# Hyperscan vs PCRE2

| Attribute | Hyperscan | PCRE2 |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 45.3 (31% (low)) | 51.1 (29% (low)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 1 | 100 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 0 | 129 |
| adoption.github_stars | 5,502 | 1,372 |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"An open-source C library using hybrid automata techniques to efficiently match large numbers of regular expressions across data streams. Typically used in deep packet inspection (DPI) applications. It is indexed under Regex Tools.","source":"https://github.com/pricing","question":"What is Hyperscan?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Hyperscan is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://github.com/pricing","question":"Is Hyperscan free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Hyperscan supports Windows and Linux. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://github.com/pricing","question":"What platforms does Hyperscan support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Hyperscan can be deployed self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://github.com/pricing","question":"Can Hyperscan be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6}]` | `[{"answer":"A free regular expression matching library that implements Perl 5 syntax with extensive Unicode and character encoding support. It offers both traditional backtracking and JIT-compiled matching engines, available through native and POSIX-compatible APIs. It is indexed under Regex Tools.","source":"https://www.pcre.org/","question":"What is PCRE2?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"PCRE2 is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://www.pcre.org/","question":"Is PCRE2 free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"PCRE2 supports Windows, macOS, Linux and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://www.pcre.org/","question":"What platforms does PCRE2 support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. PCRE2 can be deployed self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://www.pcre.org/","question":"Can PCRE2 be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"self_hosted":true}` | `{"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | A standalone regex matching library optimized for simultaneously processing large numbers of patterns against data streams. Built with hybrid automata techniques and compatible with PCRE syntax, it's designed for efficient pattern matching across continuous input. | A free regular expression matching library that implements Perl 5 syntax with extensive Unicode and character encoding support. It offers both traditional backtracking and JIT-compiled matching engines, available through native and POSIX-compatible APIs. |
| features.capabilities | `{"interface_type":"library","lookaround_support":true,"multi_pattern_matching":true}` | `{"backreferences":true,"interface_type":"library","code_generation":true,"lookaround_support":true}` |
| integrations.count | - | 2 |
| integrations.list | - | `[{"name":"Exim"},{"name":"Nginx"}]` |
| language.primary | C++ | C |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | - |
| platform.support | `{"linux":true,"windows":true}` | `{"cli":true,"mac":true,"linux":true,"windows":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://github.com/pricing","retrievedAt":"2026-08-19T21:11:38.903Z"}` | `{"type":"open_source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://www.pcre.org/","retrievedAt":"2026-08-19T21:07:09.586Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | commercial | open_source |
| pricing.price_level | free | free |
| pricing.transparent | yes | yes |
| release.cadence_days | 77 | 50 |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/intel/hyperscan/releases/tag/v5.4.2","date":"2023-04-19T09:39:32Z","type":"stable","version":"v5.4.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/intel/hyperscan/releases/tag/v5.4.1","date":"2023-02-21T15:00:48Z","type":"stable","version":"v5.4.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/intel/hyperscan/releases/tag/v5.4.0","date":"2021-01-13T08:42:33Z","type":"stable","version":"v5.4.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/intel/hyperscan/releases/tag/v5.3.0","date":"2020-05-25T08:04:37Z","type":"stable","version":"v5.3.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/intel/hyperscan/releases/tag/v5.2.1","date":"2019-10-30T09:35:06Z","type":"stable","version":"v5.2.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/intel/hyperscan/releases/tag/v5.2.0","date":"2019-08-13T07:24:52Z","type":"stable","version":"v5.2.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/intel/hyperscan/releases/tag/v5.1.1","date":"2019-04-10T07:43:16Z","type":"stable","version":"v5.1.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/intel/hyperscan/releases/tag/v5.1.0","date":"2019-01-31T02:12:49Z","type":"stable","version":"v5.1.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/intel/hyperscan/releases/tag/v5.0.0","date":"2018-07-09T09:32:38Z","type":"stable","version":"v5.0.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/intel/hyperscan/releases/tag/v4.7.0","date":"2018-01-23T23:21:58Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.7.