--- title: "PentestGPT Alternative: A Model Endpoint for Pentesting" canonical: https://pentestllm.ai/pentestgpt-alternative generated: 2026-11-11T18:05:21.864Z source: https://pentestllm.ai/pentestgpt-alternative base_url: https://api.pentestllm.ai/v1 --- ![Components on a printed circuit board](https://pentestllm.ai/img/circuit.webp) ## What PentestGPT is, as of November 2026 PentestGPT is a research project published at USENIX Security 2024 and released under the MIT licence. Its README, read on 11 November 2026, describes two modes. The newer one is an autonomous pipeline that drives the Claude Code or Codex command-line tools through staged phases. The older one, kept as `pentestgpt-legacy`, is the interactive assistant from the paper: three cooperating model sessions that maintain a task tree while you run the commands. The legacy mode lists OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, DeepSeek, xAI, Qwen, Moonshot and local Ollama as providers, each configured with its own API key. PentestGPT itself is free. The model behind it is not: you bring a subscription login or a provider key, and the provider’s refusal behaviour comes with it. ## Why people look for an alternative - Refusals: An agent is only as willing as its model. On a general model, a declined step can stall a run partway through. - Cost shape: A chat subscription has a cap that an agent can exhaust in an afternoon. Per-token billing scales with the work. - Control: Some testers want to choose the model per task and see what each request cost. - Other agents: Some simply prefer OpenCode, Cline or aider and want a security model behind those. ## What PentestLLM adds PentestLLM does not ship an agent. It serves models: 9 security-tuned builds and the abliterated builds beside them, behind an OpenAI-compatible endpoint at `https://api.pentestllm.ai/v1` and an Anthropic-compatible Messages endpoint. The id `auto/security` routes each request to a fast, balanced or frontier build and bills it at that build’s price. Web search, page fetch, a code sandbox and remote MCP run on the API side when a request declares them. The builds are tuned or abliterated to answer security questions other models decline. That is reduced refusals, not zero, and it is for authorized testing only. ## Running PentestGPT on this endpoint PentestGPT’s legacy mode reads an optional `OPENAI_BASE_URL` override and takes a `--base-url` flag, so its OpenAI connector can be pointed at `https://api.pentestllm.ai/v1`. Its model list is a fixed registry, so there is one extra step to make it send an id this API serves. The [PentestGPT setup guide](https://pentestllm.ai/agents/pentestgpt) walks through it and says plainly which parts of PentestGPT we could not verify against this endpoint. ## Or use a different agent If what you want is an assistant in a terminal that plans, runs tools with your approval and keeps notes, a general coding agent on a security model does that today. [OpenCode](https://pentestllm.ai/agents/opencode) takes a provider block in one config file. [Claude Code](https://pentestllm.ai/agents/claude-code) takes two environment variables. For tool execution on a Kali machine, the [Kali MCP guide](https://pentestllm.ai/agents/kali-mcp) connects the Kali project’s own MCP package. ## When PentestGPT is the better choice If you want the staged pipeline and task tree from the paper, use PentestGPT; nothing here replaces that design. If you already pay for Claude Code or Codex and your work stays inside what those models accept, its autonomous mode uses those logins directly. PentestLLM is for the cases where the model is the limiting part. Either way the same rule applies: test only systems you own or have written permission to test, as the [acceptable use policy](https://pentestllm.ai/acceptable-use) says. ## 9 security builds, priced per token Read from the live catalog on 2026-11-11. Prices are US dollars per million tokens, paid from a prepaid balance that starts at $10. The id `auto/security` has no price of its own: each request is billed at the build that answered. | Build | Input | Output | Context | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Qwen3.8 27B Cybersecurity](https://pentestllm.ai/models/qwen3.8-27b-cybersecurity) | $0.40 | $2.40 | 262,144 | | [Gemma 4 26B A4B Cybersecurity](https://pentestllm.ai/models/gemma-4-26b-a4b-it-cybersecurity) | $0.4224 | $1.3376 | 262,144 | | [GLM-5.3 Flash Cybersecurity](https://pentestllm.ai/models/glm-5.3-flash-cybersecurity) | $0.5093 | $1.6975 | 1,048,576 | | [Red Team (Flash)](https://pentestllm.ai/models/uplink-red-team-flash) | $0.90 | $3.00 | not published | | [Red Team (Pro)](https://pentestllm.ai/models/uplink-red-team-pro) | $1.50 | $6.00 | not published | | [OrcaCyber MiniMax M3.1 Flash](https://pentestllm.ai/models/minimax-m3.1-flash-cybersecurity) | $2.00 | $4.00 | 261,632 | | [OrcaCyber Qwen3.8 Flash Next](https://pentestllm.ai/models/orcacyber-qwen3.8-flash-next) | $2.00 | $4.00 | 261,632 | | [Cyber Frontier](https://pentestllm.ai/models/cyber-frontier) | $5.25 | $15.75 | 1,048,576 | | [OrcaCyber Zero 1.5](https://pentestllm.ai/models/orca-zero-1.5-cybersecurity) | $7.50 | $18.75 | 999,488 | [Full price list and tool fees](https://pentestllm.ai/pricing) · [Every model](https://pentestllm.ai/models) · [API docs](https://pentestllm.ai/docs) ## Questions - Not directly. PentestGPT is an agent and PentestLLM is a model API. You can run PentestGPT’s interactive mode on this endpoint, or use a different agent such as OpenCode with the same key. - The software is open source under the MIT licence, as its README stated in November 2026. It needs a language model to work, and that model is billed by whichever provider or subscription you connect. - In November 2026 its README says the autonomous pipeline drives Claude Code or Codex, and the legacy interactive mode supports OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, DeepSeek, xAI, Qwen, Moonshot and local Ollama. - General models decline many offensive security questions, and one declined step can stall an agent run. Security-tuned builds answer those questions far more often, which is reduced refusals, not zero. - Per token from a prepaid balance with a $10 minimum top-up and no subscription. On 2026-11-11 input prices for security builds start at $0.40 per million tokens. ## Read next - [PentestGPT Running PentestGPT’s interactive mode on this endpoint.](https://pentestllm.ai/agents/pentestgpt) - [HackerGPT alternative Pay-per-token security models with an API, next to the hosted assistants.](https://pentestllm.ai/hackergpt-alternative) - [Kali GPT alternative Security models in the terminal agents you already run on Kali.](https://pentestllm.ai/kali-gpt-alternative) - [Uncensored LLM for pentesting What abliterated and security-tuned builds change for authorized penetration testing.](https://pentestllm.ai/uncensored-llm-for-pentesting) Facts about other products and tools on this page were read from their own pages on 11 November 2026: [PentestGPT README on GitHub](https://github.com/GreyDGL/PentestGPT), [pentestgpt.com](https://pentestgpt.com/). They change; check the source before relying on a figure. ## One key, from $10 PentestLLM is for systems you own or have written permission to test. The [acceptable use policy](https://pentestllm.ai/acceptable-use) says what is not allowed. [Get a key](https://app.pentestllm.ai/console) usage, 1,000 agent turns on Qwen3.8 27B Cybersecurity - Input, 8,000 tokens at $0.40 per million: $0.0032 - Output, 1,000 tokens at $2.40 per million: $0.0024 - One turn: $0.0056 - 1,000 turns: $5.60 output price per million tokens, 9 builds $1.3376 Gemma 4 26B A4B Cybersecurity OrcaCyber Zero 1.5 $18.75