Garak
Garak is a local LLM vulnerability scanner: you point it at a generator (openai / a local model), it queues encoding.Inject* probes, and prints PASS / FAIL…
OUR TAKE
Pick Garak for app / security teams who will run Community-style scans at $0 and already have a model API key. $0 is the toolkit, not the model bill.
Good fit
App / security teams who will run Community-style scans at $0 and already have a model API key.
Poor fit
Teams that want a YAML eval matrix + hosted dashboard (Promptfoo) or a research log viewer (Inspect AI).
Garak
USD, before tax · Checked 2026-10-28 · github.com/NVIDIA/garak
OUR TAKE
Pick Garak for app / security teams who will run Community-style scans at $0 and already have a model API key. $0 is the toolkit, not the model bill. A full encoding suite still burns your API.
Good fit
App / security teams who will run Community-style scans at $0 and already have a model API key.
Poor fit
Teams that want a YAML eval matrix + hosted dashboard (Promptfoo) or a research log viewer (Inspect AI).
Garak
USD, before tax · Checked 2026-10-28 · github.com/NVIDIA/garak
What it costs
USD, before tax · Checked 2026-10-28 · github.com/NVIDIA/garak
Garak
Apache-2.0. Local CLI. You pay model inference and machines
$0
No public hosted $.
Not published by the vendor
Not published by the vendor
Checked 2026-10-28·github.com/NVIDIA/garak
Before you pay
Good fit
App / security teams who will run Community-style scans at $0 and already have a model API key.
Poor fit
Teams that want a YAML eval matrix + hosted dashboard (Promptfoo) or a research log viewer (Inspect AI).
Watch out
$0 is the toolkit, not the model bill. A full encoding suite still burns your API.
Instead, try
Promptfoo if YAML eval + red team when you want Community Free Forever; Inspect AI if research eval log viewer when the job is a scored sample table
Compare Garak with
Limits, in full
- 01
$0 is the toolkit, not the model bill. A full encoding suite still burns your API.
- 02
A CLI scanner, not a trace warehouse. For OTel spans see Phoenix.
- 03
No official paid tile. Quote only Apache $0.
If Garak isn't it
Why: YAML eval + red team when you want Community Free Forever.
Free· open source,MIT
Community red team is 10k probes/monthChecked 2026-10-27·promptfoo.dev/pricing
vs Garak
Why: research eval log viewer when the job is a scored sample table.
Free· open source,MIT
$0 is the toolkit, not the model billChecked 2026-10-27·inspect.aisi.org.uk
vs GarakLimits & alternatives3 limits · Promptfoo, Inspect AI instead
Limits, in full
- 01
$0 is the toolkit, not the model bill. A full encoding suite still burns your API.
- 02
A CLI scanner, not a trace warehouse. For OTel spans see Phoenix.
- 03
No official paid tile. Quote only Apache $0.
If Garak isn't it
Why: YAML eval + red team when you want Community Free Forever.
Free· open source,MIT
Community red team is 10k probes/monthChecked 2026-10-27·promptfoo.dev/pricing
vs GarakWhy: research eval log viewer when the job is a scored sample table.
Free· open source,MIT
$0 is the toolkit, not the model billChecked 2026-10-27·inspect.aisi.org.uk
vs Garak