head to head · open source
Skyvern vs fess
Skyvern has 23,039 GitHub stars, 2,167 forks, 234 open issues and last shipped today. fess has 1,137 stars, 175 forks, 15 open issues and last shipped today. Skyvern leads on adoption by 1,926% (23,039 vs 1,137 stars). Skyvern is written in Python under AGPL-3.0; fess is written in Java under Apache-2.0. Skyvern has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, fess 15%. fess was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (llm), 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
| Skyvern | fess | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 23K | ★ 1.1K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-20 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.2K | ⑂ 175 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Skyvern if
- You weight community size — 23K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick fess if
- You want the fess feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and fess fits your workflow better
About Skyvern
Skyvern is an open source Python project for automating browser based workflows with LLMs and computer vision. It lives in the browser automation and AI agent ecosystem, and it provides a Playwright compatible SDK that adds AI functionality on top of Playwright. The project also includes a no code workflow builder, so technical users can work through code while non technical users can define tasks through the interface.
read the full Skyvern overview →
About fess
Fess is an open source, self hosted enterprise and site search server built on OpenSearch, intended for teams and site owners who need to crawl, index, and search their own web, file, database, and cloud content without sending it to a hosted search provider.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Skyvern or fess more popular?
Skyvern has 23,039 GitHub stars and fess has 1,137. Skyvern has the larger community by that measure.
Are Skyvern and fess free?
Both are open source. Skyvern is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and fess under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Skyvern and fess?
Skyvern is written in Python and fess in Java. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Skyvern or fess?
Choose Skyvern if you want the larger community (23,039 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose fess if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.