head to head · open source
Browser Use vs webmagic
Browser Use has 119,977 GitHub stars, 13,371 forks, 421 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. webmagic has 11,672 stars, 4,085 forks, 367 open issues and last shipped 11 months ago. Browser Use leads on adoption by 928% (119,977 vs 11,672 stars). Browser Use is written in Python under MIT; webmagic is written in Java under Apache-2.0. Browser Use has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, webmagic 35%. 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 | webmagic | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 120K | ★ 12K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2025-12-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 13K | ⑂ 4.1K |
| 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 webmagic if
- You want the webmagic feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and webmagic 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 webmagic
Readme in Chinese A scalable crawler framework. It covers the whole lifecycle of crawler: downloading, url management, content extraction and persistent. It can simplify the development of a specific crawler. Features: Simple core with high flexibility. Simple API for html extracting. Annotation with POJO to customize a crawler, no configuration. Multi thread and Distribution support. Easy to be integrated. Install: Add dependencies to your pom.xml: WebMagic use slf4j with slf4j log4j12 implementation. If you customized your slf4j implementation, please exclude slf4j log4j12. Get Started: First crawler: Write a…
read the full webmagic overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Browser Use or webmagic more popular?
Browser Use has 119,977 GitHub stars and webmagic has 11,672. Browser Use has the larger community by that measure.
Are Browser Use and webmagic free?
Both are open source. Browser Use is licensed under MIT and webmagic under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Browser Use and webmagic?
Browser Use is written in Python and webmagic in Java. 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 webmagic?
Choose Browser Use if you want the larger community (119,977 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose webmagic if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.