head to head · open source
CloakBrowser vs VirtualBrowser
CloakBrowser has 31,578 GitHub stars, 2,615 forks, 227 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. VirtualBrowser has 3,113 stars, 487 forks, 14 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. CloakBrowser leads on adoption by 914% (31,578 vs 3,113 stars). CloakBrowser is written in Python under MIT; VirtualBrowser is written in Vue under BSD-3-Clause. CloakBrowser has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, VirtualBrowser 16%. CloakBrowser was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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 | VirtualBrowser | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 32K | ★ 3.1K |
| License | MIT | BSD-3-Clause |
| Written in | Python | Vue |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-07-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.6K | ⑂ 487 |
| 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 VirtualBrowser if
- You want the VirtualBrowser feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches Vue
- You evaluated both and VirtualBrowser 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 VirtualBrowser
VirtualBrowser is a free, open source anti fingerprint browser built on Chromium that runs multiple isolated browser identities on one Windows machine, for people who need to keep accounts and sessions from being linked together.
read the full VirtualBrowser overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is CloakBrowser or VirtualBrowser more popular?
CloakBrowser has 31,578 GitHub stars and VirtualBrowser has 3,113. CloakBrowser has the larger community by that measure.
Are CloakBrowser and VirtualBrowser free?
Both are open source. CloakBrowser is licensed under MIT and VirtualBrowser under BSD-3-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between CloakBrowser and VirtualBrowser?
CloakBrowser is written in Python and VirtualBrowser in Vue. 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 VirtualBrowser?
Choose CloakBrowser if you want the larger community (31,578 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose VirtualBrowser if its feature set, stack or BSD-3-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.