head to head · open source
CloakBrowser vs pinchtab
CloakBrowser has 32,712 GitHub stars, 2,720 forks, 164 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. pinchtab has 10,550 stars, 791 forks, 4 open issues and last shipped 9 days ago. CloakBrowser leads on adoption by 210% (32,712 vs 10,550 stars). CloakBrowser is written in Python under MIT; pinchtab is written in Go under MIT. CloakBrowser has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, pinchtab 7%. 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 | pinchtab | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 33K | ★ 11K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-10-27 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.7K | ⑂ 791 |
| 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 pinchtab if
- You want the pinchtab feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and pinchtab 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 pinchtab
PinchTab Browser control for AI agents Small Go binary • HTTP API • Token efficient What is PinchTab? PinchTab is a standalone HTTP server that gives AI agents direct control over Chrome. For day to day local use, the server is typically installed as a user level daemon, allowing agent tools to reuse the same browser control plane running in the background. This installs the control plane server and starts a default headless Chrome instance, ready to accept requests from agents or manual API calls. PinchTab is designed first for local, single user control on a machine you manage. Remote and distributed layouts…
read the full pinchtab overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is CloakBrowser or pinchtab more popular?
CloakBrowser has 32,712 GitHub stars and pinchtab has 10,550. CloakBrowser has the larger community by that measure.
Are CloakBrowser and pinchtab free?
Both are open source. CloakBrowser is licensed under MIT and pinchtab under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between CloakBrowser and pinchtab?
CloakBrowser is written in Python and pinchtab in Go. 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 pinchtab?
Choose CloakBrowser if you want the larger community (32,712 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose pinchtab if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.