head to head · open source
puppeteer vs lite-server
puppeteer has 95,643 GitHub stars, 9,584 forks, 259 open issues and last shipped yesterday. lite-server has 2,306 stars, 261 forks, 79 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. puppeteer leads on adoption by 4,048% (95,643 vs 2,306 stars). puppeteer is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; lite-server is written in JavaScript under MIT. puppeteer has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, lite-server 11%. puppeteer was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (web), 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 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| puppeteer | lite-server | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 96K | ★ 2.3K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-30 | 2026-07-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.6K | ⑂ 261 |
| 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 lite-server if
- You want the lite-server feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and lite-server 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 lite-server
lite server is a lightweight, development only Node.js server for developers building single page applications who need HTML5 route fallback and live browser refresh out of the box.
read the full lite-server 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 lite-server more popular?
puppeteer has 95,643 GitHub stars and lite-server has 2,306. puppeteer has the larger community by that measure.
Are puppeteer and lite-server free?
Both are open source. puppeteer is licensed under Apache-2.0 and lite-server under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between puppeteer and lite-server?
puppeteer is written in TypeScript and lite-server in JavaScript. 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 lite-server?
Choose puppeteer if you want the larger community (95,643 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose lite-server if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.