head to head · open source
EasySpider vs x-reader
EasySpider has 44,565 GitHub stars, 5,387 forks, 271 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. x-reader has 962 stars, 93 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped 21 days ago. EasySpider leads on adoption by 4,533% (44,565 vs 962 stars). EasySpider is written in JavaScript under AGPL-3.0; x-reader is written in Python under MIT. EasySpider has attracted 12% as many forks as stars, x-reader 10%. 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 | x-reader | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 45K | ★ 962 |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-08-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 5.4K | ⑂ 93 |
| 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 x-reader if
- You want the x-reader feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and x-reader 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 x-reader
x reader is an MIT licensed Python 3.10+ tool and MCP server that gives AI agents and developers one way to fetch, transcribe, and digest content from more than ten platforms — articles, videos, podcasts, and tweets — returning structured output instead of raw page markup.
read the full x-reader overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is EasySpider or x-reader more popular?
EasySpider has 44,565 GitHub stars and x-reader has 962. EasySpider has the larger community by that measure.
Are EasySpider and x-reader free?
Both are open source. EasySpider is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and x-reader under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between EasySpider and x-reader?
EasySpider is written in JavaScript and x-reader 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, EasySpider or x-reader?
Choose EasySpider if you want the larger community (44,565 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose x-reader if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.