Piggy vs Other Scraping Tools
How Nothing Browser Piggy compares to other browser automation libraries.
Quick Comparison
| Feature | Piggy | Puppeteer | Playwright |
|---|---|---|---|
| Library size | ~50KB | ~50MB | ~50MB |
| Communication | Socket | CDP (WebSocket) | CDP (WebSocket) |
| Anti-detection | ✅ Built-in | ❌ Plugins | ❌ Plugins |
| Fingerprint spoofing | ✅ DocumentCreation | ❌ Runtime (detectable) | ❌ Runtime |
| Proxy rotation | ✅ Built-in | ❌ Manual | ❌ Manual |
| WebSocket capture | ✅ Built-in | ❌ Manual | ❌ Manual |
| Built-in API server | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Lines to scrape | ~20 | 80-200 | 80-200 |
Why Piggy is Different
Communication
Piggy uses direct socket communication (Unix domain socket / Windows named pipe). Puppeteer/Playwright use CDP over WebSocket.
Anti-Detection
Piggy injects fingerprint spoofing at DocumentCreation — before any page JavaScript runs. Puppeteer injects at runtime, which is detectable.
Library Size
Piggy is just a command mapper — ~50KB. Puppeteer is ~50MB because it reimplements the entire CDP.
When to Use What
| Use Case | Recommended |
|---|---|
| Scraping with anti-detection | Piggy |
| Testing web apps | Playwright |
| Simple Chrome automation | Puppeteer |
| Cross-browser testing | Playwright |
| Production scraping pipeline | Piggy |
Version Compatibility
Piggy consists of two parts:
- Library (
nothing-browsernpm package) - Binary (downloaded separately)
These versions are independent and can be mixed.
| Library | Binary | Works? |
|---|---|---|
| Old | Old | ✅ |
| Old | New | ✅ (old features only) |
| New | Old | ⚠️ (new features unavailable) |
| New | New | ✅ (all features) |
See Version Compatibility for details.
Nothing Ecosystem · Ernest Tech House · Kenya · 2026