head to head · open source
changedetection.io vs fscrawler
changedetection.io has 34,312 GitHub stars, 2,064 forks, 385 open issues and last shipped today. fscrawler has 1,452 stars, 307 forks, 87 open issues and last shipped today. changedetection.io leads on adoption by 2,263% (34,312 vs 1,452 stars). changedetection.io is written in Python under Apache-2.0; fscrawler is written in Java under Apache-2.0. changedetection.io has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, fscrawler 21%. fscrawler 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 | fscrawler | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 34K | ★ 1.5K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.1K | ⑂ 307 |
| 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 fscrawler if
- You want the fscrawler 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 fscrawler 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 fscrawler
File System Crawler for Elasticsearch Welcome to FSCrawler for Elasticsearch This crawler helps to index binary documents such as PDF, Open Office, MS Office. Main features : Local file system (or a mounted drive) crawling and index new files, update existing ones and removes old ones. Remote file system over SSH/FTP crawling. REST interface to let you "upload" your binary documents to elasticsearch. Latest versions Current versions are: Quick start Run Elasticsearch with start local : Run FSCrawler with Docker: Then open Kibana and watch for your documents coming to the fscrawler alias: Or search for some text: …
read the full fscrawler overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is changedetection.io or fscrawler more popular?
changedetection.io has 34,312 GitHub stars and fscrawler has 1,452. changedetection.io has the larger community by that measure.
Are changedetection.io and fscrawler free?
Both are open source. changedetection.io is licensed under Apache-2.0 and fscrawler under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between changedetection.io and fscrawler?
changedetection.io is written in Python and fscrawler 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, changedetection.io or fscrawler?
Choose changedetection.io if you want the larger community (34,312 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose fscrawler if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.