head to head · open source
dots vs workflow-use
dots has 32,382 GitHub stars, 4,744 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped yesterday. workflow-use has 4,247 stars, 356 forks, 61 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. dots leads on adoption by 662% (32,382 vs 4,247 stars). dots is written in Python under MIT; workflow-use is written in Python under AGPL-3.0. dots has attracted 15% as many forks as stars, workflow-use 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 | workflow-use | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 32K | ★ 4.2K |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-07 | 2026-11-06 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.7K | ⑂ 356 |
| 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 Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick workflow-use if
- You want the workflow-use feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and workflow-use 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 workflow-use
Deterministic, Self Healing Workflows (RPA 2.0) ⚙️ Workflow Use is the easiest way to create and execute deterministic workflows with variables which fallback to Browser Use if a step fails. You just show the recorder the workflow, we automatically generate the workflow. ❗ This project is in very early development so we don't recommend using this in production. Lots of things will change and we don't have a release schedule yet. Originally, the project was born out of customer demand to make Browser Use more reliable and deterministic. 🚀 NEW: Generation Mode Automatically generate workflows from natural…
read the full workflow-use overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is dots or workflow-use more popular?
dots has 32,382 GitHub stars and workflow-use has 4,247. dots has the larger community by that measure.
Are dots and workflow-use free?
Both are open source. dots is licensed under MIT and workflow-use under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between dots and workflow-use?
dots is written in Python and workflow-use 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 workflow-use?
Choose dots if you want the larger community (32,382 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose workflow-use if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.