head to head · open source
dots vs moli
dots has 32,357 GitHub stars, 4,739 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. moli has 22,228 stars, 611 forks, 126 open issues and last shipped yesterday. dots leads on adoption by 46% (32,357 vs 22,228 stars). dots is written in TypeScript under MIT; moli is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. dots has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, moli 3%. moli was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (ai-agents, 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 | moli | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 32K | ★ 22K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-10-31 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.7K | ⑂ 611 |
| 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 moli if
- You want the moli feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and moli 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 moli
Moli English 简体中文 日本語 Deutsch Français Español Moli is a production ready headless browser for AI agents. Its on demand layout and rendering design combines a complete browser runtime with a lightweight resource footprint. Moli helps your AI agent fetch and extract web pages, search the web, and automate browser tasks. Use it through the CLI, CDP, WebDriver Classic, or WebDriver BiDi. Moli supports Linux, macOS, and Windows. Quick start Give this prompt to your AI agent: Direct installation On Linux or macOS: On Windows, run in PowerShell: Showcase An HTML5 game rendered by Moli and inspected live through Chrome…
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Frequently asked questions
Is dots or moli more popular?
dots has 32,357 GitHub stars and moli has 22,228. dots has the larger community by that measure.
Are dots and moli free?
Both are open source. dots is licensed under MIT and moli under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between dots and moli?
dots is written in TypeScript and moli in Rust. 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 moli?
Choose dots if you want the larger community (32,357 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose moli if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.