head to head · open source
obscura vs hermes-browser-extension
obscura has 30,307 GitHub stars, 2,291 forks, 134 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. hermes-browser-extension has 1,774 stars, 169 forks, 15 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. obscura leads on adoption by 1,608% (30,307 vs 1,774 stars). obscura is written in Rust under Apache-2.0; hermes-browser-extension is written in JavaScript under MIT. obscura has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, hermes-browser-extension 10%. obscura 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
| obscura | hermes-browser-extension | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 30K | ★ 1.8K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Rust | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.3K | ⑂ 169 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick obscura if
- You weight community size — 30K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick hermes-browser-extension if
- You want the hermes-browser-extension feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and hermes-browser-extension fits your workflow better
About obscura
Obscura The open source headless browser for AI agents and web scraping. Lightweight, stealthy, and built in Rust. Native rendering is here. No Chromium required. 🎉 Capture screenshots, screencast live pages, and export PDFs directly with Obscura. Obscura is a headless browser engine written in Rust, built for web scraping and AI agent automation. It runs real JavaScript via V8, supports the Chrome DevTools Protocol, and acts as a drop in replacement for headless Chrome with Puppeteer and Playwright. Why Obscura over headless Chrome? Obscura inspired Cloudflare Kitesurf’s first prototype Cloudflare began by…
read the full obscura overview →
About hermes-browser-extension
Hermes Browser Extension Browser native side panel for Hermes Agent — connect active web context through a local gateway, Hermes Cloud, or a self hosted remote gateway. Created by Jon Komet ( @abundantbeing ). Community extension for Hermes Agent by Nous Research. Public v0.3.2 · Load unpacked · Local / Hermes Cloud / Remote · Full Hermes runtime tools Not on the Chrome Web Store yet. What it is Hermes Browser Extension is not a browser chatbot. It is a Chrome/Edge/Chromium side panel for the real Hermes Agent runtime. Choose a local gateway, attach to a signed in Hermes Cloud agent tab, or connect to a self…
read the full hermes-browser-extension overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is obscura or hermes-browser-extension more popular?
obscura has 30,307 GitHub stars and hermes-browser-extension has 1,774. obscura has the larger community by that measure.
Are obscura and hermes-browser-extension free?
Both are open source. obscura is licensed under Apache-2.0 and hermes-browser-extension under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between obscura and hermes-browser-extension?
obscura is written in Rust and hermes-browser-extension 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, obscura or hermes-browser-extension?
Choose obscura if you want the larger community (30,307 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose hermes-browser-extension if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.