IMO, I really don't see this as "shameless advertisement". As far as I know, there are really only three worthwhile static analysis tools available right now, Radare2(free), Binary Ninja($99-$300), and IDA pro($500-$5000+). Using Radare2 at the beginning can be very daunting if you are new to RE. IDA is so expensive you can really only obtain it legally through your workplace or college/university, or if you're willing to spend a very large sum of money. That really only leaves Binary Ninja.

With that said there is nothing stopping people from starting with radare2 if they wish to, there is a lot of great tutorials for it available online. But in this case the recommendation of using Binary Ninja was one which the author (Nitrax) made because "due to its low cost .. compared to the functionalities provided", the author even further added "A demo version is available for free and should be enough for beginners."

I can understand the insistence on free and open-source software, but a lot of OSS tools in many fields have simply not caught up to their paid counterparts in all aspects. And to me, it feels much like calling someone a shill for saying "Make sure you use a good drill for this" instead of supplying references to a free & open 3D printable drill schematic.

Here's a nice short video where someone (who I think is the same LiveOverflow that commented elsewhere ITT about something else) is using radare2 and python to reverse engineer a CTF challenge binary. https://youtu.be/y69uIxU0eI8

FWIW, I've found the IDA Freeware version to be good enough to learn from. Personally, I couldn't really tell the difference between the freeware version I was using at home, and the PRO version that we were using at school (Although that might've been an old version). https://www.hex-rays.com/products/ida/support/download_freew...

(Hopper is also $99.)

Ah, yeah. I totally forgot about hopper. I've never used it, but it looks nice, especially for Objective C and Swift.

I'm sad that Windows support for Hopper was discontinued.

All I see is a sponsored article to show Binary Ninja as wonderful and talk trash on r2.

And a lack of openness about that fact.