head to head · open source
puppeteer vs lapce
puppeteer has 95,590 GitHub stars, 9,576 forks, 259 open issues and last shipped yesterday. lapce has 38,860 stars, 1,331 forks, 901 open issues and last shipped yesterday. puppeteer leads on adoption by 146% (95,590 vs 38,860 stars). puppeteer is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; lapce is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. puppeteer has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, lapce 3%. 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 | lapce | |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | ⑂ 1.3K |
| 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 lapce if
- You want the lapce 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 lapce 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 lapce
Lapce is an Apache 2.0 licensed, native graphical code editor written in pure Rust for developers who want fast text editing, built in language intelligence, Vim style modal editing, and remote development support inside one application rather than assembled from a base editor plus a stack of extensions.
read the full lapce overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is puppeteer or lapce more popular?
puppeteer has 95,590 GitHub stars and lapce has 38,860. puppeteer has the larger community by that measure.
Are puppeteer and lapce free?
Both are open source. puppeteer is licensed under Apache-2.0 and lapce under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between puppeteer and lapce?
puppeteer is written in TypeScript and lapce 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 lapce?
Choose puppeteer if you want the larger community (95,590 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose lapce if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.