head to head · open source
puppeteer vs herdr
puppeteer has 95,590 GitHub stars, 9,576 forks, 259 open issues and last shipped yesterday. herdr has 39,446 stars, 2,974 forks, 337 open issues and last shipped yesterday. puppeteer leads on adoption by 142% (95,590 vs 39,446 stars). puppeteer is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; herdr is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. puppeteer has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, herdr 8%. herdr was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (developer-tools), 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 15422 open source comparisons
Side by side
| puppeteer | herdr | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 96K | ★ 39K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.6K | ⑂ 3.0K |
| 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 herdr if
- You want the herdr feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and herdr fits your workflow better
About puppeteer
Puppeteer is an Apache 2.0 JavaScript and TypeScript library that provides a high level API for driving Chrome and Firefox over the DevTools Protocol or WebDriver BiDi, written for developers who automate browsers from Node.js.
read the full puppeteer overview →
About herdr
herdr is a terminal first runtime for coding agents — a single Rust binary that owns the terminals in which tools such as Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenCode and Grok run, aimed at developers who keep agents working across local and remote machines and want those sessions to survive a lost SSH connection or a closed client.
read the full herdr overview →
More in Developer Tools
Related comparisons
More Frameworks & Platforms projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Frameworks & Platforms field.
Frequently asked questions
Is puppeteer or herdr more popular?
puppeteer has 95,590 GitHub stars and herdr has 39,446. puppeteer has the larger community by that measure.
Are puppeteer and herdr free?
Both are open source. puppeteer is licensed under Apache-2.0 and herdr under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between puppeteer and herdr?
puppeteer is written in TypeScript and herdr in Rust. 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 herdr?
Choose puppeteer if you want the larger community (95,590 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose herdr if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.