head to head · open source
webtorrent vs Brave
webtorrent has 31,397 GitHub stars, 2,902 forks, 83 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. Brave has 23,659 stars, 3,214 forks, 10,752 open issues and last shipped yesterday. webtorrent leads on adoption by 33% (31,397 vs 23,659 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 | 2026-09-15 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.9K | ⑂ 3.2K |
| 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 is a streaming torrent client written entirely in JavaScript, distributed as a single npm package that runs both in node.js and in the browser. In node.js it behaves as an ordinary torrent client, using TCP and UDP to communicate with other clients. In the browser it uses WebRTC data channels for peer to peer transport, which means it works without browser plugins, extensions, or installations. The project lives in the JavaScript and node.js ecosystem, is licensed under MIT, and has been developed for roughly thirteen years.
read the full webtorrent overview →
About Brave
Brave is a Chromium based web browser for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS, released under the MPL 2.0 licence, and this repository is the project's public issue tracker, release channel, and developer wiki rather than the home of its source code.
read the full Brave overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is webtorrent or Brave more popular?
webtorrent has 31,397 GitHub stars and Brave has 23,659. 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 (31,397 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Brave if its feature set, stack or MPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.