---
title: "OpenVM"
description: "OpenVM: Modular zkVM framework. Kind: Modular zkVM framework. Arithmetisation / backend: Plonky3 AIR, chip extensions. Setup: Wrapper only."
type: "option"
url: "https://zkpick.com/frameworks/openvm/"
section: "02 Choosing a framework"
authors:
  - "MarketComp"
publisher: "MarketComp"
version: "1.3"
updated: "2026-09-12"
license: "CC-BY-4.0"
json: "https://zkpick.com/data/frameworks/openvm.json"
---

*By MarketComp. Updated 2026-09-12. Version 1.3. CC BY 4.0.*

# OpenVM — *Modular zkVM framework*

> OpenVM: Modular zkVM framework. Kind: Modular zkVM framework. Arithmetisation / backend: Plonky3 AIR, chip extensions. Setup: Wrapper only. Maintained by: Axiom. Licence: MIT / Apache-2.0. Status: Production-recommended; externally audited. Choose it when: Teams needing custom instructions, domain-specific precompiles, or an application-specific VM, who want to build on an audited modular base rather than fork a monolithic zkVM.

A zkVM framework with a no-CPU architecture: rather than one central processing chip, functionality is composed of independent chips and extensions, so custom instructions and precompiles can be added without forking the core.

**Strengths**

- The strongest extensibility story — custom chips and ISA extensions are a first-class mechanism, not a fork
- Explicit production recommendation backed by audit evidence, including an external audit and a public audit competition, alongside its own formal-verification work over the RISC-V instruction set
- Built on a widely shared proving substrate

**Tradeoffs**

- Modularity increases the configuration surface: your deployed security depends on which extensions you enable, so an audit of upstream does not fully cover your instantiation
- A critical soundness bug in an optimised pairing routine was assigned a CVE and fixed upstream — evidence the extension surface is where risk concentrates
- Younger than the two longest-running RISC-V zkVMs

**Choose it when:** Teams needing custom instructions, domain-specific precompiles, or an application-specific VM, who want to build on an audited modular base rather than fork a monolithic zkVM.

Maintained by: Axiom · Maturity: Production-recommended; externally audited · License: MIT / Apache-2.0 · Source: https://github.com/openvm-org/openvm

**In the framework selection matrix** (https://zkpick.com/frameworks/#frameworks-matrix-openvm)

| Project | Kind | Arithmetisation / backend | Setup | Maintained by | Licence | Status |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| OpenVM | Modular zkVM framework | Plonky3 AIR, chip extensions | Wrapper only | Axiom | MIT / Apache-2.0 | Production-recommended; externally audited |