head to head · open source
stagehand vs browser-search
stagehand has 25,946 GitHub stars, 1,809 forks, 376 open issues and last shipped yesterday. browser-search has 540 stars, 42 forks, 1 open issues and last shipped 14 days ago. stagehand leads on adoption by 4,705% (25,946 vs 540 stars). stagehand is written in TypeScript under MIT; browser-search is written in JavaScript under MIT. stagehand has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, browser-search 8%. stagehand was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (ai, browser-automation), 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
| stagehand | browser-search | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 26K | ★ 540 |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-10-22 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.8K | ⑂ 42 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick stagehand if
- You weight community size — 26K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick browser-search if
- You want the browser-search feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and browser-search fits your workflow better
About stagehand
Stagehand is the SDK to extract data and interact with any site on the web. Playwright was built for testing. Stagehand is built for agents, in TypeScript, Python, and Go. Docs · Quickstart · ⭐ Star this repo AI that uses the browser like humans. Sign in once, keep the session, and pull structured data out the other side. Python Go Install Python Go Local runs need Chrome installed. Full setup: Quickstart. Why Stagehand Token efficiency Hybrid accessibilit
read the full stagehand overview →
About browser-search
browser search =20" A skill for AI agents. OpenCode, Claude Code, Cursor, OpenClaw and beyond. Search the web with SearXNG, browse with Camofox, bypass protections with CloakBrowser. Anti hallucination by design. All self hosted, free, unlimited. English · 简体中文 · Español · 日本語 · 한국어 · Português (Brasil) · Français · Deutsch · Русский · العربية · हिन्दी · Italiano Why it exists Today an AI agent browsing the web is like a thief in a balaclava sneaking around a police academy. The site protections block it, challenge it, reject it. 👮 browser search flips the situation: your agent stops being the thief and becomes…
read the full browser-search overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is stagehand or browser-search more popular?
stagehand has 25,946 GitHub stars and browser-search has 540. stagehand has the larger community by that measure.
Are stagehand and browser-search free?
Both are open source. stagehand is licensed under MIT and browser-search under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between stagehand and browser-search?
stagehand is written in TypeScript and browser-search in JavaScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, stagehand or browser-search?
Choose stagehand if you want the larger community (25,946 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose browser-search if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.