head to head · open source
Ladybird vs chrome-devtools-mcp
Ladybird has 66,237 GitHub stars, 3,163 forks, 535 open issues and last shipped yesterday. chrome-devtools-mcp has 52,197 stars, 3,990 forks, 109 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Ladybird leads on adoption by 27% (66,237 vs 52,197 stars). Ladybird is written in C++ under BSD-2-Clause; chrome-devtools-mcp is written in TypeScript under Apache-2.0. Ladybird has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, chrome-devtools-mcp 8%. Ladybird was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (browser), 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
| Ladybird | chrome-devtools-mcp | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 66K | ★ 52K |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | C++ | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.2K | ⑂ 4.0K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Ladybird if
- You weight community size — 66K stars and counting
- You want the BSD-2-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick chrome-devtools-mcp if
- You want the chrome-devtools-mcp 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 chrome-devtools-mcp fits your workflow better
About Ladybird
Ladybird is a truly independent web browser and browser engine, written from scratch in C++ rather than as a fork of any existing engine, and it is built for developers who want to work on a browser engine based on web standards while it remains in a pre alpha state.
read the full Ladybird overview →
About chrome-devtools-mcp
chrome devtools mcp is an Apache 2.0 TypeScript Model Context Protocol server, distributed on npm, that gives coding agents such as Claude, Cursor, Copilot and Antigravity control over and visibility into a live Chrome browser through the full Chrome DevTools toolset.
read the full chrome-devtools-mcp overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Ladybird or chrome-devtools-mcp more popular?
Ladybird has 66,237 GitHub stars and chrome-devtools-mcp has 52,197. Ladybird has the larger community by that measure.
Are Ladybird and chrome-devtools-mcp free?
Both are open source. Ladybird is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and chrome-devtools-mcp under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Ladybird and chrome-devtools-mcp?
Ladybird is written in C++ and chrome-devtools-mcp 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, Ladybird or chrome-devtools-mcp?
Choose Ladybird if you want the larger community (66,237 stars) or its BSD-2-Clause licence terms. Choose chrome-devtools-mcp if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.