head to head · open source
Lightpanda vs ActivePieces
Lightpanda has 35,409 GitHub stars, 1,680 forks, 98 open issues and last shipped yesterday. ActivePieces has 24,522 stars, 4,201 forks, 573 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Lightpanda leads on adoption by 44% (35,409 vs 24,522 stars). Lightpanda is written in Zig under AGPL-3.0; ActivePieces is written in TypeScript under a custom or non-standard licence. Lightpanda has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, ActivePieces 17%. ActivePieces was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Lightpanda | ActivePieces | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 35K | ★ 25K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | Zig | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.7K | ⑂ 4.2K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Lightpanda if
- You weight community size — 35K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Zig
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick ActivePieces if
- You want the ActivePieces feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and ActivePieces fits your workflow better
About Lightpanda
Lightpanda is a headless browser built from scratch in Zig, designed specifically for AI agents and automation tasks. It is not a fork of Chromium or WebKit but a new implementation targeting performance and efficiency in automated web interactions. It lives in the browser automation ecosystem, competing with tools like Puppeteer and Playwright that typically rely on Chromium based headless modes.
read the full Lightpanda overview →
About ActivePieces
ActivePieces is an open source, TypeScript based no code automation platform for building AI workflows and exposing integrations as MCP servers, aimed at both technical and non technical users who want Zapier style automation while keeping control of their own data.
read the full ActivePieces overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Lightpanda or ActivePieces more popular?
Lightpanda has 35,409 GitHub stars and ActivePieces has 24,522. Lightpanda has the larger community by that measure.
Are Lightpanda and ActivePieces free?
Both are open source. Lightpanda is licensed under AGPL-3.0, and ActivePieces has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Lightpanda and ActivePieces?
Lightpanda is written in Zig and ActivePieces in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Lightpanda or ActivePieces?
Choose Lightpanda if you want the larger community (35,409 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose ActivePieces if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.