head to head · open source
dots vs ferret
dots has 32,357 GitHub stars, 4,739 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. ferret has 6,020 stars, 325 forks, 12 open issues and last shipped yesterday. dots leads on adoption by 437% (32,357 vs 6,020 stars). dots is written in TypeScript under MIT; ferret is written in Go under Apache-2.0. dots has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, ferret 5%. ferret 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
| dots | ferret | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 32K | ★ 6.0K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-10-31 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.7K | ⑂ 325 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick dots if
- You weight community size — 32K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick ferret if
- You want the ferret feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and ferret fits your workflow better
About dots
dots Every AI agent is a model and a browser. You can swap the model with one flag. The browser is what the website sees. Windows, in PowerShell: Linux: Then open The conversation on the left, the browser on the right, live. It all comes down to the browser When a web agent fails, the model is rarely why. The page never loaded, a challenge appeared, the login expired, the click did not land. All of that happens in the browser, before the model gets to think. So dots is built around one: A real Firefox engine, patched in C++. The fingerprint is decided inside the engine, not painted over with JavaScript that a…
About ferret
Ferret Try it! Docs CLI Test runner Web worker Explore Ferret v2 Ferret v2 is currently in alpha. You can try the new syntax in the playground and read more about the design behind the new runtime and language capabilities: Try Ferret v2 in the Playground On the Road to Ferret v2 Inside Ferret v2: The New Execution Model Inside Ferret v2: New Language Capabilities Notice: This branch contains the upcoming Ferret v2 . For the stable v1 release, please visit Ferret v1. What is it? Ferret is a declarative first, expression oriented embedded language and runtime for data automation. FQL combines querying…
read the full ferret overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is dots or ferret more popular?
dots has 32,357 GitHub stars and ferret has 6,020. dots has the larger community by that measure.
Are dots and ferret free?
Both are open source. dots is licensed under MIT and ferret under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between dots and ferret?
dots is written in TypeScript and ferret 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, dots or ferret?
Choose dots if you want the larger community (32,357 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose ferret if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.