head to head · open source
react vs puppeteer
react has 252,095 GitHub stars, 51,624 forks, 1,377 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. puppeteer has 95,791 stars, 9,600 forks, 259 open issues and last shipped yesterday. react leads on adoption by 163% (252,095 vs 95,791 stars). react is written in JavaScript under MIT; puppeteer is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. react has attracted 20% as many forks as stars, puppeteer 10%. 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
| react | puppeteer | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 252K | ★ 96K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-31 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 52K | ⑂ 9.6K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick react if
- You weight community size — 252K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick puppeteer if
- You want the puppeteer feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and puppeteer fits your workflow better
About react
React · React is a JavaScript library for building user interfaces. Declarative: React makes it painless to create interactive UIs. Design simple views for each state in your application, and React will efficiently update and render just the right components when your data changes. Declarative views make your code more predictable, simpler to understand, and easier to debug. Component Based: Build encapsulated components that manage their own state, then compose them to make complex UIs. Since component logic is written in JavaScript instead of templates, you can easily pass rich data through your app and…
read the full react overview →
About puppeteer
Puppeteer Puppeteer is a JavaScript library which provides a high level API to control Chrome or Firefox over the DevTools Protocol or WebDriver BiDi. Puppeteer runs in the headless (no visible UI) by default Get started API FAQ Contributing Troubleshooting Installation :::note Modern package managers (including npm (see the RFC), pnpm, Yarn, Bun, and Deno) block dependency install scripts by default. If the install script is blocked, Puppeteer will not download the browser during installation, leading to runtime errors. You can manually download the required browsers after installation by running…
read the full puppeteer 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 react or puppeteer more popular?
react has 252,095 GitHub stars and puppeteer has 95,791. react has the larger community by that measure.
Are react and puppeteer free?
Both are open source. react is licensed under MIT and puppeteer under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between react and puppeteer?
react is written in JavaScript and puppeteer 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, react or puppeteer?
Choose react if you want the larger community (252,095 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose puppeteer if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.