head to head · open source
Browser Use vs Windmill
Browser Use has 119,857 GitHub stars, 13,358 forks, 421 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Windmill has 18,360 stars, 1,136 forks, 852 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Browser Use leads on adoption by 553% (119,857 vs 18,360 stars). Browser Use is written in Python under MIT; Windmill is written in Rust under a custom or non-standard licence. Browser Use has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, Windmill 6%. Windmill was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (ai-agents), 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 | Windmill | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 120K | ★ 18K |
| License | MIT | Custom / other |
| Written in | Python | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 13K | ⑂ 1.1K |
| 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 Windmill if
- You want the Windmill feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and Windmill 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 Windmill
Open source developer platform for internal code: APIs, background jobs, workflows and UIs. Self hostable alternative to Retool, Pipedream, Superblocks and a simplified Temporal with autogenerated UIs and custom UIs to trigger workflows and scripts as internal apps. Scripts are turned into sharable UIs automatically, and can be composed together into flows or used into richer apps built with low code. Supported languages: Python, TypeScript, Go, Bash, SQL, GraphQL, PowerShell, Rust, and more. Try it Website Docs Discord Hub Contributing Windmill Developer platform for APIs, background jobs, workflows and UIs…
read the full Windmill overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Browser Use or Windmill more popular?
Browser Use has 119,857 GitHub stars and Windmill has 18,360. Browser Use has the larger community by that measure.
Are Browser Use and Windmill free?
Both are open source. Browser Use is licensed under MIT, and Windmill has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Browser Use and Windmill?
Browser Use is written in Python and Windmill in Rust. 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 Windmill?
Choose Browser Use if you want the larger community (119,857 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Windmill if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.