head to head · open source
lux vs Steel
lux has 31,821 GitHub stars, 3,331 forks, 545 open issues and last shipped 7 months ago. Steel has 7,916 stars, 1,004 forks, 68 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. lux leads on adoption by 302% (31,821 vs 7,916 stars). lux is written in Go under MIT; Steel is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. lux has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, Steel 13%. Steel 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
| lux | Steel | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 32K | ★ 7.9K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-03-29 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.3K | ⑂ 1.0K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick lux if
- You weight community size — 32K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- 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 lux
Lux Let there be Lux! 👾 Lux is a fast and simple video downloader built with Go. Installation Prerequisites Install via go install Homebrew (macOS only) Arch Linux Void Linux Scoop on Windows Chocolatey on Windows Cask on Windows/macOS/Linux Getting Started Download a video Download anything else Download playlist Multiple inputs Resume a download Auto retry Cookies Proxy Multi Thread Short link bilibili Use specified Referrer Specify the output path and name Debug Mode Reuse extracted data Options Download: Network: Playlist: Filesystem: Subtitle: Youku: aria2: Supported Sites Known issues 优酷 西瓜/头条视频…
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 lux or Steel more popular?
lux has 31,821 GitHub stars and Steel has 7,916. lux has the larger community by that measure.
Are lux and Steel free?
Both are open source. lux is licensed under MIT and Steel under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between lux and Steel?
lux is written in Go 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, lux or Steel?
Choose lux if you want the larger community (31,821 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Steel if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.