--- title: "openfirma vs Aegis" type: "comparison" canonical_url: "https://www.graphcanon.com/compare/firma-ai-openfirma-vs-justin0504-aegis" tools: ["firma-ai-openfirma", "justin0504-aegis"] --- # openfirma vs Aegis *GraphCanon updated Sep 20, 2026* ## Verdict Pick openfirma if openfirma is a policy-enforcing sidecar for AI agents that uses Cedar policies to gate outbound calls, built in Rust under the GPL-3.0 license; pick Aegis if aegis provides runtime policy enforcement for AI agents with cryptographic audit trails and human-in-the-loop approvals, supporting zero-code deployment switches suited for various compliance needs. [openfirma](https://firma-ai.github.io/openfirma/) reports 135 GitHub stars, 9 forks, and 8 open issues, last pushed Sep 11, 2026. [Aegis](https://github.com/Justin0504/Aegis) has 340 stars, 37 forks, and 3 open issues, last pushed Sep 6, 2026. Figures are from public GitHub metadata via [openfirma's repository](https://github.com/Firma-AI/openfirma) and [Aegis's repository](https://github.com/Justin0504/Aegis). | | [openfirma](/tools/firma-ai-openfirma.md) | [Aegis](/tools/justin0504-aegis.md) | | --- | --- | --- | | Tagline | Runtime enforcement boundary for AI agents with local sidecar | Runtime policy enforcement for AI agents with cryptographic audit trail and human-in-the-loop approvals. | | Stars | 135 | 340 | | Forks | 9 | 37 | | Open issues | 8 | 3 | | Language | Rust | TypeScript | | Adopt for | Openfirma is a policy-enforcing sidecar for AI agents that uses Cedar policies to gate outbound calls, built in Rust under the GPL-3.0 license. | Aegis provides runtime policy enforcement for AI agents with cryptographic audit trails and human-in-the-loop approvals, supporting zero-code deployment switches suited for various compliance needs. | | Persona | - | - | | Runtime | - | - | | License | GPL-3.0 | MIT | | Categories | AI Agents, Evaluation & Observability | AI Agents, Evaluation & Observability | ## Trust and health _Sourced signals - not a safety guarantee. No winner column._ | | [openfirma](/tools/firma-ai-openfirma.md) | [Aegis](/tools/justin0504-aegis.md) | | --- | --- | --- | | Days since push | 0d | 4d | | Open issues (now) | 8 | 3 | | Stars delta | +29 (30d) | -27 (30d) | | Open issues delta | -9 (30d) | 0 (30d) | | Owner type | Organization | User | | Full report | [trust report](/tools/firma-ai-openfirma/trust.md) | [trust report](/tools/justin0504-aegis/trust.md) | ## Decision facts: openfirma - **Adopt for:** Openfirma is a policy-enforcing sidecar for AI agents that uses Cedar policies to gate outbound calls, built in Rust under the GPL-3.0 license. ## Decision facts: Aegis - **Adopt for:** Aegis provides runtime policy enforcement for AI agents with cryptographic audit trails and human-in-the-loop approvals, supporting zero-code deployment switches suited for various compliance needs. ## Choose when ### Choose openfirma if… - openfirma is primarily Rust; Aegis is TypeScript. - License: openfirma is GPL-3.0, Aegis is MIT. - Tags unique to openfirma: access-control, agentic-ai, ai-agents, authorization. - When you need deterministic and call-level runtime enforcement that specifically leverages Cedar policies tailored for your needs. ### Choose Aegis if… - Aegis is primarily TypeScript; openfirma is Rust. - License: Aegis is MIT, openfirma is GPL-3.0. - Tags unique to Aegis: ai-safety, anthropic, audit-trail, llm-observability. - Aegis ships Docker support for self-hosted deployment. - You need cryptographic assurance of the audit trail to meet high-security standards. ## When NOT to use openfirma - Avoid if you prefer a solution not tightly coupled to Cedar policies, as Openfirma exclusively supports this policy framework. - Do not use if licensing is critical and you need permissive licenses, since Openfirma uses the GPL-3.0 license. ## When NOT to use Aegis - The project does not require a zero-code deployment switch and can manage changes directly in the codebase. - Minimal regulatory requirements mean that elaborate configurations like Aegis's strict retention policies are unnecessary. ## Common questions ### What is the difference between openfirma and Aegis? openfirma: Runtime enforcement boundary for AI agents with local sidecar. Aegis: Runtime policy enforcement for AI agents with cryptographic audit trail and human-in-the-loop approvals.. See the comparison table for live GitHub stats and shared categories. ### When should I choose openfirma over Aegis? Choose openfirma over Aegis when openfirma is primarily Rust; Aegis is TypeScript; License: openfirma is GPL-3.0, Aegis is MIT; Tags unique to openfirma: access-control, agentic-ai, ai-agents, authorization; When you need deterministic and call-level runtime enforcement that specifically leverages Cedar policies tailored for your needs. ### When should I choose Aegis over openfirma? Choose Aegis over openfirma when Aegis is primarily TypeScript; openfirma is Rust; License: Aegis is MIT, openfirma is GPL-3.0; Tags unique to Aegis: ai-safety, anthropic, audit-trail, llm-observability; Aegis ships Docker support for self-hosted deployment; You need cryptographic assurance of the audit trail to meet high-security standards. ### When should I avoid openfirma? Avoid if you prefer a solution not tightly coupled to Cedar policies, as Openfirma exclusively supports this policy framework. Do not use if licensing is critical and you need permissive licenses, since Openfirma uses the GPL-3.0 license. ### When should I avoid Aegis? The project does not require a zero-code deployment switch and can manage changes directly in the codebase. Minimal regulatory requirements mean that elaborate configurations like Aegis's strict retention policies are unnecessary. ### Is openfirma or Aegis more popular on GitHub? Aegis has more GitHub stars (340 vs 135). Stars measure visibility, not whether either tool fits your constraints. ### Are openfirma and Aegis open source? Yes - both are open-source projects on GitHub (openfirma: GPL-3.0, Aegis: MIT). ### Where can I find alternatives to openfirma or Aegis? GraphCanon lists graph-backed alternatives at [openfirma alternatives](/tools/firma-ai-openfirma/alternatives) and [Aegis alternatives](/tools/justin0504-aegis/alternatives) ([openfirma markdown twin](/tools/firma-ai-openfirma/alternatives.md), [Aegis markdown twin](/tools/justin0504-aegis/alternatives.md)), ranked by typed relationship edges rather than popularity votes. ### Is there a machine-readable version of this comparison? Yes. The markdown twin at [this comparison](/compare/firma-ai-openfirma-vs-justin0504-aegis.md) mirrors this page for agents and LLM crawlers, with the same stats table and FAQ answers. ### Which is better maintained, openfirma or Aegis? openfirma: Very active. Aegis: Very active. Compare maintenance labels, days since push, and release cadence in the trust section below - stars alone do not measure maintenance. ### Where are the full trust reports for openfirma and Aegis? GraphCanon publishes per-repo trust reports with dated maintenance, provenance, and scan summaries: [openfirma trust report](/tools/firma-ai-openfirma/trust); [Aegis trust report](/tools/justin0504-aegis/trust). --- **Machine-readable endpoints** - JSON: [`/api/graphcanon/graph?tool=firma-ai-openfirma`](/api/graphcanon/graph?tool=firma-ai-openfirma) - LLM index: [/llms.txt](/llms.txt) - Full corpus: [/llms-full.txt](/llms-full.txt) _GraphCanon - The knowledge graph for AI development. https://www.graphcanon.com/_