head to head · open source
slate vs obscura
slate has 31,748 GitHub stars, 3,302 forks, 653 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. obscura has 27,331 stars, 2,005 forks, 134 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. slate leads on adoption by 16% (31,748 vs 27,331 stars). slate is written in TypeScript under MIT; obscura is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. slate has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, obscura 7%. obscura was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (browser), 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
| slate | obscura | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 32K | ★ 27K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-09-13 | 2026-09-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.3K | ⑂ 2.0K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick slate if
- You weight community size — 32K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick obscura if
- You want the obscura feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and obscura fits your workflow better
About slate
Slate is a completely customizable framework for building rich text editors, written in TypeScript and released under the MIT licence, for JavaScript and React developers who need an editor that goes well past what a fixed schema can offer.
read the full slate overview →
About obscura
Obscura is an open source headless browser engine written in Rust, built for web scraping and AI agent automation. It runs real JavaScript through V8, speaks the Chrome DevTools Protocol, and presents itself as a drop in replacement for headless Chrome when driven by Puppeteer or Playwright. The project lives in the browser automation and headless browser corner of the Rust ecosystem, and it ships under the Apache 2.0 license.
read the full obscura overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is slate or obscura more popular?
slate has 31,748 GitHub stars and obscura has 27,331. slate has the larger community by that measure.
Are slate and obscura free?
Both are open source. slate is licensed under MIT and obscura under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between slate and obscura?
slate is written in TypeScript and obscura in Rust. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, slate or obscura?
Choose slate if you want the larger community (31,748 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose obscura if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.