AI tool comparison
qsag-core vs Shannon
Which one should you ship with? Here is the side-by-side panel verdict, pricing read, reviewer split, and community vote comparison.
Security
qsag-core
Open-source security scanner for AI agents — catches MCP poisoning and prompt injection
50%
Panel ship
—
Community
Free
Entry
qsag-core is a fresh open-source Python toolkit from Neoxyber that addresses the OWASP Top 10 for Agentic Applications 2026 — specifically the two fastest-growing attack vectors: MCP tool poisoning and prompt injection in AI agents. The library uses pattern-based detection (not ML-based, to minimize false positives) to scan 26 MCP tool poisoning patterns across 7 categories and detect 28+ prompt injection patterns across 9 threat categories. It also catches ghost agent attempts, credential harvesting, and memory poisoning in real time. The toolkit is available on PyPI, ships with cryptographic attestations, and is licensed under Apache 2.0. It was created in early April 2026, making it genuinely new-to-the-scene. The timing is significant: a recent Dark Reading poll found 48% of cybersecurity professionals now identify agentic AI as the #1 attack vector, up from a niche concern in 2025. Microsoft released a similar (but much larger-scope) Agent Governance Toolkit in early April, which validates the problem space but leaves room for nimble open-source tooling. qsag-core is early-stage — zero stars on GitHub as of today, minimal community traction, and no documented production deployments. But it addresses a problem that's going to become critical as MCP adoption accelerates. First-mover advantage in a niche that's about to explode.
Security
Shannon
Autonomous AI that finds your vulnerabilities and exploits them — for you
75%
Panel ship
—
Community
Free
Entry
Shannon is an autonomous AI security research agent from Keygraph that takes a target (web app, API, or codebase) and runs a full offensive security workflow: static analysis, attack surface mapping across OWASP Top 10, and then actual proof-of-concept exploit execution — all without manual intervention. It orchestrates real security tools (Nmap, Subfinder, SQLMap, Playwright) under the hood, not just generating reports. The Lite tier (AGPL-3.0) handles web apps and API endpoints, running browser automation and fuzzing attacks autonomously. Shannon Pro (commercial) adds SAST/SCA integration, CI/CD pipeline hooks for PR scanning, and team-level finding management. The model layer is pluggable — defaults to GPT-4o for planning with Claude Sonnet for exploit reasoning, but can be pointed at local models. What sets Shannon apart from tools like Burp Suite or ZAP is the agentic loop: it doesn't just surface a list of potential issues, it attempts exploitation and logs what worked. For small security teams and solo founders doing pre-launch security checks, this compresses days of pentesting work into a single automated run. The open-source Lite tier is the real news here — genuine autonomous exploitation capability, freely available.
Reviewer scorecard
“I've been looking for exactly this since MCP started proliferating. Pattern-based detection over ML is the right call for security tooling — I can audit what it's flagging and why. Dropping this into my agent pipeline CI was a 30-minute job. The MCP tool poisoning scanner alone is worth it.”
“I've been paying $400/month for a pentesting retainer for pre-launch checks. Shannon Lite ran against my staging environment and surfaced an actual SQLi vulnerability in 20 minutes that my last manual audit missed. The AGPL license means I can self-host it in my CI pipeline without worrying about data leaving my network.”
“Zero stars, no known production deployments, no security audit of the security tool itself — that's an uncomfortable situation. Pattern-based detection will generate false positives as MCP tool definitions grow more complex, and attackers who know about this scanner can trivially evade it. Treat as research, not production security.”
“Autonomous exploitation tools have serious dual-use liability. The AGPL license doesn't prevent anyone from running Shannon against systems they don't own — and AI-generated PoC exploits at this speed are a real threat multiplier for less-sophisticated attackers. I'd want to see proper authorization checks and rate limiting baked into the Lite tier before recommending this broadly.”
“MCP security is going to matter enormously as AI agents gain real-world tool access. The OWASP Top 10 for Agentic Applications is brand new and most teams haven't even read it. Getting familiar with these attack patterns now, before an incident forces the conversation, is table-stakes security hygiene.”
“Security tooling is going through the same shift coding did with Copilot — autonomous agents are going to make pentesting accessible to every small team that currently can't afford it. Shannon is an early version of what eventually becomes a background daemon watching your entire attack surface 24/7.”
“Unless you're running AI agents in production that use MCP tools, this is highly specialized developer/security tooling. Relevant context for understanding AI agent risks, but not something most creatives will interact with directly.”
“Less relevant to my workflow directly, but I've started including 'ran Shannon against my portfolio site' in client pitches as a trust signal. The fact that indie creators can now point a professional-grade security tool at their own work without a $5K budget is a shift worth noting.”
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