head to head · open source
Browser Use vs shepherd
Browser Use has 115,022 GitHub stars, 12,661 forks, 421 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. shepherd has 2,430 stars, 210 forks, 12 open issues and last shipped 9 days ago. Browser Use leads on adoption by 4,633% (115,022 vs 2,430 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 | ★ 115K | ★ 2.4K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-15 | 2026-09-09 |
| Forks | ⑂ 13K | ⑂ 210 |
| 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 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
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 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 is…
read the full shepherd overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Browser Use or shepherd more popular?
Browser Use has 115,022 GitHub stars and shepherd has 2,430. 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 (115,022 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose shepherd if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.