head to head · open source
stagehand vs browserless
stagehand has 25,934 GitHub stars, 1,808 forks, 376 open issues and last shipped yesterday. browserless has 1,845 stars, 93 forks, 6 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. stagehand leads on adoption by 1,306% (25,934 vs 1,845 stars). stagehand is written in TypeScript under MIT; browserless is written in JavaScript under MIT. stagehand has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, browserless 5%. stagehand 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
| stagehand | browserless | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 26K | ★ 1.8K |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.8K | ⑂ 93 |
| 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 browserless if
- You want the browserless feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and browserless 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
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About browserless
The headless Chrome/Chromium driver on top of Puppeteer. Highlights Installation Usage The cloud API solution CLI Initializing a browser .constructor(options) .createContext(options) .browser() .respawn() .close() Built in .html(url, options) .text(url, options) .pdf(url, options) .screenshot(url, options) .destroyContext(options) .getDevice(options) .evaluate(fn, gotoOpts) .goto(page, options) .context() [.withPage(fn, \[options\])]( withpagefn options) [.page(\[name\])]( pagename) Extended ai function lighthouse screencast Packages FAQ License Highlights Compatible with Puppeteer API (text, screenshot, html…
read the full browserless overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is stagehand or browserless more popular?
stagehand has 25,934 GitHub stars and browserless has 1,845. stagehand has the larger community by that measure.
Are stagehand and browserless free?
Both are open source. stagehand is licensed under MIT and browserless under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between stagehand and browserless?
stagehand is written in TypeScript and browserless 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 browserless?
Choose stagehand if you want the larger community (25,934 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose browserless if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.