head to head · open source
rea vs websocket-devtools
rea has 349,857 GitHub stars, 87,954 forks, 70 open issues and last shipped yesterday. websocket-devtools has 1,198 stars, 59 forks, 19 open issues and last shipped 24 days ago. rea leads on adoption by 29,103% (349,857 vs 1,198 stars). rea is written in TypeScript under MIT; websocket-devtools is written in JavaScript under MIT. rea has attracted 25% as many forks as stars, websocket-devtools 5%. rea 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
| rea | websocket-devtools | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 350K | ★ 1.2K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-21 | 2026-09-28 |
| Forks | ⑂ 88K | ⑂ 59 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick rea if
- You weight community size — 350K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick websocket-devtools if
- You want the websocket-devtools feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and websocket-devtools fits your workflow better
About rea
English · 简体中文 · 繁體中文 · 日本語 · 한국어 · Türkçe · Русский · Tiếng Việt · ไทย · Deutsch · Español · Français · Українська · Polski · Português (Brasil) · العربية · فارسی REA: Reverse Engineer Anything One MCP for reverse engineering across binaries, applications, and runtime behavior. See a feature you like. Understand how it works, down to the binary level. Website · Guides · Showcases Quick start · How REA works · What you can analyze · Showcases · FAQ · Documentation npx rea agents setup Join the Reverse Engineering Community Discord · Q&A · Show and Tell See a feature in an app that you want in your own product?…
About websocket-devtools
WebSocket DevTools Complete WebSocket Traffic Control with advanced proxy, simulation, and blocking capabilities [![][version shield]][version link] [![][license shield]][license link] [![][privacy shield]][privacy link] [![][homepage shield]][homepage link] [![][chrome shield]][chrome link] [![][edge shield]][edge link] [![][deepwiki shield]][deepwiki link] [![][youtube shield]][youtube link] [![][stars shield]][stars link] English 简体中文 繁體中文 日本語 🚀 Installation Chrome Web Store 1. Visit Chrome Web Store 2. Click "Add to Chrome" and confirm installation 3. Open DevTools (F12) → "WebSocket DevTools" tab Microsoft…
read the full websocket-devtools overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is rea or websocket-devtools more popular?
rea has 349,857 GitHub stars and websocket-devtools has 1,198. rea has the larger community by that measure.
Are rea and websocket-devtools free?
Both are open source. rea is licensed under MIT and websocket-devtools under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between rea and websocket-devtools?
rea is written in TypeScript and websocket-devtools 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, rea or websocket-devtools?
Choose rea if you want the larger community (349,857 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose websocket-devtools if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.