head to head · open source
Steel vs OpenSERP
Steel has 7,916 GitHub stars, 1,004 forks, 68 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. OpenSERP has 1,550 stars, 184 forks, 20 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Steel leads on adoption by 411% (7,916 vs 1,550 stars). Steel is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0; OpenSERP is written in Go under MIT. Steel has attracted 13% as many forks as stars, OpenSERP 12%. Steel was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (ai-agents, 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
| Steel | OpenSERP | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 7.9K | ★ 1.6K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.0K | ⑂ 184 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Steel if
- You weight community size — 7.9K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick OpenSERP if
- You want the OpenSERP feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and OpenSERP fits your workflow better
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 →
About OpenSERP
OpenSERP OpenSERP is a free, open source SERP API and CLI for Google, Yandex, Baidu, Bing, DuckDuckGo, and Ecosia. No API keys, no per search billing: one command gives you live, structured search results on localhost including engines the paid APIs don't cover. Use it as a search tool for LLMs and agents, or as a backend for SEO rank tracking. If you'd rather not run infrastructure, there is a hosted version with the same API. Features Dedicated endpoints for six engines, same JSON schema across all of them Megasearch one query across several engines at once, merged and deduped URL extraction search results…
read the full OpenSERP overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Steel or OpenSERP more popular?
Steel has 7,916 GitHub stars and OpenSERP has 1,550. Steel has the larger community by that measure.
Are Steel and OpenSERP free?
Both are open source. Steel is licensed under Apache-2.0 and OpenSERP under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Steel and OpenSERP?
Steel is written in TypeScript and OpenSERP in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Steel or OpenSERP?
Choose Steel if you want the larger community (7,916 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose OpenSERP if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.