autobrr vs Skyvern
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted automation & workflows options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
autobrr
Automation tool for filtering and processing release feeds
VS
Skyvern
Automate browser workflows with LLMs and computer vision
| Feature | autobrr | Skyvern |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 87 · Excellent | 96 · Excellent |
| Category | Automation & Workflows | Automation & Workflows |
| License | GPL-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 4,096 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,077 | ★ 23,058 |
| First released | 2021 | 2024 |
| Replaces | Zapier | UiPath, Zapier |
What are autobrr and Skyvern?
autobrr
autobrr is an open-source automation tool that monitors IRC and RSS release feeds, applies filters, and triggers actions such as sending releases to download clients. It is fully self-hosted.
- IRC and RSS monitoring
- Powerful filtering rules
- Download client actions
- Web interface
Skyvern
Skyvern automates browser-based workflows by combining large language models with computer vision, allowing it to operate on websites it has never seen before. It runs as a self-hosted service with an API.
- LLM-driven browser automation
- Works on unseen sites
- Vision-based interaction
- Workflow API
autobrr vs Skyvern: key differences
Autobrr is written in Go, while Skyvern is built with Python. Licensing differs — GPL-2.0 for autobrr versus AGPL-3.0 for Skyvern. Autobrr is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 4,096 MB for Skyvern. Autobrr is the more established project (first released 2021), while Skyvern arrived in 2024. Skyvern has the considerably larger community, at 23,058 GitHub stars versus 3,077.
Why pick each one
Choose autobrr if…
- Released under the GPL-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (3.1k GitHub stars)
- Written in Go
Choose Skyvern if…
- Handles unseen websites
- Vision-based automation
- API-first design
Watch out for
- LLM costs add up
- Postgres required
Frequently asked questions
Is autobrr or Skyvern better?
Neither is universally better. Skyvern has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are autobrr and Skyvern free and open-source?
Yes. autobrr is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Skyvern under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run autobrr and Skyvern with Docker?
autobrr: yes. Skyvern: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, autobrr or Skyvern?
autobrr has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 4,096 MB for Skyvern. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.