head to head · open source
Lightpanda vs MerossIot
Lightpanda has 35,418 GitHub stars, 1,681 forks, 98 open issues and last shipped yesterday. MerossIot has 537 stars, 103 forks, 11 open issues and last shipped 7 months ago. Lightpanda leads on adoption by 6,496% (35,418 vs 537 stars). Lightpanda is written in Zig under AGPL-3.0; MerossIot is written in Python under MIT. Lightpanda has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, MerossIot 19%. 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 | MerossIot | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 35K | ★ 537 |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Zig | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-03-07 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.7K | ⑂ 103 |
| 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 MerossIot if
- You want the MerossIot feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and MerossIot 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 MerossIot
MerossIot is an asynchronous Python library for controlling Meross smart home devices, built for Python developers and home automation builders who want to drive Meross hardware from code rather than through the vendor's app.
read the full MerossIot overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Lightpanda or MerossIot more popular?
Lightpanda has 35,418 GitHub stars and MerossIot has 537. Lightpanda has the larger community by that measure.
Are Lightpanda and MerossIot free?
Both are open source. Lightpanda is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and MerossIot under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Lightpanda and MerossIot?
Lightpanda is written in Zig and MerossIot in Python. 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 MerossIot?
Choose Lightpanda if you want the larger community (35,418 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose MerossIot if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.