head to head · open source
changedetection.io vs CloakBrowser
changedetection.io has 34,295 GitHub stars, 2,063 forks, 385 open issues and last shipped yesterday. CloakBrowser has 31,528 stars, 2,612 forks, 224 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. changedetection.io leads on adoption by 9% (34,295 vs 31,528 stars). changedetection.io is written in Python under Apache-2.0; CloakBrowser is written in Python under MIT. changedetection.io has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, CloakBrowser 8%. changedetection.io 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
| changedetection.io | CloakBrowser | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 34K | ★ 32K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.1K | ⑂ 2.6K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick changedetection.io if
- You weight community size — 34K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick CloakBrowser if
- You want the CloakBrowser feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and CloakBrowser fits your workflow better
About changedetection.io
changedetection.io is an open source website change detection and web page monitoring tool written in Python and released under the Apache 2.0 license. It watches URLs, detects when their content changes, and sends alerts through channels such as Discord, Email, Slack, Telegram, and Webhook. The project lives in the Data & Analytics / Data Extraction & Web Scraping ecosystem, carries more than 34,000 stars and 2,000 forks on GitHub, and has been developed for roughly six years. It is designed to be self hosted, and the same codebase also backs a hosted subscription service offered by the maintainers.…
read the full changedetection.io overview →
About CloakBrowser
CloakBrowser is a stealth Chromium build for Python and JavaScript teams that need browser automation to survive bot detection systems, aimed at scraping and AI agent engineers who want to replace Playwright or Puppeteer without rewriting their code.
read the full CloakBrowser overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is changedetection.io or CloakBrowser more popular?
changedetection.io has 34,295 GitHub stars and CloakBrowser has 31,528. changedetection.io has the larger community by that measure.
Are changedetection.io and CloakBrowser free?
Both are open source. changedetection.io is licensed under Apache-2.0 and CloakBrowser under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between changedetection.io and CloakBrowser?
changedetection.io is written in Python and CloakBrowser 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, changedetection.io or CloakBrowser?
Choose changedetection.io if you want the larger community (34,295 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose CloakBrowser if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.