head to head · open source
Lightpanda vs proxy_pool
Lightpanda has 35,452 GitHub stars, 1,684 forks, 98 open issues and last shipped today. proxy_pool has 23,717 stars, 5,418 forks, 298 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. Lightpanda leads on adoption by 49% (35,452 vs 23,717 stars). Lightpanda is written in Zig under AGPL-3.0; proxy_pool is written in Python under MIT. Lightpanda has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, proxy_pool 23%. 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 | proxy_pool | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 35K | ★ 24K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Zig | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-06-15 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.7K | ⑂ 5.4K |
| 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 proxy_pool if
- You want the proxy_pool feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and proxy_pool 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 proxy_pool
proxy pool is a self hosted Python proxy IP pool for web spiders that continuously collects, checks, and serves rotating HTTP proxies from public free proxy sources through a Redis backed pool.
read the full proxy_pool overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Lightpanda or proxy_pool more popular?
Lightpanda has 35,452 GitHub stars and proxy_pool has 23,717. Lightpanda has the larger community by that measure.
Are Lightpanda and proxy_pool free?
Both are open source. Lightpanda is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and proxy_pool under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Lightpanda and proxy_pool?
Lightpanda is written in Zig and proxy_pool 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 proxy_pool?
Choose Lightpanda if you want the larger community (35,452 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose proxy_pool if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.