head to head · open source
dots vs icrawler
dots has 32,357 GitHub stars, 4,739 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. icrawler has 934 stars, 181 forks, 31 open issues and last shipped 11 months ago. dots leads on adoption by 3,364% (32,357 vs 934 stars). dots is written in TypeScript under MIT; icrawler is written in Python under MIT. dots has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, icrawler 19%. dots 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
| dots | icrawler | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 32K | ★ 934 |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-10-31 | 2025-12-10 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.7K | ⑂ 181 |
| 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 icrawler if
- You want the icrawler feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and icrawler 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 icrawler
icrawler ======== .. image:: :target: :alt: PyPI Version .. image:: :target: :alt: Anaconda Version .. image:: :alt: Python Version .. image:: :alt: License Introduction Documentation: Try it with pip install icrawler or conda install c hellock icrawler . This package is a mini framework of web crawlers. With modularization design, it is easy to use and extend. It supports media data like images and videos very well, and can also be applied to texts and other type of files. Scrapy is heavy and powerful, while icrawler is tiny and flexible. With this package, you can write a multiple thread crawler easily by…
read the full icrawler overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is dots or icrawler more popular?
dots has 32,357 GitHub stars and icrawler has 934. dots has the larger community by that measure.
Are dots and icrawler free?
Both are open source. dots is licensed under MIT and icrawler under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between dots and icrawler?
dots is written in TypeScript and icrawler 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, dots or icrawler?
Choose dots if you want the larger community (32,357 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose icrawler if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.