GravityKit
GravityKit folds every GravityView extension into one Pro plugin.
Comparison · Infra & APIs
Clair vs osquery
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Clair and osquery — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:open-source
Clair vs osquery: at a glance
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.
What is osquery?
osquery's only tracked entry is a build toolchain update.
The single entry in osquery's feed is 5.22.0's move to osquery-toolchain 1.2.0, which upgrades LLVM and zlib and lists the Ubuntu and CentOS builds it was tested on. It does not describe any new tables or query features.
Clair vs osquery: editorial side-by-side
Clair
2.5INFRA · APIS
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.
osquery
0.0INFRA · APIS
osquery's only tracked entry is a build toolchain update.
◆ Current state
The single entry in osquery's feed is 5.22.0's move to osquery-toolchain 1.2.0, which upgrades LLVM and zlib and lists the Ubuntu and CentOS builds it was tested on. It does not describe any new tables or query features.
◆ Where it's heading
With one entry there is no trend to read. The test matrix, which still includes Ubuntu 16.04 and CentOS 6, shows osquery keeps supporting very old Linux hosts.
◆ Prediction
Unclear from a single build-tooling entry; nothing here signals the next feature release.
Alternatives to Clair and osquery
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 osquery.
Payload CMS
Payload's v4 beta.9 keeps every past image crop and raises the Node floor again.
Nautobot
Nautobot 3.3 alpha 2 adds test helpers and a cable location filter after 3.2.9's token-leak fix.
Shuffle
Shuffle tags builds almost daily, but the notes are empty.
KrakenD
KrakenD's community edition is shipping only dependency bumps.
Velociraptor
Velociraptor's recent releases are mostly about patching CVEs.
See all Clair alternatives → · See all osquery alternatives →
Recent activity from Clair and osquery
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 13h agoClairClair 4.10 RC reads CycloneDX SBOMs for Java matching
- 8mo agoosquery5.22.0: Update osquery-toolchain to 1.2.0 (LLVM 11.0.0, zlib 1.2.13) (#8773)
- 11mo agoClairClair 4.9 moves CVSS data to NVD's 2.0 feeds
- 2y agoClairClair 4.8 replaces Red Hat OVAL data with VEX
- 2y agoClairClair 4.7.4 changes the default layer download location
- 2y agoClairClair 4.7.3 requires TLS 1.2 or newer
- 3y agoClairClair 4.7.2 drops the retired CRDA source
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Clair and osquery?
Both compete on the same themes — open-source — within Infra & APIs. Clair is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 2.5 vs 0.0), 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 osquery?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Clair is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 2.5 vs 0.0), 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 osquery?
Top osquery alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "osquery alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/osquery for the full list with editorial commentary on each.