head to head · open source
webtorrent vs feathers
webtorrent has 31,397 GitHub stars, 2,902 forks, 83 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. feathers has 15,263 stars, 798 forks, 121 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. webtorrent leads on adoption by 106% (31,397 vs 15,263 stars). webtorrent is written in JavaScript under MIT; feathers is written in TypeScript under MIT. webtorrent has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, feathers 5%. webtorrent was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (browser, javascript, nodejs), 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
| webtorrent | feathers | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 31K | ★ 15K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-15 | 2026-09-11 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.9K | ⑂ 798 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick webtorrent if
- You weight community size — 31K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick feathers if
- You want the feathers feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and feathers fits your workflow better
About webtorrent
WebTorrent is a streaming torrent client written entirely in JavaScript, distributed as a single npm package that runs both in node.js and in the browser. In node.js it behaves as an ordinary torrent client, using TCP and UDP to communicate with other clients. In the browser it uses WebRTC data channels for peer to peer transport, which means it works without browser plugins, extensions, or installations. The project lives in the JavaScript and node.js ecosystem, is licensed under MIT, and has been developed for roughly thirteen years.
read the full webtorrent overview →
About feathers
Feathers is a full stack framework for creating web APIs and real time applications with TypeScript or JavaScript. It lives in the Node.js and npm ecosystem, and it is published as a set of packages, with the core available as @feathersjs/feathers . The project has existed for roughly 15 years and is maintained under the MIT license by its contributors.
read the full feathers overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is webtorrent or feathers more popular?
webtorrent has 31,397 GitHub stars and feathers has 15,263. webtorrent has the larger community by that measure.
Are webtorrent and feathers free?
Both are open source. webtorrent is licensed under MIT and feathers under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between webtorrent and feathers?
webtorrent is written in JavaScript and feathers in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, webtorrent or feathers?
Choose webtorrent if you want the larger community (31,397 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose feathers if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.