head to head · open source
chrome-devtools-mcp vs extism
chrome-devtools-mcp has 52,222 GitHub stars, 4,037 forks, 109 open issues and last shipped today. extism has 5,764 stars, 168 forks, 54 open issues and last shipped 16 days ago. chrome-devtools-mcp leads on adoption by 806% (52,222 vs 5,764 stars). chrome-devtools-mcp is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; extism is written in Rust under BSD-3-Clause. chrome-devtools-mcp has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, extism 3%. chrome-devtools-mcp was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (browser), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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
| chrome-devtools-mcp | extism | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 52K | ★ 5.8K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Written in | TypeScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.0K | ⑂ 168 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick chrome-devtools-mcp if
- You weight community size — 52K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick extism if
- You want the extism feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and extism fits your workflow better
About chrome-devtools-mcp
chrome devtools mcp is an Apache 2.0 TypeScript Model Context Protocol server, distributed on npm, that gives coding agents such as Claude, Cursor, Copilot and Antigravity control over and visibility into a live Chrome browser through the full Chrome DevTools toolset.
read the full chrome-devtools-mcp overview →
About extism
Extism is a lightweight, BSD 3 Clause licensed framework for running WebAssembly (Wasm) inside your own application, aimed at developers who want to make software extensible with untrusted, user supplied plug in code across servers, the edge, CLIs, IoT devices, and browsers.
read the full extism overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is chrome-devtools-mcp or extism more popular?
chrome-devtools-mcp has 52,222 GitHub stars and extism has 5,764. chrome-devtools-mcp has the larger community by that measure.
Are chrome-devtools-mcp and extism free?
Both are open source. chrome-devtools-mcp is licensed under Apache-2.0 and extism under BSD-3-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between chrome-devtools-mcp and extism?
chrome-devtools-mcp is written in TypeScript and extism in Rust. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, chrome-devtools-mcp or extism?
Choose chrome-devtools-mcp if you want the larger community (52,222 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose extism if its feature set, stack or BSD-3-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.