head to head · open source
EasySpider vs httpcloak
EasySpider has 44,565 GitHub stars, 5,387 forks, 271 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. httpcloak has 1,306 stars, 94 forks, 12 open issues and last shipped 17 days ago. EasySpider leads on adoption by 3,312% (44,565 vs 1,306 stars). EasySpider is written in JavaScript under AGPL-3.0; httpcloak is written in Go under MIT. EasySpider has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, httpcloak 7%. EasySpider 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
| EasySpider | httpcloak | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 45K | ★ 1.3K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.4K | ⑂ 94 |
| 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 httpcloak if
- You want the httpcloak feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and httpcloak 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 httpcloak
httpcloak is an MIT licensed Go HTTP client that makes outgoing requests identical to Chrome, Firefox, or Safari at the TLS, HTTP/2, HTTP/3, and header layers, and it is aimed at Go, Python, Node.js, and C developers who scrape or integrate with sites that block clients on transport fingerprint rather than on User Agent.
read the full httpcloak overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is EasySpider or httpcloak more popular?
EasySpider has 44,565 GitHub stars and httpcloak has 1,306. EasySpider has the larger community by that measure.
Are EasySpider and httpcloak free?
Both are open source. EasySpider is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and httpcloak under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between EasySpider and httpcloak?
EasySpider is written in JavaScript and httpcloak in Go. 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 httpcloak?
Choose EasySpider if you want the larger community (44,565 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose httpcloak if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.