head to head · open source
CloakBrowser vs crw
CloakBrowser has 32,693 GitHub stars, 2,719 forks, 164 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. crw has 1,208 stars, 97 forks, 10 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. CloakBrowser leads on adoption by 2,606% (32,693 vs 1,208 stars). CloakBrowser is written in Python under MIT; crw is written in Rust under AGPL-3.0. CloakBrowser has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, crw 8%. CloakBrowser was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (ai-agents), 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
| CloakBrowser | crw | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 33K | ★ 1.2K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-01 | 2026-10-31 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.7K | ⑂ 97 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick CloakBrowser if
- You weight community size — 33K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick crw if
- You want the crw feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and crw fits your workflow better
About CloakBrowser
Stealth Chromium that passes every bot detection test. Not a patched config. Not a JS injection. A real Chromium binary with fingerprints modified at the C++ source level. Antibot systems score it as a normal browser — because it is a normal browser. Cloudflare Turnstile — 3 live tests passing (headed mode, macOS) Drop in Playwright/Puppeteer replacement for Python and JavaScript. Same API, same code — just swap the import. 3 lines of code, 30 seconds to unblock. 87 source level C++ patches — canvas, WebGL, audio, fonts, GPU, screen, WebRTC, network timing, automation signals, CDP input behavior humanize=True —…
read the full CloakBrowser overview →
About crw
fastCRW Turn URLs into clean markdown or structured JSON with one engine for search, scrape, map, crawl, and extract. Run it locally as a small Rust binary or use the managed API. Get 1000 free credits → · Install · Docs No credit card. Continue with GitHub. One command install Runs local and free, no account needed. To use the Cloud, paste your key into the same command and it installs the binary, connects the key, and registers the MCP server with the AI coding tools you already have: Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Gemini CLI, OpenCode and Windsurf are picked up automatically when they are already set up; nothing…
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Frequently asked questions
Is CloakBrowser or crw more popular?
CloakBrowser has 32,693 GitHub stars and crw has 1,208. CloakBrowser has the larger community by that measure.
Are CloakBrowser and crw free?
Both are open source. CloakBrowser is licensed under MIT and crw under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between CloakBrowser and crw?
CloakBrowser is written in Python and crw 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, CloakBrowser or crw?
Choose CloakBrowser if you want the larger community (32,693 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose crw if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.