head to head · open source
obscura vs database-build
obscura has 30,307 GitHub stars, 2,291 forks, 134 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. database-build has 2,950 stars, 272 forks, 49 open issues and last shipped 5 months ago. obscura leads on adoption by 927% (30,307 vs 2,950 stars). obscura is written in Rust under Apache-2.0; database-build is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. obscura has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, database-build 9%. obscura was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (browser), 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
| obscura | database-build | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 30K | ★ 3.0K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Rust | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-06-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.3K | ⑂ 272 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick obscura if
- You weight community size — 30K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick database-build if
- You want the database-build 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 database-build fits your workflow better
About obscura
Obscura The open source headless browser for AI agents and web scraping. Lightweight, stealthy, and built in Rust. Native rendering is here. No Chromium required. 🎉 Capture screenshots, screencast live pages, and export PDFs directly with Obscura. Obscura is a headless browser engine written in Rust, built for web scraping and AI agent automation. It runs real JavaScript via V8, supports the Chrome DevTools Protocol, and acts as a drop in replacement for headless Chrome with Puppeteer and Playwright. Why Obscura over headless Chrome? Obscura inspired Cloudflare Kitesurf’s first prototype Cloudflare began by…
read the full obscura overview →
About database-build
database.build (formerly postgres.new) In browser Postgres sandbox with AI assistance. With database.build, you can instantly spin up an unlimited number of Postgres databases that run directly in your browser (and soon, deploy them to S3). Each database is paired with a large language model (LLM) which opens the door to some interesting use cases: Drag and drop CSV import (generate table on the fly) Generate and export reports Generate charts Build database diagrams How it works All queries in database.build run directly in your browser. There’s no remote Postgres container or WebSocket proxy. How is this…
read the full database-build overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is obscura or database-build more popular?
obscura has 30,307 GitHub stars and database-build has 2,950. obscura has the larger community by that measure.
Are obscura and database-build free?
Both are open source. obscura is licensed under Apache-2.0 and database-build under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between obscura and database-build?
obscura is written in Rust and database-build 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, obscura or database-build?
Choose obscura if you want the larger community (30,307 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose database-build if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.