head to head · open source
Lightpanda vs Automa
Lightpanda has 35,409 GitHub stars, 1,680 forks, 98 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Automa has 21,624 stars, 2,340 forks, 377 open issues and last shipped 7 months ago. Lightpanda leads on adoption by 64% (35,409 vs 21,624 stars). Lightpanda is written in Zig under AGPL-3.0; Automa is written in Vue under a custom or non-standard licence. Lightpanda has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, Automa 11%. Lightpanda was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (browser-automation), 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.
← all 8884 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Lightpanda | Automa | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 35K | ★ 22K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | Zig | Vue |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-03-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.7K | ⑂ 2.3K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Lightpanda if
- You weight community size — 35K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Zig
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Automa if
- You want the Automa feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Vue
- You evaluated both and Automa fits your workflow better
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 →
About Automa
Automa browser extension. Automate browser by connect blocks. Vue project. Chrome and Firefox ecosystem. Problem: repeat browser tasks take time. User make workflow with blocks. No code write. Workflows do form fill, repetitive task, screenshot, scrape website data. Can schedule when automation execute. Marketplace share and download workflow. Automa Chrome Extension Builder make standalone Chrome extension from Automa workflow. Project lives as browser extension, not hosted automation service. The project also lists Chrome and Firefox extension downloads.
read the full Automa overview →
More in Productivity & Utilities
Related comparisons
More Automation projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Automation field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Lightpanda or Automa more popular?
Lightpanda has 35,409 GitHub stars and Automa has 21,624. Lightpanda has the larger community by that measure.
Are Lightpanda and Automa free?
Both are open source. Lightpanda is licensed under AGPL-3.0, and Automa has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Lightpanda and Automa?
Lightpanda is written in Zig and Automa in Vue. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Lightpanda or Automa?
Choose Lightpanda if you want the larger community (35,409 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Automa if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.