head to head · open source
webtorrent vs Brave
webtorrent has 31,465 GitHub stars, 2,852 forks, 83 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. Brave has 24,079 stars, 3,263 forks, 10,752 open issues and last shipped yesterday. webtorrent leads on adoption by 31% (31,465 vs 24,079 stars). webtorrent is written in JavaScript under MIT; Brave is written in various languages under MPL-2.0. webtorrent has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, Brave 14%. Brave was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (browser), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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
| webtorrent | Brave | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 31K | ★ 24K |
| License | MIT | MPL-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | — |
| Last push | 2026-10-31 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.9K | ⑂ 3.3K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick webtorrent if
- You weight community size — 31K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Brave if
- You want the Brave feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MPL-2.0 license terms
- You evaluated both and Brave fits your workflow better
About webtorrent
WebTorrent The streaming torrent client. For node.js and the web. Sponsored by WebTorrent is a streaming torrent client for node.js and the browser . YEP, THAT'S RIGHT. THE BROWSER. It's written completely in JavaScript – the language of the web – so the same code works in both runtimes. In node.js, this module is a simple torrent client, using TCP and UDP to talk to other torrent clients. In the browser, WebTorrent uses WebRTC (data channels) for peer to peer transport. It can be used without browser plugins, extensions, or installations. It's Just JavaScript™. Note: WebTorrent does not support UDP/TCP peers in…
read the full webtorrent overview →
About Brave
Brave Browser This repository is not needed for building the browser and only holds issues, releases and the wiki. The source code and contributions are at You can visit our website to get the latest stable release. Resources Issues: Bug reports and feature requests for the Brave Browser. Releases: Releases of Brave Browser hosted on GitHub. See Brave Release Schedule for more information. Wiki: Documentation for developers, administrators, and power users. User facing documentation is available at the Brave help center. Documentation and guides: Additional technical information, primarily for developers…
read the full Brave overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is webtorrent or Brave more popular?
webtorrent has 31,465 GitHub stars and Brave has 24,079. webtorrent has the larger community by that measure.
Are webtorrent and Brave free?
Both are open source. webtorrent is licensed under MIT and Brave under MPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between webtorrent and Brave?
webtorrent is written in JavaScript and Brave in various languages. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, webtorrent or Brave?
Choose webtorrent if you want the larger community (31,465 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Brave if its feature set, stack or MPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.