head to head · open source
Browser Use vs ShardBrowser
Browser Use has 121,050 GitHub stars, 13,537 forks, 421 open issues and last shipped today. ShardBrowser has 1,523 stars, 182 forks, 22 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. Browser Use leads on adoption by 7,848% (121,050 vs 1,523 stars). Browser Use is written in Python under MIT; ShardBrowser is written in TypeScript under MIT. Browser Use has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, ShardBrowser 12%. Browser Use was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (ai-agents, headless-browser, 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 | ShardBrowser | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 121K | ★ 1.5K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-15 | 2026-11-10 |
| Forks | ⑂ 14K | ⑂ 182 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Browser Use if
- You weight community size — 121K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick ShardBrowser if
- You want the ShardBrowser feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and ShardBrowser 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 ShardBrowser
ShardBrowser Launcher A free, open source anti detect browser launcher for web scraping and multi accounting. Patched Chromium 157 with engine level fingerprint spoofing, a local API, an MCP server and SDKs. Website: shardbrowser.com Overview · Features · Screenshots · Comparison · Install · Usage ShardBrowser is built by the ShardX team (formerly ProxyShard). ProxyShard provides full SOCKS5 UDP relay support (RFC 1928 §7) and active p0f TCP fingerprint spoofing at the proxy exit. This keeps the operating system presented by the proxy consistent with the SYN/ACK shape seen by websites. ShardBrowser is the anti…
read the full ShardBrowser overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Browser Use or ShardBrowser more popular?
Browser Use has 121,050 GitHub stars and ShardBrowser has 1,523. Browser Use has the larger community by that measure.
Are Browser Use and ShardBrowser free?
Both are open source. Browser Use is licensed under MIT and ShardBrowser under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Browser Use and ShardBrowser?
Browser Use is written in Python and ShardBrowser in TypeScript. 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 ShardBrowser?
Choose Browser Use if you want the larger community (121,050 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose ShardBrowser if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.