head to head · open source
puppeteer vs tinyfilemanager
puppeteer has 95,590 GitHub stars, 9,576 forks, 259 open issues and last shipped yesterday. tinyfilemanager has 5,980 stars, 1,813 forks, 308 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. puppeteer leads on adoption by 1,498% (95,590 vs 5,980 stars). puppeteer is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; tinyfilemanager is written in PHP under GPL-3.0. puppeteer has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, tinyfilemanager 30%. 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.
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Side by side
| puppeteer | tinyfilemanager | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 96K | ★ 6.0K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-07-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.6K | ⑂ 1.8K |
| 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 tinyfilemanager if
- You want the tinyfilemanager feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You evaluated both and tinyfilemanager 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 tinyfilemanager
Tiny File Manager is a single file, zero configuration PHP web application that gives you a browser based file manager, uploader, archive tool and code editor from one tinyfilemanager.php script dropped into any web directory.
read the full tinyfilemanager overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is puppeteer or tinyfilemanager more popular?
puppeteer has 95,590 GitHub stars and tinyfilemanager has 5,980. puppeteer has the larger community by that measure.
Are puppeteer and tinyfilemanager free?
Both are open source. puppeteer is licensed under Apache-2.0 and tinyfilemanager under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between puppeteer and tinyfilemanager?
puppeteer is written in TypeScript and tinyfilemanager in PHP. 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 tinyfilemanager?
Choose puppeteer if you want the larger community (95,590 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose tinyfilemanager if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.