head to head · open source
CloakBrowser vs Mink
CloakBrowser has 31,857 GitHub stars, 2,647 forks, 238 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. Mink has 1,608 stars, 286 forks, 79 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. CloakBrowser leads on adoption by 1,881% (31,857 vs 1,608 stars). CloakBrowser is written in Python under MIT; Mink is written in PHP under MIT. CloakBrowser has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, Mink 18%. 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 | Mink | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 32K | ★ 1.6K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Python | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-09-29 | 2026-09-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.6K | ⑂ 286 |
| 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 Mink if
- You want the Mink feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You evaluated both and Mink 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 Mink
Mink is a PHP library that gives developers a single, driver agnostic interface for driving and interrogating web pages through interchangeable browser emulation sessions, aimed at PHP teams writing tests and scraping workflows.
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Frequently asked questions
Is CloakBrowser or Mink more popular?
CloakBrowser has 31,857 GitHub stars and Mink has 1,608. CloakBrowser has the larger community by that measure.
Are CloakBrowser and Mink free?
Both are open source. CloakBrowser is licensed under MIT and Mink under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between CloakBrowser and Mink?
CloakBrowser is written in Python and Mink in PHP. 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 Mink?
Choose CloakBrowser if you want the larger community (31,857 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Mink if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.