom.github.io/kcov Catalog checked October 1, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Sources for LCOV github.com/linux-test-project/lcov Catalog checked October 1, 2026

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