head to head · open source
Skyvern vs Steel
Skyvern has 23,336 GitHub stars, 2,233 forks, 234 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Steel has 7,908 stars, 1,002 forks, 68 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. Skyvern leads on adoption by 195% (23,336 vs 7,908 stars). Skyvern is written in Python under AGPL-3.0; Steel is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. Skyvern has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, Steel 13%. Skyvern was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (ai, browser-automation, 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 | Steel | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 23K | ★ 7.9K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-31 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.2K | ⑂ 1.0K |
| 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 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 Skyvern
🐉 Automate Browser based workflows using LLMs and Computer Vision 🐉 Skyvern automates browser based workflows using LLMs and computer vision. It provides a Playwright compatible SDK that adds AI functionality on top of playwright, as well as a no code workflow builder to help both technical and non technical users automate manual workflows on any website, replacing brittle or unreliable automation solutions. Traditional approaches to browser automations required writing custom scripts for websites, often relying on DOM parsing and XPath based interactions which would break whenever the website layouts changed…
read the full Skyvern 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 Skyvern or Steel more popular?
Skyvern has 23,336 GitHub stars and Steel has 7,908. Skyvern has the larger community by that measure.
Are Skyvern and Steel free?
Both are open source. Skyvern is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Steel under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Skyvern and Steel?
Skyvern 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, Skyvern or Steel?
Choose Skyvern if you want the larger community (23,336 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Steel if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.