head to head · open source
Browser Use vs pinchtab
Browser Use has 119,977 GitHub stars, 13,371 forks, 421 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. pinchtab has 10,550 stars, 791 forks, 4 open issues and last shipped 9 days ago. Browser Use leads on adoption by 1,037% (119,977 vs 10,550 stars). Browser Use is written in Python under MIT; pinchtab is written in Go under MIT. Browser Use has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, pinchtab 7%. Browser Use was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (browser-automation, cdp), 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 | pinchtab | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 120K | ★ 11K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-27 |
| Forks | ⑂ 13K | ⑂ 791 |
| 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 pinchtab if
- You want the pinchtab feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and pinchtab 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 pinchtab
PinchTab Browser control for AI agents Small Go binary • HTTP API • Token efficient What is PinchTab? PinchTab is a standalone HTTP server that gives AI agents direct control over Chrome. For day to day local use, the server is typically installed as a user level daemon, allowing agent tools to reuse the same browser control plane running in the background. This installs the control plane server and starts a default headless Chrome instance, ready to accept requests from agents or manual API calls. PinchTab is designed first for local, single user control on a machine you manage. Remote and distributed layouts…
read the full pinchtab overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Browser Use or pinchtab more popular?
Browser Use has 119,977 GitHub stars and pinchtab has 10,550. Browser Use has the larger community by that measure.
Are Browser Use and pinchtab free?
Both are open source. Browser Use is licensed under MIT and pinchtab under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Browser Use and pinchtab?
Browser Use is written in Python and pinchtab in Go. 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 pinchtab?
Choose Browser Use if you want the larger community (119,977 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose pinchtab if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.