head to head · open source
rowboat vs donutbrowser
rowboat has 17,914 GitHub stars, 1,784 forks, 167 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. donutbrowser has 3,861 stars, 410 forks, 28 open issues and last shipped yesterday. rowboat leads on adoption by 364% (17,914 vs 3,861 stars). rowboat is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; donutbrowser is written in Rust under AGPL-3.0. rowboat has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, donutbrowser 11%. donutbrowser 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
| rowboat | donutbrowser | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 3.9K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.8K | ⑂ 410 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick rowboat if
- You weight community size — 18K 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 donutbrowser if
- You want the donutbrowser feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and donutbrowser fits your workflow better
About rowboat
Rowboat is an open source desktop AI coworker, licensed Apache 2.0 and written in TypeScript, that maintains a memory of your work as a local Markdown knowledge graph and provides built in surfaces — email, notes, browser, code mode, meeting notes — for acting on that memory.
read the full rowboat overview →
About donutbrowser
Donut Browser is a free, open source anti detect browser written in Rust for anyone who needs many fully isolated browser identities — each with its own fingerprint, cookies, extensions, proxy, and VPN — running from one desktop install, and for the automation engineers and teams who script or sync those profiles.
read the full donutbrowser overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is rowboat or donutbrowser more popular?
rowboat has 17,914 GitHub stars and donutbrowser has 3,861. rowboat has the larger community by that measure.
Are rowboat and donutbrowser free?
Both are open source. rowboat is licensed under Apache-2.0 and donutbrowser under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between rowboat and donutbrowser?
rowboat is written in TypeScript and donutbrowser in Rust. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, rowboat or donutbrowser?
Choose rowboat if you want the larger community (17,914 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose donutbrowser if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.