head to head · open source
puppeteer vs chrome-devtools-mcp
puppeteer has 95,798 GitHub stars, 9,589 forks, 259 open issues and last shipped yesterday. chrome-devtools-mcp has 54,791 stars, 5,234 forks, 109 open issues and last shipped yesterday. puppeteer leads on adoption by 75% (95,798 vs 54,791 stars). puppeteer is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; chrome-devtools-mcp is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. puppeteer has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, chrome-devtools-mcp 10%. puppeteer was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (chrome), 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
| puppeteer | chrome-devtools-mcp | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 96K | ★ 55K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-11-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.6K | ⑂ 5.2K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick puppeteer if
- You weight community size — 96K 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 chrome-devtools-mcp if
- You want the chrome-devtools-mcp 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 chrome-devtools-mcp fits your workflow better
About puppeteer
Puppeteer Puppeteer is a JavaScript library which provides a high level API to control Chrome or Firefox over the DevTools Protocol or WebDriver BiDi. Puppeteer runs in the headless (no visible UI) by default Get started API FAQ Contributing Troubleshooting Installation :::note Modern package managers (including npm (see the RFC), pnpm, Yarn, Bun, and Deno) block dependency install scripts by default. If the install script is blocked, Puppeteer will not download the browser during installation, leading to runtime errors. You can manually download the required browsers after installation by running…
read the full puppeteer overview →
About chrome-devtools-mcp
Chrome DevTools for agents Chrome DevTools for agents ( chrome devtools mcp ) lets your coding agent (such as Antigravity, Claude, Cursor or Copilot) control and inspect a live Chrome browser. It acts as a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, giving your AI coding assistant access to the full power of Chrome DevTools for reliable automation, in depth debugging, and performance analysis. A [CLI][cli] is also provided for use without MCP. [Tool reference][tool reference] [Changelog][changelog] [Contributing][contributing] [Troubleshooting][troubleshooting] [Design Principles][design principles] Key features Get…
read the full chrome-devtools-mcp overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is puppeteer or chrome-devtools-mcp more popular?
puppeteer has 95,798 GitHub stars and chrome-devtools-mcp has 54,791. puppeteer has the larger community by that measure.
Are puppeteer and chrome-devtools-mcp free?
Both are open source. puppeteer is licensed under Apache-2.0 and chrome-devtools-mcp under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between puppeteer and chrome-devtools-mcp?
puppeteer is written in TypeScript and chrome-devtools-mcp 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, puppeteer or chrome-devtools-mcp?
Choose puppeteer if you want the larger community (95,798 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose chrome-devtools-mcp if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.