head to head · open source
chrome-devtools-mcp vs opal
chrome-devtools-mcp has 54,665 GitHub stars, 5,250 forks, 109 open issues and last shipped yesterday. opal has 4,930 stars, 338 forks, 152 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. chrome-devtools-mcp leads on adoption by 1,009% (54,665 vs 4,930 stars). chrome-devtools-mcp is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; opal is written in Ruby under MIT. chrome-devtools-mcp has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, opal 7%. 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 | opal | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 55K | ★ 4.9K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Ruby |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-09-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.3K | ⑂ 338 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick chrome-devtools-mcp if
- You weight community size — 55K 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 opal if
- You want the opal feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Ruby
- You evaluated both and opal fits your workflow better
About chrome-devtools-mcp
Chrome DevTools for agents Chrome DevTools for agents ( chrome devtools mcp ) lets your coding agent (such as Antigravity, Claude, Cursor or Copilot) control and inspect a live Chrome browser. It acts as a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, giving your AI coding assistant access to the full power of Chrome DevTools for reliable automation, in depth debugging, and performance analysis. A [CLI][cli] is also provided for use without MCP. [Tool reference][tool reference] [Changelog][changelog] [Contributing][contributing] [Troubleshooting][troubleshooting] [Design Principles][design principles] Key features Get…
read the full chrome-devtools-mcp overview →
About opal
Opal Opal is a Ruby to JavaScript source to source compiler, shipping with an implementation of the Ruby corelib and stdlib. Write Ruby, run it anywhere JavaScript runs — the browser, Node.js, Deno, Bun, QuickJS. Why Opal A real Ruby implementation. Opal ships its own corelib and stdlib and is validated against [ruby/spec][ruby spec], the same suite CRuby uses. A JavaScript host imposes limits — those are catalogued in Unsupported Features. Source to source, no runtime interpreter. Ruby compiles to plain JavaScript ahead of time, so there is no VM to download and no interpreter loop at runtime. Two way…
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Frequently asked questions
Is chrome-devtools-mcp or opal more popular?
chrome-devtools-mcp has 54,665 GitHub stars and opal has 4,930. chrome-devtools-mcp has the larger community by that measure.
Are chrome-devtools-mcp and opal free?
Both are open source. chrome-devtools-mcp is licensed under Apache-2.0 and opal under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between chrome-devtools-mcp and opal?
chrome-devtools-mcp is written in TypeScript and opal in Ruby. 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 opal?
Choose chrome-devtools-mcp if you want the larger community (54,665 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose opal if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.