head to head · open source
Browser Use vs shepherd
Browser Use has 119,857 GitHub stars, 13,358 forks, 421 open issues and last shipped yesterday. shepherd has 2,503 stars, 219 forks, 12 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. Browser Use leads on adoption by 4,689% (119,857 vs 2,503 stars). Browser Use is written in Python under MIT; shepherd is written in Python under MIT. Browser Use has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, shepherd 9%. 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 | shepherd | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 120K | ★ 2.5K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-09-09 |
| Forks | ⑂ 13K | ⑂ 219 |
| 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 shepherd if
- You want the shepherd feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and shepherd 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 shepherd
Shepherd: Programmable Meta Agents via Reversible Execution Traces [!IMPORTANT] Shepherd is in early alpha and under active development. APIs may still change between releases. Feedback and issues are very welcome! Install Quickstart Permissions Examples Docs Citation Shepherd is a runtime substrate for agent work that needs inspection, reversibility, and supervision. It records agent runs as durable, inspectable execution traces, with retained workspace outputs that can be reviewed before they are selected, applied, released, or discarded. Platforms. Shepherd requires Python 3.11+ . OS level grant enforcement…
read the full shepherd overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Browser Use or shepherd more popular?
Browser Use has 119,857 GitHub stars and shepherd has 2,503. Browser Use has the larger community by that measure.
Are Browser Use and shepherd free?
Both are open source. Browser Use is licensed under MIT and shepherd under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Browser Use and shepherd?
Browser Use is written in Python and shepherd 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 shepherd?
Choose Browser Use if you want the larger community (119,857 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose shepherd if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.