head to head · open source
Bruno vs mcp-context-forge
Bruno has 47,022 GitHub stars, 2,888 forks, 1,831 open issues and last shipped yesterday. mcp-context-forge has 4,487 stars, 870 forks, 912 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Bruno leads on adoption by 948% (47,022 vs 4,487 stars). Bruno is written in JavaScript under MIT; mcp-context-forge is written in Python under Apache-2.0. Bruno has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, mcp-context-forge 19%. mcp-context-forge 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
| Bruno | mcp-context-forge | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 47K | ★ 4.5K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.9K | ⑂ 870 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Bruno if
- You weight community size — 47K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick mcp-context-forge if
- You want the mcp-context-forge feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and mcp-context-forge fits your workflow better
About Bruno
Bruno is a lightweight, open source API client and IDE for exploring and testing APIs, built for developers and teams who want their request collections stored as plain text in a folder on their own filesystem rather than in a vendor's cloud.
read the full Bruno overview →
About mcp-context-forge
ContextForge is an open source AI gateway, registry, and proxy for MCP, A2A, and REST/gRPC services. It sits in front of tools, agents, and APIs, and exposes one endpoint for AI clients. The project lives in the Python developer tools ecosystem, and it is licensed under Apache 2.0.
read the full mcp-context-forge overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Bruno or mcp-context-forge more popular?
Bruno has 47,022 GitHub stars and mcp-context-forge has 4,487. Bruno has the larger community by that measure.
Are Bruno and mcp-context-forge free?
Both are open source. Bruno is licensed under MIT and mcp-context-forge under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Bruno and mcp-context-forge?
Bruno is written in JavaScript and mcp-context-forge 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, Bruno or mcp-context-forge?
Choose Bruno if you want the larger community (47,022 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose mcp-context-forge if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.