head to head · open source
Lightpanda vs HTTP-Shortcuts
Lightpanda has 35,418 GitHub stars, 1,681 forks, 98 open issues and last shipped today. HTTP-Shortcuts has 1,818 stars, 152 forks, 16 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Lightpanda leads on adoption by 1,848% (35,418 vs 1,818 stars). Lightpanda is written in Zig under AGPL-3.0; HTTP-Shortcuts is written in Kotlin under MIT. Lightpanda has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, HTTP-Shortcuts 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.
← all 8884 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Lightpanda | HTTP-Shortcuts | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 35K | ★ 1.8K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Zig | Kotlin |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.7K | ⑂ 152 |
| 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 HTTP-Shortcuts if
- You want the HTTP-Shortcuts feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Kotlin
- You evaluated both and HTTP-Shortcuts 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 HTTP-Shortcuts
HTTP Shortcuts for Android An Android app that lets you to create shortcuts that can be placed on your home screen. Each shortcut, when clicked, triggers an HTTP request, with the possibility to process and display the response in various ways. Plus a whole lot of other (non HTTP) stuff. or download the latest APK directly. Find more information and documentation on the official website, or check out the (still very new and sparsely populated) official subreddit. Support this app by helping me translate it or by becoming a Beta Tester! Features No ads, no enshitification (I try) and completely free and open sourc…
read the full HTTP-Shortcuts 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 HTTP-Shortcuts more popular?
Lightpanda has 35,418 GitHub stars and HTTP-Shortcuts has 1,818. Lightpanda has the larger community by that measure.
Are Lightpanda and HTTP-Shortcuts free?
Both are open source. Lightpanda is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and HTTP-Shortcuts under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Lightpanda and HTTP-Shortcuts?
Lightpanda is written in Zig and HTTP-Shortcuts in Kotlin. 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 HTTP-Shortcuts?
Choose Lightpanda if you want the larger community (35,418 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose HTTP-Shortcuts if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.