head to head · open source
Browser Use vs browser-harness
Browser Use has 115,022 GitHub stars, 12,661 forks, 421 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. browser-harness has 17,653 stars, 1,729 forks, 353 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. Browser Use leads on adoption by 552% (115,022 vs 17,653 stars). Browser Use is written in Python under MIT; browser-harness is written in Python under MIT. Browser Use has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, browser-harness 10%. Browser Use was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (browser-automation, browser-use, llm, playwright), 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
| Browser Use | browser-harness | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 115K | ★ 18K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-15 | 2026-09-12 |
| Forks | ⑂ 13K | ⑂ 1.7K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Browser Use if
- You weight community size — 115K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick browser-harness if
- You want the browser-harness feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and browser-harness fits your workflow better
About Browser Use
Browser Use is an open source Python library and hosted platform that enables AI agents to control web browsers programmatically. It lives in the AI agent and browser automation ecosystem, built on Playwright and designed to let LLMs interact with websites as a human would—clicking, filling forms, solving CAPTCHAs, and navigating dynamic interfaces. The project provides three deployment paths: a fully hosted cloud service, a command line interface for existing agents, and a local Python library for custom integrations.
read the full Browser Use overview →
About browser-harness
Browser Harness is an open source, MIT licensed Python harness that connects an LLM directly to a real browser through one editable CDP websocket, built for developers and agent builders who want a coding agent to carry out browser work end to end.
read the full browser-harness overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Browser Use or browser-harness more popular?
Browser Use has 115,022 GitHub stars and browser-harness has 17,653. Browser Use has the larger community by that measure.
Are Browser Use and browser-harness free?
Both are open source. Browser Use is licensed under MIT and browser-harness under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Browser Use and browser-harness?
Browser Use is written in Python and browser-harness in Python. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Browser Use or browser-harness?
Choose Browser Use if you want the larger community (115,022 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose browser-harness if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.