head to head · open source
nanobrowser vs parchi
nanobrowser has 13,810 GitHub stars, 1,459 forks, 81 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. parchi has 547 stars, 54 forks, 11 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. nanobrowser leads on adoption by 2,425% (13,810 vs 547 stars). nanobrowser is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; parchi is written in TypeScript under MIT. nanobrowser has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, parchi 10%. parchi was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (agent, ai, browser-automation), 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.
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Side by side
| nanobrowser | parchi | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 14K | ★ 547 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-08-18 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.5K | ⑂ 54 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick nanobrowser if
- You weight community size — 14K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick parchi if
- You want the parchi feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and parchi fits your workflow better
About nanobrowser
Nanobrowser is an open source Chrome extension for AI powered web automation that runs multi agent workflows inside your own browser using your own LLM API key, built for people who want Operator style browser agents without a subscription.
read the full nanobrowser overview →
About parchi
Parchi is a free, MIT licensed AI browser copilot — a Chrome MV3 and Firefox 109+ extension written in TypeScript that puts chat driven browser automation in a side panel, built for people who want to navigate, read, click, type, extract, and summarize pages under their own model configuration.
read the full parchi overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is nanobrowser or parchi more popular?
nanobrowser has 13,810 GitHub stars and parchi has 547. nanobrowser has the larger community by that measure.
Are nanobrowser and parchi free?
Both are open source. nanobrowser is licensed under Apache-2.0 and parchi under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between nanobrowser and parchi?
nanobrowser is written in TypeScript and parchi 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, nanobrowser or parchi?
Choose nanobrowser if you want the larger community (13,810 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose parchi if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.