head to head · open source
changedetection.io vs ferret
changedetection.io has 34,295 GitHub stars, 2,063 forks, 385 open issues and last shipped yesterday. ferret has 6,011 stars, 324 forks, 12 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. changedetection.io leads on adoption by 471% (34,295 vs 6,011 stars). changedetection.io is written in Python under Apache-2.0; ferret is written in Go under Apache-2.0. changedetection.io has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, ferret 5%. 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 | ferret | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 34K | ★ 6.0K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.1K | ⑂ 324 |
| 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 ferret if
- You want the ferret feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and ferret 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 ferret
Ferret is a declarative data automation language and embeddable Go runtime for structured extraction workflows, built for Go developers who need to query, transform, and synchronize structured data across browsers, APIs, databases, and documents from inside their own applications.
read the full ferret overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is changedetection.io or ferret more popular?
changedetection.io has 34,295 GitHub stars and ferret has 6,011. changedetection.io has the larger community by that measure.
Are changedetection.io and ferret free?
Both are open source. changedetection.io is licensed under Apache-2.0 and ferret under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between changedetection.io and ferret?
changedetection.io is written in Python and ferret in Go. 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 ferret?
Choose changedetection.io if you want the larger community (34,295 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose ferret if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.