head to head · open source
page-agent vs Steel
page-agent has 29,627 GitHub stars, 2,643 forks, 94 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Steel has 7,916 stars, 1,004 forks, 68 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. page-agent leads on adoption by 274% (29,627 vs 7,916 stars). page-agent is written in TypeScript under MIT; Steel is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. page-agent has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, Steel 13%. Steel was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (ai, ai-agents, 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
| page-agent | Steel | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 30K | ★ 7.9K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.6K | ⑂ 1.0K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick page-agent if
- You weight community size — 30K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Steel if
- You want the Steel 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 Steel fits your workflow better
About page-agent
Page Agent The GUI Agent Living in Your Webpage. One script gives any web page its own AI agent. 🌐 English 中文 🚀 Demo 📖 Docs 📢 HN Discussion 𝕏 Follow on X ✨ Features 🎯 Easy integration No need for browser extension / python / headless browser . Just in page javascript. Everything happens in your web page. 📖 Text based DOM manipulation No screenshots. No multi modal LLMs or special permissions needed. 🧠 Bring your own LLMs Works with most mainstream models, including locally deployed ones. See supported models. 🐙 Optional chrome extension for multi page tasks. And an MCP Server (Beta) to control it from…
read the full page-agent overview →
About Steel
Steel The open source browser API for AI agents & apps. The best way to build live web agents and browser automation tools. Get Started · Documentation · Website · Cookbook ✨ Highlights Steel.dev is an open source browser API that makes it easy to build AI apps and agents that interact with the web. Instead of building automation infrastructure from scratch, you can focus on your AI application while Steel handles the complexity. Under the hood, it manages sessions, pages, and browser processes, allowing you to perform complex browsing tasks programmatically without any of the headaches: Full Browser Control…
read the full Steel overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is page-agent or Steel more popular?
page-agent has 29,627 GitHub stars and Steel has 7,916. page-agent has the larger community by that measure.
Are page-agent and Steel free?
Both are open source. page-agent is licensed under MIT and Steel under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between page-agent and Steel?
page-agent is written in TypeScript and Steel 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, page-agent or Steel?
Choose page-agent if you want the larger community (29,627 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Steel if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.