head to head · open source
dots vs mcp
dots has 32,514 GitHub stars, 4,754 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped yesterday. mcp has 7,355 stars, 606 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. dots leads on adoption by 342% (32,514 vs 7,355 stars). dots is written in Python under MIT; mcp is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. dots has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, mcp 8%. dots 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 | mcp | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 33K | ★ 7.4K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-13 | 2026-11-12 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.8K | ⑂ 606 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick dots if
- You weight community size — 33K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick mcp if
- You want the mcp 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 mcp 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 mcp
Browser MCP Browser MCP lets AI apps (Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, Codex, Claude Desktop…) use your own Chrome: your signed in sites, your profile, in tabs of their own. Everything runs on your computer. Website and docs : browsermcp.io, docs Extension : Chrome Web Store, or build it yourself MCP server : @browsermcp/mcp on npm How it works Each AI app runs the MCP server ( npx @browsermcp/mcp@latest ), a small process that starts one daemon per user and forwards the app's browser tool calls to it. The daemon drives the browser's tabs with Playwright, through the extension: a thin chrome.debugger relay that…
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Frequently asked questions
Is dots or mcp more popular?
dots has 32,514 GitHub stars and mcp has 7,355. dots has the larger community by that measure.
Are dots and mcp free?
Both are open source. dots is licensed under MIT and mcp under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between dots and mcp?
dots is written in Python and mcp 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, dots or mcp?
Choose dots if you want the larger community (32,514 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose mcp if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.