head to head · open source
Browser Use vs open-claude-cowork
Browser Use has 114,959 GitHub stars, 12,651 forks, 421 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. open-claude-cowork has 4,359 stars, 735 forks, 15 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. Browser Use leads on adoption by 2,537% (114,959 vs 4,359 stars). Browser Use is written in Python under MIT; open-claude-cowork is written in JavaScript under MIT. Browser Use has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, open-claude-cowork 17%. Browser Use 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
| Browser Use | open-claude-cowork | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 115K | ★ 4.4K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Python | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-15 | 2026-05-23 |
| Forks | ⑂ 13K | ⑂ 735 |
| 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 open-claude-cowork if
- You want the open-claude-cowork feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and open-claude-cowork 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 open-claude-cowork
Open Claude Cowork is an open source JavaScript desktop chat application in the Electron, Node.js, and Anthropic Claude ecosystem. It uses the Claude Agent SDK, Composio Tool Router, and MCP, and includes Secure Clawdbot for messaging platforms.
read the full open-claude-cowork overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Browser Use or open-claude-cowork more popular?
Browser Use has 114,959 GitHub stars and open-claude-cowork has 4,359. Browser Use has the larger community by that measure.
Are Browser Use and open-claude-cowork free?
Both are open source. Browser Use is licensed under MIT and open-claude-cowork under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Browser Use and open-claude-cowork?
Browser Use is written in Python and open-claude-cowork in JavaScript. 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 open-claude-cowork?
Choose Browser Use if you want the larger community (114,959 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose open-claude-cowork if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.