head to head · open source
dots vs PHPScraper
dots has 32,357 GitHub stars, 4,739 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. PHPScraper has 588 stars, 74 forks, 28 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. dots leads on adoption by 5,403% (32,357 vs 588 stars). dots is written in TypeScript under MIT; PHPScraper is written in PHP under GPL-3.0. dots has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, PHPScraper 13%. 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 | PHPScraper | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 32K | ★ 588 |
| License | MIT | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-10-31 | 2026-09-08 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.7K | ⑂ 74 |
| 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 PHPScraper if
- You want the PHPScraper feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You evaluated both and PHPScraper 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 PHPScraper
For full documentation, visit phpscraper.de . PHPScraper is a versatile web utility for PHP. Its primary objective is to streamline the process of extracting information from websites, allowing you to focus on accomplishing tasks without getting caught up in the complexities of selectors, data structure preparation, and conversion. Under the hood, it uses BrowserKit (formerly Goutte) to access the web League/URI to process URLs donatello za/rake php plus to extract and analyze keywords See composer.json for more details. :timer clock: PHPScraper in 5 Minutes explained Here are a few impressions of the way the…
read the full PHPScraper overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is dots or PHPScraper more popular?
dots has 32,357 GitHub stars and PHPScraper has 588. dots has the larger community by that measure.
Are dots and PHPScraper free?
Both are open source. dots is licensed under MIT and PHPScraper under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between dots and PHPScraper?
dots is written in TypeScript and PHPScraper in PHP. 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 PHPScraper?
Choose dots if you want the larger community (32,357 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose PHPScraper if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.