theHarvester vs Cowpatty: Which Kali Linux Tools tool is Best in 2025?

theHarvester is an open-source OSINT (Open-Source Intelligence) tool written in Python, pre-installed on Kali Linux designed for gathering publicly available information about a target domain or company. It collects data such as email addresses, subdomains, virtual hosts, open ports, banners, and employee names from sources like search engines (e.g., DuckDuckGo, Bing), Shodan, and breach databases. With a modular architecture, it supports over 30 data sources, including Censys, VirusTotal, and crt.sh, enabling efficient reconnaissance for penetration testing and cybersecurity research. Features include DNS brute-forcing, API endpoint scanning, screenshot capture, and JSON/XML output for reporting. Maintained by Christian Martorella theHarvester is ideal for ethical hackers and security analysts, offering a lightweight, command-line interface with RESTful API support via restfulHarvest.

Cowpatty is a robust open-source wireless network auditing tool for ethical hacking, seamlessly integrated into Kali Linux (version 2024.06.R1). As a WPA/WPA2-PSK dictionary attack tool for cybersecurity, it performs offline passphrase cracking using captured 4-way handshakes, making it a top choice for wireless password cracking in penetration testing. Developed by Joshua Wright, its 77 KB size and genpmk utility enable efficient attacks on pre-shared key (PSK) networks.