head to head · open source
chrome-devtools-mcp vs thorium
chrome-devtools-mcp has 52,197 GitHub stars, 3,990 forks, 109 open issues and last shipped yesterday. thorium has 7,508 stars, 283 forks, 140 open issues and last shipped 26 days ago. chrome-devtools-mcp leads on adoption by 595% (52,197 vs 7,508 stars). chrome-devtools-mcp is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; thorium is written in C++ under BSD-3-Clause. chrome-devtools-mcp has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, thorium 4%. chrome-devtools-mcp was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (chrome, chrome-devtools), 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 | thorium | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 52K | ★ 7.5K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Written in | TypeScript | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-08-23 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.0K | ⑂ 283 |
| 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 thorium if
- You want the thorium feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and thorium 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 thorium
Thorium is a BSD 3 Clause licensed Chromium fork, written in C++ and named after radioactive element No. 90, that ships optimised Linux builds here while Windows, macOS, Android and Raspberry Pi builds live in companion repositories.
read the full thorium overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is chrome-devtools-mcp or thorium more popular?
chrome-devtools-mcp has 52,197 GitHub stars and thorium has 7,508. chrome-devtools-mcp has the larger community by that measure.
Are chrome-devtools-mcp and thorium free?
Both are open source. chrome-devtools-mcp is licensed under Apache-2.0 and thorium under BSD-3-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between chrome-devtools-mcp and thorium?
chrome-devtools-mcp is written in TypeScript and thorium in C++. 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 thorium?
Choose chrome-devtools-mcp if you want the larger community (52,197 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose thorium if its feature set, stack or BSD-3-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.