Registry › Compare › Fence vs OpenShell

Fence vs OpenShell

OpenShell leads on trust: 72.7/100 (Grade B) against 58.2/100 (Grade C), a 14.5-point gap. OpenShell leads on adoption and maintenance, and rests on broader evidence.

C Fence 58.2

Lightweight, container-free sandbox for running commands with network and filesystem restrictions

fencesandbox/fence · #678 overall · #6 Sandboxes & Runtimes · coverage C (2/5)

Fence doesn't lead on any scored dimension in this pair.

B OpenShell 72.7

OpenShell is the safe, private runtime for autonomous AI agents.

NVIDIA/OpenShell · #269 overall · #3 Sandboxes & Runtimes · coverage B (3/5)

Choose OpenShell if adoption and maintenance matter most.

+8.2Adoption: 8.8k GitHub stars against 981
+6.9Maintenance: last push today, against 4d ago
B vs CEvidence coverage: 3 of 5 independent signal types, against 2

Where they differ

12.7

Safety / IntegrityOpenShell +0.4

13.1

14.4

TransparencyFence +0.4

14.0

13.1

MaintenanceOpenShell +6.9

20.0

7.2

AdoptionOpenShell +8.2

15.4

+0.0

Runtime calibrationFence +0.6

-0.6

1 dimension identical: Identity 10.8 · Full evidence table

An independent, evidence-based trust comparison of Fence and OpenShell, two Sandboxes & Runtimes projects in the HVTracker registry. Scores come from public, checkable signals — supply-chain provenance, OSSF Scorecard, maintenance, and adoption — not popularity.

Full evidence

Signal	Fencefencesandbox/fence	OpenShellNVIDIA/OpenShell
HVTrust score	58.2	72.7
Evidence grade	C	B
Coverage grade	C	B
Overall rank	#678	#269
Rank in Sandboxes & Runtimes	#6	#3
GitHub stars	981	8.8k
Last updated	4d ago	today
Build provenance	No	No
OSSF Scorecard	7.0 / 10	6.5 / 10
License	Apache-2.0	Apache-2.0
Downloads	—	29k/wk
Trust dimensions (points earned)
Safety / integrity / 25	12.7	13.1
Identity & provenance / 18	10.8	10.8
Transparency / 17	14.4	14.0
Maintenance / 20	13.1	20.0
Adoption / 20	7.2	15.4
Runtime capability surface (full matrix)
MCP server	—	—
External providers	—	—
Requires API keys	No	No
Plugin surface	—	extensions
Provenance drift	—	Unknown

Open in the live compare tool → Fence profile OpenShell profile More Sandboxes & Runtimes →

How to read this: HVTrust (0–100) weighs supply-chain signals (provenance, OSSF Scorecard, signed commits, open license) alongside real-world adoption, scaled by an evidence-confidence factor. Grade bands: A ≥ 80, B ≥ 65, C ≥ 50, D < 50. Signals refresh daily. Full methodology v4.3 →