Lightpanda vs Steel
Learn how Lightpanda and Steel differ in their key features, development activity, technology
stack and community adoption, so you can decide which of these browser automation for ai tools is best for you.
Learn how Lightpanda and Steel differ in their key features, development activity, technology stack and community adoption, so you can decide which of these browser automation for ai tools is best for you.
Lightpanda
Last 30 days
Last commit
2 hours agoRepository age
4 yearsLicense
AGPL-3.0Repository
lightpanda-io/browser
Steel
Last 30 days
Last commit
13 hours agoRepository age
2 yearsVersion
v0.5.4-betaLicense
Apache-2.0Self-hosted
YesRepository
steel-dev/steel-browser
Detailed Comparison
Lightpanda appears to have several advantages over Steel, particularly in popularity, growth and maturity. Consider your specific needs regarding popularity, growth, activity, technology, maturity, licensing and features when making your decision.
Lightpanda appears to have several advantages over Steel, particularly in popularity, growth and maturity. Consider your specific needs regarding popularity, growth, activity, technology, maturity, licensing and features when making your decision.
Community & Popularity
Lightpanda significantly outpaces Steel in community adoption with 35,639 stars compared to 7,708 stars on GitHub. This 4.6x difference suggests Lightpanda has a much larger and more active community. In terms of developer contributions, Lightpanda has 1,691 forks, indicating strong developer engagement.
Growth Momentum
Lightpanda is growing faster, adding 1,322 stars in the last 30 days (+3.9%) against adding 143 stars for Steel (+1.9%). Lightpanda is both larger and pulling further ahead.
Development Activity
Both projects show recent activity, with Lightpanda last updated 2 hours ago and Steel 13 hours ago.
Technology Stack
Lightpanda uses Golang, Rust, Zig while Steel leverages JavaScript, CSS, Bash, Typescript, JSX.
Project Maturity
Lightpanda has been in development longer, starting 4 years ago, compared to Steel which began 2 years ago. This 1.8-year head start suggests Lightpanda may have more mature features and established processes.
Licensing
The projects use different licenses: Lightpanda is licensed under AGPL-3.0 while Steel uses Apache-2.0. Consider the licensing requirements when choosing for your project.
Use Cases & Features
Both tools serve similar use cases in Browser Automation for AI. However, they also have distinct specializations: Lightpanda also focuses on Scraping Platforms & SDKs, Browser Automation.
Hosting & Deployment
Steel provides self-hosting options for complete data control and customization, while Lightpanda may be primarily cloud-based or require different deployment approaches.
Windshift – The self-hosted platform that replaces Jira.