head to head · open source
EasySpider vs ArrowDL
EasySpider has 44,565 GitHub stars, 5,387 forks, 271 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. ArrowDL has 851 stars, 41 forks, 7 open issues and last shipped 5 months ago. EasySpider leads on adoption by 5,137% (44,565 vs 851 stars). EasySpider is written in JavaScript under AGPL-3.0; ArrowDL is written in C++ under LGPL-3.0. EasySpider has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, ArrowDL 5%. EasySpider was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (crawler), 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
| EasySpider | ArrowDL | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 45K | ★ 851 |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | LGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-05-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.4K | ⑂ 41 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick EasySpider if
- You weight community size — 45K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick ArrowDL if
- You want the ArrowDL feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the LGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and ArrowDL fits your workflow better
About EasySpider
EasySpider is a visual, code free web crawler and browser automation tool distributed on GitHub under the AGPL 3.0 license. It is written in JavaScript as a graphical application and lives in the web scraping and data extraction ecosystem, sitting alongside browser automation testing tools. It also carries the alias ServiceWrapper, described as an intelligent service encapsulation system for web applications. Development spans roughly six years, with the latest push recorded in September 2026.
read the full EasySpider overview →
About ArrowDL
ArrowDL (Arrow Downloader) is a free, open source, standalone download manager for Windows, macOS and Linux, built in C++ with the Qt framework and aimed at anyone who needs to capture, queue and batch download files, media streams and torrents without depending on a browser's built in downloader.
read the full ArrowDL overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is EasySpider or ArrowDL more popular?
EasySpider has 44,565 GitHub stars and ArrowDL has 851. EasySpider has the larger community by that measure.
Are EasySpider and ArrowDL free?
Both are open source. EasySpider is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and ArrowDL under LGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between EasySpider and ArrowDL?
EasySpider is written in JavaScript and ArrowDL in C++. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, EasySpider or ArrowDL?
Choose EasySpider if you want the larger community (44,565 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose ArrowDL if its feature set, stack or LGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.