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/intel/hyperscan/releases/tag/v4.6.0","date":"2017-09-22T05:24:18Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.6.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/intel/hyperscan/releases/tag/v4.5.2","date":"2017-07-26T06:14:30Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.5.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/intel/hyperscan/releases/tag/v4.5.1","date":"2017-06-16T00:12:50Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.5.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/intel/hyperscan/releases/tag/v4.5.0","date":"2017-06-09T00:21:43Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.5.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/intel/hyperscan/releases/tag/v4.4.1","date":"2017-03-01T02:15:08Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.4.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/intel/hyperscan/releases/tag/v4.4.0","date":"2017-01-20T03:22:05Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.4.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/intel/hyperscan/releases/tag/v4.3.2","date":"2016-11-14T23:19:03Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.3.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/intel/hyperscan/releases/tag/v4.3.1","date":"2016-08-29T03:54:40Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.3.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/intel/hyperscan/releases/tag/v4.2.1","date":"2016-08-29T04:47:35Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.2.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/intel/hyperscan/releases/tag/v4.3.0","date":"2016-08-24T04:35:47Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.3.0"}]` | `[{"url":"https://github.com/PCRE2Project/pcre2/releases/tag/pcre2-10.49","date":"2026-09-28T12:51:22Z","type":"stable","version":"pcre2-10.49"},{"url":"https://github.com/PCRE2Project/pcre2/releases/tag/pcre2-10.48","date":"2026-08-31T18:01:37Z","type":"stable","version":"pcre2-10.48"},{"url":"https://github.com/PCRE2Project/pcre2/releases/tag/pcre2-10.48-RC1","date":"2026-08-25T14:44:44Z","type":"prerelease","version":"pcre2-10.48-RC1"},{"url":"https://github.com/PCRE2Project/pcre2/releases/tag/pcre2-10.47","date":"2025-10-21T09:52:48Z","type":"stable","version":"pcre2-10.47"},{"url":"https://github.com/PCRE2Project/pcre2/releases/tag/pcre2-10.46","date":"2025-08-27T16:45:55Z","type":"stable","version":"pcre2-10.46"},{"url":"https://github.com/PCRE2Project/pcre2/releases/tag/pcre2-10.45","date":"2025-02-05T09:09:01Z","type":"stable","version":"pcre2-10.45"},{"url":"https://github.com/PCRE2Project/pcre2/releases/tag/pcre2-10.45-RC1","date":"2024-12-27T07:53:11Z","type":"prerelease","version":"pcre2-10.45-RC1"},{"url":"https://github.com/PCRE2Project/pcre2/releases/tag/pcre2-10.44","date":"2024-06-07T14:13:37Z","type":"stable","version":"pcre2-10.44"},{"url":"https://github.com/PCRE2Project/pcre2/releases/tag/pcre2-10.43","date":"2024-02-16T17:15:57Z","type":"stable","version":"pcre2-10.43"},{"url":"https://github.com/PCRE2Project/pcre2/releases/tag/pcre2-10.43-RC1","date":"2023-12-28T16:41:04Z","type":"prerelease","version":"pcre2-10.43-RC1"},{"url":"https://github.com/PCRE2Project/pcre2/releases/tag/pcre2-10.42","date":"2022-12-12T17:24:44Z","type":"stable","version":"pcre2-10.42"},{"url":"https://github.com/PCRE2Project/pcre2/releases/tag/pcre2-10.41","date":"2022-12-06T17:10:13Z","type":"stable","version":"pcre2-10.41"},{"url":"https://github.com/PCRE2Project/pcre2/releases/tag/pcre2-10.40","date":"2022-04-15T16:05:35Z","type":"stable","version":"pcre2-10.40"},{"url":"https://github.com/PCRE2Project/pcre2/releases/tag/pcre2-10.39","date":"2021-10-29T16:16:41Z","type":"stable","version":"pcre2-10.39"},{"url":"https://github.com/PCRE2Project/pcre2/releases/tag/pcre2-10.38","date":"2021-10-01T15:53:58Z","type":"stable","version":"pcre2-10.38"},{"url":"https://github.com/PCRE2Project/pcre2/releases/tag/pcre2-10.38-RC1","date":"2021-08-31T16:30:14Z","type":"prerelease","version":"pcre2-10.38-RC1"},{"url":"https://github.com/PCRE2Project/pcre2/releases/tag/pcre2-10.37","date":"2021-08-22T10:52:04Z","type":"stable","version":"pcre2-10.37"},{"url":"https://github.com/PCRE2Project/pcre2/releases/tag/pcre2-10.36","date":"2022-01-24T14:14:28Z","type":"stable","version":"pcre2-10.36"},{"url":"https://github.com/PCRE2Project/pcre2/releases/tag/pcre2-10.35","date":"2022-01-24T14:17:46Z","type":"stable","version":"pcre2-10.35"},{"url":"https://github.com/PCRE2Project/pcre2/releases/tag/pcre2-10.34","date":"2022-01-25T16:23:42Z","type":"stable","version":"pcre2-10.34"}]` |
| security.scorecard | 4.7 | - |
| security.trust_center | https://github.com/security | - |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=debian&package_name=hyperscan&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=conda&package_name=pcre2&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` |

## Capabilities (Regex Tools)

| Capability | Hyperscan | PCRE2 |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Capabilities** |  |  |
| Redos resistant | - | - |
| Lookaround support | ✓ | ✓ |
| Backreferences | - | ✓ |
| Unicode property escapes | - | - |
| Named captures | - | - |
| Multi pattern matching | ✓ | - |
| Interface type | Library | Library |
| Visualization | - | - |
| Code generation | - | ✓ |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T17:47:42.745Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*