# Cobra vs urfave/cli

| Attribute | Cobra | urfave/cli |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 47.1 (24% (low)) | 69.7 (20% (low)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 0 | 37 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 109,476 | 57,081 |
| adoption.github_stars | 44,513 | 24,204 |
| deployment.options | `{"self_hosted":true}` | - |
| description.long | An open-source CLI framework that enables developers to build production-grade command-line applications with sophisticated command architecture, intelligent flag parsing, and enterprise features built-in. Battle-tested by over 173,000 projects including Kubernetes, Docker, and GitHub CLI. | An open-source Go library that streamlines CLI development with support for commands, subcommands, help text generation, shell completion, and flexible flag parsing. Designed to be simple, fast, and developer-friendly. |
| language.primary | Go | Go |
| license.spdx | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| market.availability | `{"hqCountry":"US","primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | - |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true}` | `{"cli":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://cobra.dev","retrievedAt":"2026-08-18T12:52:23.169Z"}` | `{"type":"open_source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://cli.urfave.org","retrievedAt":"2026-08-18T12:51:42.473Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | commercial | open_source |
| pricing.price_level | free | free |
| pricing.transparent | - | yes |
| release.cadence_days | 112 | 15 |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/spf13/cobra/releases/tag/v1.10.2","date":"2025-12-04T00:07:49Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.10.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/spf13/cobra/releases/tag/v1.10.1","date":"2025-09-01T16:32:42Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.10.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/spf13/cobra/releases/tag/v1.10.0","date":"2025-09-01T13:39:16Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.10.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/spf13/cobra/releases/tag/v1.9.1","date":"2025-02-16T23:54:10Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.9.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/spf13/cobra/releases/tag/v1.9.0","date":"2025-02-15T18:28:50Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.9.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/spf13/cobra/releases/tag/v1.8.1","date":"2024-06-14T20:55:24Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.8.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/spf13/cobra/releases/tag/v1.8.0","date":"2023-11-04T21:06:08Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.8.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/spf13/cobra/releases/tag/v1.7.0","date":"2023-04-04T14:43:58Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.7.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/spf13/cobra/releases/tag/v1.6.1","date":"2022-10-24T23:03:01Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.6.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/spf13/cobra/releases/tag/v1.6.0","date":"2022-10-11T15:37:05Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.6.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/spf13/cobra/releases/tag/v1.5.0","date":"2022-06-21T02:37:06Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.5.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/spf13/cobra/releases/tag/v1.4.0","date":"2022-03-10T15:57:43Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.4.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/spf13/cobra/releases/tag/v1.3.0","date":"2021-12-14T19:05:30Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.3.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/spf13/cobra/releases/tag/v1.2.1","date":"2021-07-02T15:28:26Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.2.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/spf13/cobra/releases/tag/v1.2.0","date":"2021-07-01T17:41:14Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.2.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/spf13/cobra/releases/tag/v1.1.3","date":"2021-02-10T19:42:35Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.1.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/spf13/cobra/releases/tag/v1.1.2","date":"2021-02-10T01:41:19Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.1.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/spf13/cobra/releases/tag/v1.1.1","date":"2020-10-18T19:13:12Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.1.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/spf13/cobra/releases/tag/v1.1.0","date":"2020-10-14T16:44:02Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.1.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/spf13/cobra/releases/tag/v1.0.0","date":"2020-04-10T20:15:52Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.0.0"}]` | `[{"url":"https://github.com/urfave/cli/releases/tag/v3.11.0","date":"2026-08-16T14:58:36Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.11.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/urfave/cli/releases/tag/v3.10.1","date":"2026-06-29T20:47:46Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.10.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/urfave/cli/releases/tag/v3.10.0","date":"2026-06-14T13:22:28Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.10.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/urfave/cli/releases/tag/v3.9.1","date":"2026-06-10T12:59:11Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.9.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/urfave/cli/releases/tag/v3.9.0","date":"2026-05-12T17:30:51Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.9.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/urfave/cli/releases/tag/v3.8.0","date":"2026-03-25T13:55:21Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.8.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/urfave/cli/releases/tag/v3.7.0","date":"2026-03-01T12:27:06Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.7.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/urfave/cli/releases/tag/v3.6.2","date":"2026-01-18T01:51:44Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.6.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/urfave/cli/releases/tag/v3.6.1","date":"2025-11-16T19:11:42Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.6.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/urfave/cli/releases/tag/v3.6.0","date":"2025-11-09T12:13:35Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.6.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/urfave/cli/releases/tag/v3.5.0","date":"2025-10-21T10:23:58Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.5.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/urfave/cli/releases/tag/v3.4.1","date":"2025-08-12T11:25:03Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.4.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/urfave/cli/releases/tag/v3.4.0","date":"2025-08-12T02:18:39Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.4.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/urfave/cli/releases/tag/v3.3.9","date":"2025-08-12T02:18:17Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.3.9"},{"url":"https://github.com/urfave/cli/releases/tag/v2.27.7","date":"2025-06-14T02:48:45Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.27.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/urfave/cli/releases/tag/v1.22.17","date":"2025-06-14T02:45:27Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.22.17"},{"url":"https://github.com/urfave/cli/releases/tag/v3.3.8","date":"2025-06-13T02:16:12Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.3.8"},{"url":"https://github.com/urfave/cli/releases/tag/v3.3.7","date":"2025-06-13T02:13:48Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.3.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/urfave/cli/releases/tag/v3.3.6","date":"2025-06-13T02:11:28Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.3.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/urfave/cli/releases/tag/v3.3.5","date":"2025-06-13T02:10:55Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.3.5"}]` |
| security.disclosure_policy | - | yes |
| security.scorecard | 6.2 | 6.5 |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fspf13%2Fcobra&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Furfave%2Fcli&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` |

## Capabilities (CLI Frameworks)

| Capability | Cobra | urfave/cli |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Capabilities** |  |  |
| Language | - | - |
| Design style | - | - |
| Nested subcommands | - | - |
| Auto generated help | - | - |
| Plugin system | - | - |
| Interactive prompts | - | - |
| Type validation | - | - |
| Styled rich output | - | - |
| Project scaffolding | - | - |
| Test harness | - | - |
| Open source | - | - |
| License | - | - |

*Source: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T17:33:29.686Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*