head to head · open source
chromium vs thorium
chromium has 24,799 GitHub stars, 9,244 forks, 28 open issues and last shipped yesterday. thorium has 7,508 stars, 283 forks, 140 open issues and last shipped 26 days ago. chromium leads on adoption by 230% (24,799 vs 7,508 stars). chromium is written in various languages under BSD-3-Clause; thorium is written in C++ under BSD-3-Clause. chromium has attracted 37% as many forks as stars, thorium 4%. chromium was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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 | thorium | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 25K | ★ 7.5K |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | BSD-3-Clause |
| Written in | — | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-08-23 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.2K | ⑂ 283 |
| 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 thorium if
- You want the thorium feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and thorium fits your workflow better
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 →
About thorium
Thorium is a BSD 3 Clause licensed Chromium fork, written in C++ and named after radioactive element No. 90, that ships optimised Linux builds here while Windows, macOS, Android and Raspberry Pi builds live in companion repositories.
read the full thorium overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is chromium or thorium more popular?
chromium has 24,799 GitHub stars and thorium has 7,508. chromium has the larger community by that measure.
Are chromium and thorium free?
Both are open source. chromium is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and thorium under BSD-3-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between chromium and thorium?
chromium is written in various languages and thorium in C++. 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 thorium?
Choose chromium if you want the larger community (24,799 stars) or its BSD-3-Clause licence terms. Choose thorium if its feature set, stack or BSD-3-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.