head to head · open source
EasySpider vs Lightpanda
EasySpider has 44,571 GitHub stars, 5,385 forks, 271 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. Lightpanda has 35,452 stars, 1,684 forks, 98 open issues and last shipped today. EasySpider leads on adoption by 26% (44,571 vs 35,452 stars). EasySpider is written in JavaScript under AGPL-3.0; Lightpanda is written in Zig under AGPL-3.0. EasySpider has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, Lightpanda 5%. Lightpanda 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 | Lightpanda | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 45K | ★ 35K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Zig |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.4K | ⑂ 1.7K |
| 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 Lightpanda if
- You want the Lightpanda feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Zig
- You evaluated both and Lightpanda 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 Lightpanda
Lightpanda is a headless browser built from scratch in Zig, designed specifically for AI agents and automation tasks. It is not a fork of Chromium or WebKit but a new implementation targeting performance and efficiency in automated web interactions. It lives in the browser automation ecosystem, competing with tools like Puppeteer and Playwright that typically rely on Chromium based headless modes.
read the full Lightpanda overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is EasySpider or Lightpanda more popular?
EasySpider has 44,571 GitHub stars and Lightpanda has 35,452. EasySpider has the larger community by that measure.
Are EasySpider and Lightpanda free?
Both are open source. EasySpider is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Lightpanda under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between EasySpider and Lightpanda?
EasySpider is written in JavaScript and Lightpanda in Zig. 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 Lightpanda?
Choose EasySpider if you want the larger community (44,571 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Lightpanda if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.