head to head · open source
Lightpanda vs OpenProgram
Lightpanda has 35,418 GitHub stars, 1,681 forks, 98 open issues and last shipped today. OpenProgram has 520 stars, 63 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped today. Lightpanda leads on adoption by 6,711% (35,418 vs 520 stars). Lightpanda is written in Zig under AGPL-3.0; OpenProgram is written in Python under AGPL-3.0. Lightpanda has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, OpenProgram 12%. 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 | OpenProgram | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 35K | ★ 520 |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Zig | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.7K | ⑂ 63 |
| 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 OpenProgram if
- You want the OpenProgram feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and OpenProgram 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 OpenProgram
Self Programming AI Assistant. Capture, automate, and refine all your workflows. Getting Started · Install · Docs · API Reference · Philosophy · 中文 "The more constraints one imposes, the more one frees oneself." — Igor Stravinsky , Poetics of Music We propose Agentic Programming . An LLM is flexible; code is deterministic. Let the model run everything and you get chaos — unpredictable execution, context explosion, no output guarantees; hard code everything and you lose the intelligence. A harness balances the two, interleaved moment to moment — Python for the flow you want fixed…
read the full OpenProgram overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Lightpanda or OpenProgram more popular?
Lightpanda has 35,418 GitHub stars and OpenProgram has 520. Lightpanda has the larger community by that measure.
Are Lightpanda and OpenProgram free?
Both are open source. Lightpanda is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and OpenProgram under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Lightpanda and OpenProgram?
Lightpanda is written in Zig and OpenProgram 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 OpenProgram?
Choose Lightpanda if you want the larger community (35,418 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose OpenProgram if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.