head to head · open source
rowboat vs puppetry
rowboat has 17,914 GitHub stars, 1,784 forks, 167 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. puppetry has 888 stars, 127 forks, 25 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. rowboat leads on adoption by 1,917% (17,914 vs 888 stars). rowboat is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; puppetry is written in JavaScript under MIT. rowboat has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, puppetry 14%. rowboat 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 | puppetry | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 18K | ★ 888 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-06-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.8K | ⑂ 127 |
| 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 puppetry if
- You want the puppetry feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and puppetry 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 puppetry
Puppetry is a no code/low code end to end web testing tool built on top of Puppeteer and Jest, aimed at QA engineers, testers, and developers who want to record and manage browser tests through a UI instead of writing scripts — though the project is now officially deprecated and kept only as an example and a piece of its own history.
read the full puppetry overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is rowboat or puppetry more popular?
rowboat has 17,914 GitHub stars and puppetry has 888. rowboat has the larger community by that measure.
Are rowboat and puppetry free?
Both are open source. rowboat is licensed under Apache-2.0 and puppetry under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between rowboat and puppetry?
rowboat is written in TypeScript and puppetry 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, rowboat or puppetry?
Choose rowboat if you want the larger community (17,914 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose puppetry if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.