Side by side
EMBA vs ILSpy
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.
Free plan LinuxSelf-hosted
EMBA brings firmware analysis, software inventory and vulnerability reporting into a free Linux environment. Its maintainers characterize it as a research and testing platform, not for productive or unprotected environments.
Visit EMBA Free plan ExtensionLinuxMac+1
ILSpy offers assembly browsing and C# decompilation across desktop platforms, with several developer integrations and extensions. It is free, but it does not handle native-code decompilation.
Visit ILSpyThe facts
| EMBA | ILSpy | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | Not published | Not published |
| Runs on | Linux, Self-hosted | Extension, Linux, Mac, Windows |
| Lowest paid plan | Free or on request | Free or on request |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Maker | Not published | Not published |
| Website | github.com | github.com |
| On reverse engineering tools | #20 of 73 | #16 of 73 |
EMBA: what it does well
- Combines firmware extraction with static and dynamic analysis.
- F15 generates a CycloneDX JSON SBOM.
- F20 searches for known vulnerabilities and possible exploits.
- The project announces Dependency-Track integration.
What to know first
- Does not run on ARM architecture, according to the guide.
- Requires at least 16 GB of RAM.
- The guide recommends eight or more processor cores.
- Developer mode can run malicious code on the host.
ILSpy: what it does well
- Decompiles assemblies into C#, including whole projects.
- Opens assemblies from disk, NuGet, and processes.
- Includes BAML-to-XAML conversion.
- Desktop app supports plugins and a scripting API.
- Free under the MIT License.
What to know first
- Does not decompile native code.
- GAC support is limited to Windows.
- Security policy supports only the latest release and preview or release-candidate version.