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Comparison · Infra & APIs

Clair vs Jackett

A side-by-side editorial comparison of Clair and Jackett — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.

Shared themes:open-source

Clair vs Jackett: at a glance

FeatureClairJackett
SectorInfra & APIsInfra & APIs
Velocity score2.55.0
Sparks · 30d00
Top themescontainer-security, vulnerability-scanning, sbom, red-hattorrent-indexers, open-source, media-automation, maintenance
Last editorial update8h ago15h ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is Clair?

Clair 4.10 RC can read SBOMs to match Java vulnerabilities.

Clair cut its first 4.10.0 release candidate on November 13, eleven months after 4.9.0. Its Java indexers can now read CycloneDX SBOM files and treat them as the source of truth, and Red Hat's VEX data now covers Maven advisories, so Java packages in Red Hat images can be matched. It also reduces memory use when many packages share a source package.

Read the full Clair trajectory →

What is Jackett?

Jackett keeps up its daily indexer fixes, adding trackers and chasing domain moves.

Jackett is an open-source proxy that turns hundreds of torrent tracker sites into a single Torznab API for media automation tools. It ships an auto-generated release about every day. The November 11 and 12 builds added the private sites bytepeer and an API-based cyanbug and worked around snowpt's removed download links; the November 13 build moves dontorrent to a new domain.

Read the full Jackett trajectory →

Clair vs Jackett: editorial side-by-side

C
Clair
INFRA · APIS
2.5

Clair 4.10 RC can read SBOMs to match Java vulnerabilities.

◆ Current state

Clair cut its first 4.10.0 release candidate on November 13, eleven months after 4.9.0. Its Java indexers can now read CycloneDX SBOM files and treat them as the source of truth, and Red Hat's VEX data now covers Maven advisories, so Java packages in Red Hat images can be matched. It also reduces memory use when many packages share a source package.

◆ Where it's heading

Since 4.8 Clair has moved from Red Hat's older OVAL data to VEX, and each release follows Red Hat's security data more closely. 4.10 adds SBOMs as an input, so Clair can match what an image's own manifest declares, not only what it finds on disk.

◆ Prediction

More 4.10 release candidates and then a final are likely; the long gap between releases suggests that could take weeks.

J
Jackett
INFRA · APIS
5.0

Jackett keeps up its daily indexer fixes, adding trackers and chasing domain moves.

◆ Current state

Jackett is an open-source proxy that turns hundreds of torrent tracker sites into a single Torznab API for media automation tools. It ships an auto-generated release about every day. The November 11 and 12 builds added the private sites bytepeer and an API-based cyanbug and worked around snowpt's removed download links; the November 13 build moves dontorrent to a new domain.

◆ Where it's heading

The work stays reactive: trackers change domains, logins and page layouts, and Jackett adjusts definitions within a day. A recurring sub-pattern is moving sites to API-based connections, as with magnetz last week and cyanbug now.

◆ Prediction

More trackers moving from page scraping to API or API-key connections is the most visible pattern to continue, alongside the usual daily domain fixes.

Alternatives to Clair and Jackett

Other Infra & APIs products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either Clair or Jackett.

See all Clair alternatives → · See all Jackett alternatives →

Recent activity from Clair and Jackett

Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.

  1. 13h agoClairClair 4.10 RC reads CycloneDX SBOMs for Java matching
  2. 1d agoJackettJackett moves dontorrent to a new domain
  3. 2d agoJackettJackett adds bytepeer and cyanbug-api, works around snowpt
  4. 3d agoJackettJackett fixes date parsing on three sites, drops mteampt domains
  5. 4d agoJackettJackett adds hdchina, bumps torrenttip and torrentsome domains
  6. 5d agoJackettJackett removes hxpt, fixes karagarga login
  7. 6d agoJackettJackett moves magnetz to an API-key Torznab connection
  8. 11mo agoClairClair 4.9 moves CVSS data to NVD's 2.0 feeds
  9. 2y agoClairClair 4.8 replaces Red Hat OVAL data with VEX
  10. 2y agoClairClair 4.7.4 changes the default layer download location
  11. 2y agoClairClair 4.7.3 requires TLS 1.2 or newer
  12. 3y agoClairClair 4.7.2 drops the retired CRDA source

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Clair and Jackett?

Both compete on the same themes — open-source — within Infra & APIs. Jackett is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 2.5), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.

Is Clair better than Jackett?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Jackett is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 2.5), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Infra & APIs products to evaluate alongside.

What are the best alternatives to Clair?

Top Clair alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Clair alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/clair for the full list with editorial commentary on each.

What are the best alternatives to Jackett?

Top Jackett alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Jackett alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/jackett for the full list with editorial commentary on each.