head to head · open source
CloakBrowser vs lcu
CloakBrowser has 31,963 GitHub stars, 2,653 forks, 238 open issues and last shipped today. lcu has 735 stars, 34 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped yesterday. CloakBrowser leads on adoption by 4,249% (31,963 vs 735 stars). CloakBrowser is written in Python under MIT; lcu is written in Python under MIT. CloakBrowser has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, lcu 5%. CloakBrowser was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (browser-automation), 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 | lcu | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 32K | ★ 735 |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-10-08 | 2026-10-07 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.7K | ⑂ 34 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick CloakBrowser if
- You weight community size — 32K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick lcu if
- You want the lcu feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and lcu fits your workflow better
About CloakBrowser
CloakBrowser is a stealth Chromium build for Python and JavaScript teams that need browser automation to survive bot detection systems, aimed at scraping and AI agent engineers who want to replace Playwright or Puppeteer without rewriting their code.
read the full CloakBrowser overview →
About lcu
LCU is a Python tool that exposes Codex's computer use runtime to any agent harness — Claude Code, Codex CLI, Pi, and others — for people who want desktop and browser control without running the Codex app's own agent.
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Frequently asked questions
Is CloakBrowser or lcu more popular?
CloakBrowser has 31,963 GitHub stars and lcu has 735. CloakBrowser has the larger community by that measure.
Are CloakBrowser and lcu free?
Both are open source. CloakBrowser is licensed under MIT and lcu under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between CloakBrowser and lcu?
CloakBrowser is written in Python and lcu in Python. 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 lcu?
Choose CloakBrowser if you want the larger community (31,963 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose lcu if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.