head to head · open source
Lightpanda vs VvvebJs
Lightpanda has 35,409 GitHub stars, 1,680 forks, 98 open issues and last shipped yesterday. VvvebJs has 8,675 stars, 1,835 forks, 304 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. Lightpanda leads on adoption by 308% (35,409 vs 8,675 stars). Lightpanda is written in Zig under AGPL-3.0; VvvebJs is written in JavaScript under Apache-2.0. Lightpanda has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, VvvebJs 21%. 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 | VvvebJs | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 35K | ★ 8.7K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Zig | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-07-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.7K | ⑂ 1.8K |
| 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 VvvebJs if
- You want the VvvebJs feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and VvvebJs 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 VvvebJs
VvvebJs is a drag and drop page builder library written in vanilla JavaScript. It ships without dependencies and without a build step, so the editor runs directly in the browser from a plain HTML file rather than from a compiled bundle. The project lives in the JavaScript ecosystem and sits in the low code and no code tooling space: it is a library and editor surface rather than a finished product, and it is distributed under the Apache 2.0 license.
read the full VvvebJs overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Lightpanda or VvvebJs more popular?
Lightpanda has 35,409 GitHub stars and VvvebJs has 8,675. Lightpanda has the larger community by that measure.
Are Lightpanda and VvvebJs free?
Both are open source. Lightpanda is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and VvvebJs under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Lightpanda and VvvebJs?
Lightpanda is written in Zig and VvvebJs in JavaScript. 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 VvvebJs?
Choose Lightpanda if you want the larger community (35,409 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose VvvebJs if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.