head to head · open source
CloakBrowser vs mcp
CloakBrowser has 32,892 GitHub stars, 2,730 forks, 167 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. mcp has 7,360 stars, 606 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. CloakBrowser leads on adoption by 347% (32,892 vs 7,360 stars). CloakBrowser is written in Python under MIT; mcp is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. CloakBrowser has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, mcp 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 (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 | mcp | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 33K | ★ 7.4K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-12 | 2026-11-12 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.7K | ⑂ 606 |
| 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 mcp if
- You want the mcp feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and mcp 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 mcp
Browser MCP Browser MCP lets AI apps (Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, Codex, Claude Desktop…) use your own Chrome: your signed in sites, your profile, in tabs of their own. Everything runs on your computer. Website and docs : browsermcp.io, docs Extension : Chrome Web Store, or build it yourself MCP server : @browsermcp/mcp on npm How it works Each AI app runs the MCP server ( npx @browsermcp/mcp@latest ), a small process that starts one daemon per user and forwards the app's browser tool calls to it. The daemon drives the browser's tabs with Playwright, through the extension: a thin chrome.debugger relay that…
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Frequently asked questions
Is CloakBrowser or mcp more popular?
CloakBrowser has 32,892 GitHub stars and mcp has 7,360. CloakBrowser has the larger community by that measure.
Are CloakBrowser and mcp free?
Both are open source. CloakBrowser is licensed under MIT and mcp under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between CloakBrowser and mcp?
CloakBrowser is written in Python and mcp in TypeScript. 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 mcp?
Choose CloakBrowser if you want the larger community (32,892 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose mcp if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.