head to head · open source
cypress vs Hercules
cypress has 51,020 GitHub stars, 3,593 forks, 1,084 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Hercules has 1,210 stars, 202 forks, 39 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. cypress leads on adoption by 4,117% (51,020 vs 1,210 stars). cypress is written in TypeScript under MIT; Hercules is written in Python under AGPL-3.0. cypress has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, Hercules 17%. cypress was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (end-to-end-testing), 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
| cypress | Hercules | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 51K | ★ 1.2K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.6K | ⑂ 202 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick cypress if
- You weight community size — 51K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Hercules if
- You want the Hercules feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and Hercules fits your workflow better
About cypress
Documentation Changelog Roadmap The web has evolved. Finally, testing has too. Fast, easy and reliable testing for anything that runs in a browser. Join us, we're hiring . What is Cypress? Installing Install Cypress for Mac, Linux, or Windows, then get started. or or Contributing develop branch Please see our Contributing Guideline which explains repo organization, linting, testing, and other steps. License This project is licensed under the terms of the MIT license. Badges Configure a badge for your project's README to show your test status or test count in the Cypress Cloud. Or let the world know your project…
read the full cypress overview →
About Hercules
💪 Hercules Testing modern web applications can be difficult, with frequent changes and complex features making it hard to keep up. That's where Hercules comes in. Hercules is the world's first open source testing agent, built to handle the toughest testing tasks so you don't have to. It turns simple, easy to write Gherkin steps into fully automated end to end tests—no coding skills needed. Whether you're working with tricky enterprise platforms or running tests in your CI/CD pipeline, Hercules adapts to your needs and takes care of the details. With Hercules, testing becomes simple, reliable, and efficient…
read the full Hercules overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is cypress or Hercules more popular?
cypress has 51,020 GitHub stars and Hercules has 1,210. cypress has the larger community by that measure.
Are cypress and Hercules free?
Both are open source. cypress is licensed under MIT and Hercules under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between cypress and Hercules?
cypress is written in TypeScript and Hercules in Python. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, cypress or Hercules?
Choose cypress if you want the larger community (51,020 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Hercules if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.