head to head · open source
CloakBrowser vs scout
CloakBrowser has 32,212 GitHub stars, 2,689 forks, 247 open issues and last shipped yesterday. scout has 693 stars, 23 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped today. CloakBrowser leads on adoption by 4,548% (32,212 vs 693 stars). CloakBrowser is written in Python under MIT; scout is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. CloakBrowser has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, scout 3%. scout 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 | scout | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 32K | ★ 693 |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-14 | 2026-10-15 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.7K | ⑂ 23 |
| 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 scout if
- You want the scout 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 scout 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 scout
Scout is an open source browser agent from Outcrawl that takes a task written in plain language, opens a real browser, works through the page until the job is done, and hands back the answer.
read the full scout overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is CloakBrowser or scout more popular?
CloakBrowser has 32,212 GitHub stars and scout has 693. CloakBrowser has the larger community by that measure.
Are CloakBrowser and scout free?
Both are open source. CloakBrowser is licensed under MIT and scout under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between CloakBrowser and scout?
CloakBrowser is written in Python and scout 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 scout?
Choose CloakBrowser if you want the larger community (32,212 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose scout if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.