head to head · open source
chrome-devtools-mcp vs Mercury
chrome-devtools-mcp has 52,197 GitHub stars, 3,990 forks, 109 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Mercury has 1,541 stars, 42 forks, 92 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. chrome-devtools-mcp leads on adoption by 3,287% (52,197 vs 1,541 stars). chrome-devtools-mcp is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; Mercury is written in JavaScript under MPL-2.0. chrome-devtools-mcp has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, Mercury 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 | Mercury | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 52K | ★ 1.5K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MPL-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-08-09 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.0K | ⑂ 42 |
| 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 Mercury if
- You want the Mercury feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and Mercury 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 Mercury
Mercury is a web browser project in the Firefox ecosystem. It is a fork of Firefox that combines compiler optimizations with patches from Librewolf, Waterfox, Ghostery, and BetterFox. The project describes itself as the Firefox equivalent of Thorium, which is a Chromium fork. Mercury is licensed under MPL 2.0, and its repository topics include browser, privacy, optimization, and Firefox fork.
read the full Mercury overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is chrome-devtools-mcp or Mercury more popular?
chrome-devtools-mcp has 52,197 GitHub stars and Mercury has 1,541. chrome-devtools-mcp has the larger community by that measure.
Are chrome-devtools-mcp and Mercury free?
Both are open source. chrome-devtools-mcp is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Mercury under MPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between chrome-devtools-mcp and Mercury?
chrome-devtools-mcp is written in TypeScript and Mercury in JavaScript. 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 Mercury?
Choose chrome-devtools-mcp if you want the larger community (52,197 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Mercury if its feature set, stack or MPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.