head to head · open source
serenity vs chromium
serenity has 33,840 GitHub stars, 3,541 forks, 739 open issues and last shipped yesterday. chromium has 24,799 stars, 9,244 forks, 28 open issues and last shipped yesterday. serenity leads on adoption by 36% (33,840 vs 24,799 stars). serenity is written in C++ under BSD-2-Clause; chromium is written in various languages under BSD-3-Clause. serenity has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, chromium 37%. chromium 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.
← all 8884 open source comparisons
Side by side
| serenity | chromium | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 34K | ★ 25K |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | BSD-3-Clause |
| Written in | C++ | — |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.5K | ⑂ 9.2K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick serenity if
- You weight community size — 34K 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 chromium if
- You want the chromium feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- You evaluated both and chromium fits your workflow better
About serenity
SerenityOS is a graphical Unix like operating system built for 64 bit x86, Arm, and RISC V computers. It is written in C++ and released under the BSD 2 Clause license, and it lives in the open source operating system ecosystem alongside other hobbyist and research kernels. The project describes itself as a love letter to 1990s user interfaces paired with a custom Unix like core, aiming for a marriage between the aesthetic of late 1990s productivity software and the power user accessibility of late 2000s Unix systems.
read the full serenity overview →
About chromium
The official GitHub mirror of the Chromium source — read only snapshot of the codebase behind the Chromium open source browser project, aimed at developers and packagers who need to read, build, or audit browser source rather than end users looking for a browser download.
read the full chromium overview →
More in Productivity & Utilities
Related comparisons
More Browsers & Extensions projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Browsers & Extensions field.
Frequently asked questions
Is serenity or chromium more popular?
serenity has 33,840 GitHub stars and chromium has 24,799. serenity has the larger community by that measure.
Are serenity and chromium free?
Both are open source. serenity is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and chromium under BSD-3-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between serenity and chromium?
serenity is written in C++ and chromium in various languages. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, serenity or chromium?
Choose serenity if you want the larger community (33,840 stars) or its BSD-2-Clause licence terms. Choose chromium if its feature set, stack or BSD-3-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.