head to head · open source
puppeteer vs node-modules-inspector
puppeteer has 95,636 GitHub stars, 9,585 forks, 259 open issues and last shipped yesterday. node-modules-inspector has 2,954 stars, 92 forks, 26 open issues and last shipped 13 days ago. puppeteer leads on adoption by 3,138% (95,636 vs 2,954 stars). puppeteer is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; node-modules-inspector is written in TypeScript under MIT. puppeteer has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, node-modules-inspector 3%. puppeteer was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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 | node-modules-inspector | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 96K | ★ 3.0K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-28 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.6K | ⑂ 92 |
| 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 node-modules-inspector if
- You want the node-modules-inspector feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and node-modules-inspector 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 node-modules-inspector
Node Modules Inspector is an MIT licensed TypeScript developer tool that renders an interactive browser UI for inspecting a project's local node modules, built for JavaScript and TypeScript developers who need to see what their installed dependency tree actually contains.
read the full node-modules-inspector 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 node-modules-inspector more popular?
puppeteer has 95,636 GitHub stars and node-modules-inspector has 2,954. puppeteer has the larger community by that measure.
Are puppeteer and node-modules-inspector free?
Both are open source. puppeteer is licensed under Apache-2.0 and node-modules-inspector under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between puppeteer and node-modules-inspector?
puppeteer is written in TypeScript and node-modules-inspector 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 node-modules-inspector?
Choose puppeteer if you want the larger community (95,636 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose node-modules-inspector if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.