head to head · open source
scrapy vs CloakBrowser
scrapy has 65,167 GitHub stars, 12,088 forks, 394 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. CloakBrowser has 32,683 stars, 2,718 forks, 164 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. scrapy leads on adoption by 99% (65,167 vs 32,683 stars). scrapy is written in Python under BSD-3-Clause; CloakBrowser is written in Python under MIT. scrapy has attracted 19% as many forks as stars, CloakBrowser 8%. CloakBrowser 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
| scrapy | CloakBrowser | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 65K | ★ 33K |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | MIT |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-01 | 2026-11-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 12K | ⑂ 2.7K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick scrapy if
- You weight community size — 65K 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 CloakBrowser if
- You want the CloakBrowser feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and CloakBrowser fits your workflow better
About scrapy
.. logo image:: :target: :alt: Scrapy :width: 480px .. version image:: :target: :alt: PyPI Version .. python version image:: :target: :alt: Supported Python Versions .. tests image:: :target: :alt: Tests .. coverage image:: :target: :alt: Coverage report .. conda image:: :target: :alt: Conda Version .. deepwiki image:: :target: :alt: Ask DeepWiki Scrapy is a web scraping framework to extract structured data from websites. It is cross platform, and requires Python 3.10+. It is maintained by Zyte (formerly Scrapinghub) and many other contributors . .. many other contributors: .. Scrapy: .. Zyte: Install with…
read the full scrapy overview →
About CloakBrowser
Stealth Chromium that passes every bot detection test. Not a patched config. Not a JS injection. A real Chromium binary with fingerprints modified at the C++ source level. Antibot systems score it as a normal browser — because it is a normal browser. Cloudflare Turnstile — 3 live tests passing (headed mode, macOS) Drop in Playwright/Puppeteer replacement for Python and JavaScript. Same API, same code — just swap the import. 3 lines of code, 30 seconds to unblock. 87 source level C++ patches — canvas, WebGL, audio, fonts, GPU, screen, WebRTC, network timing, automation signals, CDP input behavior humanize=True —…
read the full CloakBrowser overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is scrapy or CloakBrowser more popular?
scrapy has 65,167 GitHub stars and CloakBrowser has 32,683. scrapy has the larger community by that measure.
Are scrapy and CloakBrowser free?
Both are open source. scrapy is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and CloakBrowser under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between scrapy and CloakBrowser?
scrapy is written in Python and CloakBrowser in Python. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, scrapy or CloakBrowser?
Choose scrapy if you want the larger community (65,167 stars) or its BSD-3-Clause licence terms. Choose CloakBrowser if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.