Self-hosted and focused on data collection. If your use case is focused solely on data collection on small to medium targets and you wish to run SpiderFoot within your own infrastructure that you set up, secure and maintain with support from the community, the open source version is probably the best option for you.

With the open source version, most of the modules from SpiderFoot HX are available, but the ability to navigate, visualize, monitor and investigate is not available. You'll be able to export the data from SpiderFoot in CSV, JSON or GEXF and work with the data in other tools.

The open source version is typically used by hobbyists and those new to OSINT.

SpiderFoot HX is designed for professionals who use OSINT as part of their work. When you want to collect and monitor OSINT data as well as quickly find what's important through rich data navigation and visualization features, SpiderFoot HX is what you're looking for.

With SpiderFoot HX, you'll have an an always-online system that you don't have to maintain yourself, will always be running the latest version and will be professionally supported by those who know the product best.

SpiderFoot HX is typically the choice for organizations that provide security assessment services, companies with their own threat intelligence teams, firms performing professional digital investigations and law enforcement.