head to head · open source
Browser Use vs fess
Browser Use has 119,977 GitHub stars, 13,371 forks, 421 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. fess has 1,142 stars, 177 forks, 15 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Browser Use leads on adoption by 10,406% (119,977 vs 1,142 stars). Browser Use is written in Python under MIT; fess is written in Java under Apache-2.0. Browser Use has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, fess 15%. fess was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (llm, mcp), 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Browser Use | fess | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 120K | ★ 1.1K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 13K | ⑂ 177 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Browser Use if
- You weight community size — 120K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick fess if
- You want the fess feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and fess fits your workflow better
About Browser Use
Navigate the web like a human does. Find an available slot, pick a date and time, handle the CAPTCHA, and book a driving test. Explore more demos and prompts ↗ Which Browser Use do I need? Path 1: Fully Hosted Cloud: Scale up with a fully hosted agent and browser. Path 2: CLI: Automate your own browser tasks. Path 3: Python Library: Run the open source Browser Use agent locally from your own code. Quickstart Path 1: Fully Hosted Cloud Scale browser automation with our hosted agent, stealth browsers, and infrastructure for profiles, recordings, and data policies. Get started with the API ↗ New Google, GitHub, or…
read the full Browser Use overview →
About fess
Fess: Enterprise Search Server Overview Fess is an enterprise search server that you can install and run on any platform with a Java runtime. It is built on OpenSearch, but prior OpenSearch knowledge is not required: Fess is configured through a browser based administration UI. A built in crawler collects documents from web sites, file systems, and data stores such as databases and CSV files. Many file formats are supported, including Microsoft Office, PDF, and ZIP archives. Fess Site Search is a free alternative to Google Site Search that you can embed in your own website. For details, see the FSS JS Generator…
More in Data & Analytics
Related comparisons
More Data Extraction & Web Scraping projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Data Extraction & Web Scraping field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Browser Use or fess more popular?
Browser Use has 119,977 GitHub stars and fess has 1,142. Browser Use has the larger community by that measure.
Are Browser Use and fess free?
Both are open source. Browser Use is licensed under MIT and fess under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Browser Use and fess?
Browser Use is written in Python and fess in Java. 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 fess?
Choose Browser Use if you want the larger community (119,977 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose fess if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.