head to head · open source
Lightpanda vs Automatisch
Lightpanda has 35,409 GitHub stars, 1,680 forks, 98 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Automatisch has 13,970 stars, 1,062 forks, 287 open issues and last shipped 7 months ago. Lightpanda leads on adoption by 153% (35,409 vs 13,970 stars). Lightpanda is written in Zig under AGPL-3.0; Automatisch is written in JavaScript under a custom or non-standard licence. Lightpanda has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, Automatisch 8%. 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
| Lightpanda | Automatisch | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 35K | ★ 14K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | Zig | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-02-11 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.7K | ⑂ 1.1K |
| 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 Automatisch if
- You want the Automatisch feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and Automatisch 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 Automatisch
Automatisch is an open source integration platform for workflow automation, positioned as an alternative to Zapier. It lives in the JavaScript, low code, no code, self hosted, and automation ecosystem, and it is categorized under Productivity & Utilities / Automation. The project lets users connect services such as Twitter and Slack so that business processes can be automated without writing code.
read the full Automatisch overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Lightpanda or Automatisch more popular?
Lightpanda has 35,409 GitHub stars and Automatisch has 13,970. Lightpanda has the larger community by that measure.
Are Lightpanda and Automatisch free?
Both are open source. Lightpanda is licensed under AGPL-3.0, and Automatisch has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Lightpanda and Automatisch?
Lightpanda is written in Zig and Automatisch in JavaScript. 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 Automatisch?
Choose Lightpanda if you want the larger community (35,409 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Automatisch if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.