head to head · open source
Lightpanda vs js-reverse-mcp
Lightpanda has 41,900 GitHub stars, 2,096 forks, 98 open issues and last shipped yesterday. js-reverse-mcp has 3,064 stars, 399 forks, 11 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. Lightpanda leads on adoption by 1,267% (41,900 vs 3,064 stars). Lightpanda is written in Zig under AGPL-3.0; js-reverse-mcp is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. Lightpanda has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, js-reverse-mcp 13%. Lightpanda was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (browser-automation, cdp), 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
| Lightpanda | js-reverse-mcp | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 42K | ★ 3.1K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Zig | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-11 | 2026-09-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.1K | ⑂ 399 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Lightpanda if
- You weight community size — 42K 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 js-reverse-mcp if
- You want the js-reverse-mcp feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and js-reverse-mcp fits your workflow better
About Lightpanda
Lightpanda Browser The headless browser built from scratch for AI agents and automation. Not a Chromium fork. Not a WebKit patch. A new browser, written in Zig.   Benchmarks Requesting 933 real web pages over the network on a AWS EC2 m5.large instance. See benchmark details. Quick start Install Package Managers Latest nightly from Homebrew: Latest nightly from Arch Linux User Repository: Download from the nightly builds You can download the last binary from the nightly builds for Linux and MacOS for both x86 64 and aarch64. For Linux Verify the binary before running anything: Linux aarch64 is also available…
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About js-reverse-mcp
JS Reverse MCP English 中文 AI first / AI native 的 JavaScript 逆向工程 MCP Server，让你的 AI 编码助手（如 Claude、Cursor、Copilot）能够像分析师一样持续调试、定位、保存和复盘网页中的 JavaScript 行为。 它不是把 Chrome DevTools API 原样搬给模型，而是把脚本、断点、网络、WebSocket、浏览器状态和本地文件 I/O 重新组织成适合 AI Agent 连续推理和操作的工具。反检测是其中一部分能力：默认使用为本 MCP 重新编译发布、独立维护的 Patchright fork 提供协议层 stealth，对强反爬站点可选启用 CloakBrowser 源码层指纹模式。 ☁️ 赞助 · Sponsored by IPWO IPWO 住宅代理支持灵活的代理配置，开发者可以根据不同任务选择相应的网络环境，用于网页访问、请求测试、地区化内容分析及自动化工作流。 对于涉及 JS 逆向、浏览器调试和 Web 网络分析的项目，住宅代理也可以作为网络环境的一种补充选择，帮助开发者更灵活地满足不同地区的访问与测试需求。 👉 免费测试入口，9 折优惠码： 0204 ☁️ 赞助 · Sponsored by Infistar.cc 无限星河 js reverse mcp × Infistar.cc 无限星河｜全模型…
read the full js-reverse-mcp overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Lightpanda or js-reverse-mcp more popular?
Lightpanda has 41,900 GitHub stars and js-reverse-mcp has 3,064. Lightpanda has the larger community by that measure.
Are Lightpanda and js-reverse-mcp free?
Both are open source. Lightpanda is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and js-reverse-mcp under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Lightpanda and js-reverse-mcp?
Lightpanda is written in Zig and js-reverse-mcp 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, Lightpanda or js-reverse-mcp?
Choose Lightpanda if you want the larger community (41,900 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose js-reverse-mcp if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.