head to head · open source
Lightpanda vs OpenMQTTGateway
Lightpanda has 40,882 GitHub stars, 1,999 forks, 98 open issues and last shipped yesterday. OpenMQTTGateway has 4,116 stars, 908 forks, 48 open issues and last shipped 15 days ago. Lightpanda leads on adoption by 893% (40,882 vs 4,116 stars). Lightpanda is written in Zig under AGPL-3.0; OpenMQTTGateway is written in C++ under GPL-3.0. Lightpanda has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, OpenMQTTGateway 22%. 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 | OpenMQTTGateway | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 41K | ★ 4.1K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Zig | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.0K | ⑂ 908 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Lightpanda if
- You weight community size — 41K 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 OpenMQTTGateway if
- You want the OpenMQTTGateway feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and OpenMQTTGateway 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…
read the full Lightpanda overview →
About OpenMQTTGateway
OpenMQTTGateway aims to unify various technologies and protocols into a single firmware. This reduces the need for multiple physical bridges and streamlines diverse technologies under the widely used MQTT protocol. Sponsors Documentation The documentation is here New to OpenMQTTGateway? Follow the Getting Started guide to flash a board from your browser and see your first sensor data in about 15 minutes. The reference sheet, with the list of all functions, pinouts is here Upload Upload OpenMQTTGateway directly from the upload page (no additional software required) or build your own configuration with PlatformIO…
read the full OpenMQTTGateway overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Lightpanda or OpenMQTTGateway more popular?
Lightpanda has 40,882 GitHub stars and OpenMQTTGateway has 4,116. Lightpanda has the larger community by that measure.
Are Lightpanda and OpenMQTTGateway free?
Both are open source. Lightpanda is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and OpenMQTTGateway under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Lightpanda and OpenMQTTGateway?
Lightpanda is written in Zig and OpenMQTTGateway in C++. 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 OpenMQTTGateway?
Choose Lightpanda if you want the larger community (40,882 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose OpenMQTTGateway if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.