head to head · open source
puppeteer vs it-tools
puppeteer has 95,590 GitHub stars, 9,576 forks, 259 open issues and last shipped yesterday. it-tools has 40,628 stars, 5,425 forks, 821 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. puppeteer leads on adoption by 135% (95,590 vs 40,628 stars). puppeteer is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; it-tools is written in Vue under GPL-3.0. puppeteer has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, it-tools 13%. puppeteer 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.
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Side by side
| puppeteer | it-tools | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 96K | ★ 41K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Vue |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.6K | ⑂ 5.4K |
| 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 it-tools if
- You want the it-tools feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Vue
- You evaluated both and it-tools 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 it-tools
it tools be self hostable web collection of small developer and IT utilities — converters, encoders, formatters, generators — built with Vue and TypeScript, shipped as Docker image, aimed at developers, IT people, and homelab owners who want those tools without shipping data to third party sites.
read the full it-tools overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is puppeteer or it-tools more popular?
puppeteer has 95,590 GitHub stars and it-tools has 40,628. puppeteer has the larger community by that measure.
Are puppeteer and it-tools free?
Both are open source. puppeteer is licensed under Apache-2.0 and it-tools under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between puppeteer and it-tools?
puppeteer is written in TypeScript and it-tools in Vue. 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 it-tools?
Choose puppeteer if you want the larger community (95,590 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose it-tools if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.