head to head · open source
changedetection.io vs reader
changedetection.io has 34,295 GitHub stars, 2,063 forks, 385 open issues and last shipped yesterday. reader has 560 stars, 40 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. changedetection.io leads on adoption by 6,024% (34,295 vs 560 stars). changedetection.io is written in Python under Apache-2.0; reader is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. changedetection.io has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, reader 7%. 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 | reader | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 34K | ★ 560 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-08-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.1K | ⑂ 40 |
| 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 reader if
- You want the reader feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and reader 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 reader
Reader is an Apache 2.0 TypeScript library and hosted service that scrapes, crawls, and drives stealth headless browsers to deliver clean Markdown to AI agents, built for developers who need production grade web access without assembling Puppeteer, stealth plugins, and proxy infrastructure by hand.
read the full reader overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is changedetection.io or reader more popular?
changedetection.io has 34,295 GitHub stars and reader has 560. changedetection.io has the larger community by that measure.
Are changedetection.io and reader free?
Both are open source. changedetection.io is licensed under Apache-2.0 and reader under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between changedetection.io and reader?
changedetection.io is written in Python and reader in TypeScript. 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 reader?
Choose changedetection.io if you want the larger community (34,295 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose reader if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.