head to head · open source
Scrapling vs Steel
Scrapling has 95,157 GitHub stars, 9,976 forks, 6 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Steel has 7,916 stars, 1,004 forks, 68 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Scrapling leads on adoption by 1,102% (95,157 vs 7,916 stars). Scrapling is written in Python under BSD-3-Clause; Steel is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. Scrapling has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, Steel 13%. Steel was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (ai), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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
| Scrapling | Steel | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 95K | ★ 7.9K |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 10.0K | ⑂ 1.0K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Scrapling if
- You weight community size — 95K stars and counting
- You want the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Steel if
- You want the Steel 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 Steel fits your workflow better
About Scrapling
Effortless Web Scraping for the Modern Web Selection methods · Fetchers · Spiders · Proxy Rotation · CLI · MCP Scrapling is an adaptive Web Scraping framework that handles everything from a single request to a full scale crawl. Its parser learns from website changes and automatically relocates your elements when pages update. Its fetchers bypass anti bot systems like Cloudflare Turnstile out of the box. And its spider framework lets you scale up to concurrent, multi session crawls with pause/resume, automatic proxy rotation, and a crawl speed that adapts to how fast each…
read the full Scrapling overview →
About Steel
Steel The open source browser API for AI agents & apps. The best way to build live web agents and browser automation tools. Get Started · Documentation · Website · Cookbook ✨ Highlights Steel.dev is an open source browser API that makes it easy to build AI apps and agents that interact with the web. Instead of building automation infrastructure from scratch, you can focus on your AI application while Steel handles the complexity. Under the hood, it manages sessions, pages, and browser processes, allowing you to perform complex browsing tasks programmatically without any of the headaches: Full Browser Control…
read the full Steel overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Scrapling or Steel more popular?
Scrapling has 95,157 GitHub stars and Steel has 7,916. Scrapling has the larger community by that measure.
Are Scrapling and Steel free?
Both are open source. Scrapling is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and Steel under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Scrapling and Steel?
Scrapling is written in Python and Steel 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, Scrapling or Steel?
Choose Scrapling if you want the larger community (95,157 stars) or its BSD-3-Clause licence terms. Choose Steel if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.