head to head · open source
chromium vs BrowserOS
chromium has 25,235 GitHub stars, 9,398 forks, 28 open issues and last shipped today. BrowserOS has 14,245 stars, 1,531 forks, 82 open issues and last shipped today. chromium leads on adoption by 77% (25,235 vs 14,245 stars). chromium is written in various languages under BSD-3-Clause; BrowserOS is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. chromium has attracted 37% as many forks as stars, BrowserOS 11%. chromium was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (browser, chromium), 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
| chromium | BrowserOS | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 25K | ★ 14K |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | — | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-11-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.4K | ⑂ 1.5K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick chromium if
- You weight community size — 25K stars and counting
- You want the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick BrowserOS if
- You want the BrowserOS feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and BrowserOS fits your workflow better
About chromium
Chromium Chromium is an open source browser project that aims to build a safer, faster, and more stable way for all users to experience the web. The project's web site is To check out the source code locally, don't use git clone ! Instead, follow the instructions on how to get the code. Documentation in the source is rooted in docs/README.md. Learn how to Get Around the Chromium Source Code Directory Structure. For historical reasons, there are some small top level directories. Now the guidance is that new top level directories are for product (e.g. Chrome, Android WebView, Ash). Even if these products have…
read the full chromium overview →
About BrowserOS
Website · Docs · Enterprise Free · Open source · Everything runs on your machine A second browser, just for your AI agents. Import your logins from Chrome in one click, connect Claude Code, Codex, or any MCP agent, and hand off your web tasks. Agents run in parallel in their own tabs. You watch live, or replay any session like a video. BrowserOS neo is not a Chrome replacement. It is a secondary browser that sits next to Chrome, made friendly to agents. Get started 1. Install BrowserOS neo Prefer a direct download? Grab it for macOS or Windows. 2. Import from Chrome One click brings over your logins, bookmarks…
read the full BrowserOS overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is chromium or BrowserOS more popular?
chromium has 25,235 GitHub stars and BrowserOS has 14,245. chromium has the larger community by that measure.
Are chromium and BrowserOS free?
Both are open source. chromium is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and BrowserOS under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between chromium and BrowserOS?
chromium is written in various languages and BrowserOS 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, chromium or BrowserOS?
Choose chromium if you want the larger community (25,235 stars) or its BSD-3-Clause licence terms. Choose BrowserOS if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.