head to head · open source
BrowserOS vs nanobrowser
BrowserOS has 14,225 GitHub stars, 1,525 forks, 82 open issues and last shipped yesterday. nanobrowser has 14,222 stars, 1,521 forks, 81 open issues and last shipped 10 days ago. BrowserOS leads on adoption by 0% (14,225 vs 14,222 stars). BrowserOS is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; nanobrowser is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. BrowserOS has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, nanobrowser 11%. BrowserOS was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 5 topic tags (agent, ai-agents, automation, browser), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| BrowserOS | nanobrowser | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 14K | ★ 14K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-24 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.5K | ⑂ 1.5K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick BrowserOS if
- You weight community size — 14K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick nanobrowser if
- You want the nanobrowser feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and nanobrowser fits your workflow better
About BrowserOS
Website · Docs · Enterprise Free · Open source · Everything runs on your machine A second browser, just for your AI agents. Import your logins from Chrome in one click, connect Claude Code, Codex, or any MCP agent, and hand off your web tasks. Agents run in parallel in their own tabs. You watch live, or replay any session like a video. BrowserOS neo is not a Chrome replacement. It is a secondary browser that sits next to Chrome, made friendly to agents. Get started 1. Install BrowserOS neo Prefer a direct download? Grab it for macOS or Windows. 2. Import from Chrome One click brings over your logins, bookmarks…
read the full BrowserOS overview →
About nanobrowser
🌐 Nanobrowser Nanobrowser is an open source AI web automation tool that runs in your browser. A free alternative to OpenAI Operator with flexible LLM options and multi agent system. ⬇️ Get Nanobrowser from Chrome Web Store for free 👏 Join the community in Discord X 🌟 Loving Nanobrowser? Give us a star and help spread the word! ❤️ Support the project by sponsoring us every contribution helps keep Nanobrowser free and open source! Nanobrowser's multi agent system analyzing HuggingFace in real time, with the Planner intelligently self correcting when encountering obstacles and dynamically instructing the…
read the full nanobrowser overview →
More in Productivity & Utilities
Related comparisons
More Browsers & Extensions projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Browsers & Extensions field.
Frequently asked questions
Is BrowserOS or nanobrowser more popular?
BrowserOS has 14,225 GitHub stars and nanobrowser has 14,222. BrowserOS has the larger community by that measure.
Are BrowserOS and nanobrowser free?
Both are open source. BrowserOS is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and nanobrowser under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between BrowserOS and nanobrowser?
BrowserOS is written in TypeScript and nanobrowser in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, BrowserOS or nanobrowser?
Choose BrowserOS if you want the larger community (14,225 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose nanobrowser if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.