Side by side

Binary Ninja vs Ghidra

Both stand on reverse engineering tools. Which one you can start free with, which one lets you read the code, and what each costs once you pay.

Binary Ninja

Free plan APILinuxMac+3

Binary Ninja combines decompilation, debugging, and automation, with capabilities varying by edition. Check the free desktop limits and licensing terms against your intended use.

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Ghidra

Free plan Open source APIExtensionLinux+3

Ghidra offers a broad set of compiled-code analysis tools across Windows, macOS, and Linux. Check the security advisories for version-specific vulnerabilities, and account for the JDK requirement before installation.

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The facts

	Binary Ninja	Ghidra
Free plan	Yes	Yes
Open source	No	Yes
Runs on	API, Linux, Mac, Self-hosted, Web, Windows	API, Extension, Linux, Mac, Self-hosted, Windows
Lowest paid plan	Personal: $199, paid once	Free or on request
Plans published	5	1
Maker	Not published	Not published
Website	binary.ninja	github.com
On reverse engineering tools	#6 of 73	#2 of 73

Binary Ninja: what it does well

Decompiler outputs C or BNIL on supported architectures.
Native debugger supports local and remote sessions.
API offers C++, Python, and Rust bindings.
Paid plans include plugin access.

What to know first

Free desktop use has no API or plugin access.
Free desktop architecture limit is stated as four and five.
Cloud has strict performance limits and no API or plugins.
Personal is non-commercial; Commercial starts at $1,799, paid once.

Ghidra: what it does well

Includes disassembly, decompilation, graphing, and scripting
Supports many processor instruction sets and executable formats
Runs interactively or in automated modes
Extensions and scripts can use Java or Python

What to know first

Installation requires a 64-bit JDK 25
Certain versions have known security vulnerabilities
Vulnerability reports should use private reporting, not public issues

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