head to head · open source
Lightpanda vs Ethora
Lightpanda has 35,409 GitHub stars, 1,680 forks, 98 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Ethora has 545 stars, 111 forks, 2 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Lightpanda leads on adoption by 6,397% (35,409 vs 545 stars). Lightpanda is written in Zig under AGPL-3.0; Ethora is written in JavaScript under Apache-2.0. Lightpanda has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, Ethora 20%. Ethora 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 | Ethora | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 35K | ★ 545 |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Zig | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.7K | ⑂ 111 |
| 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 Ethora if
- You want the Ethora feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and Ethora 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 Ethora
Ethora is an Apache 2.0 licensed chat, AI and messaging SDK monorepo that adds real time messaging, prebuilt chat UI, bots and backend services to web, iOS and Android applications, and it is aimed at product teams that would rather integrate a messaging layer than assemble one.
read the full Ethora overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Lightpanda or Ethora more popular?
Lightpanda has 35,409 GitHub stars and Ethora has 545. Lightpanda has the larger community by that measure.
Are Lightpanda and Ethora free?
Both are open source. Lightpanda is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Ethora under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Lightpanda and Ethora?
Lightpanda is written in Zig and Ethora 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 Ethora?
Choose Lightpanda if you want the larger community (35,409 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Ethora if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.