head to head · open source
Zen Browser vs feathers
Zen Browser has 44,481 GitHub stars, 1,754 forks, 689 open issues and last shipped yesterday. feathers has 15,263 stars, 798 forks, 121 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. Zen Browser leads on adoption by 191% (44,481 vs 15,263 stars). Zen Browser is written in C++ under MPL-2.0; feathers is written in TypeScript under MIT. Zen Browser has attracted 4% as many forks as stars, feathers 5%. Zen Browser was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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
| Zen Browser | feathers | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 44K | ★ 15K |
| License | MPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | C++ | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-11 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.8K | ⑂ 798 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Zen Browser if
- You weight community size — 44K stars and counting
- You want the MPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick feathers if
- You want the feathers feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and feathers fits your workflow better
About Zen Browser
Zen Browser is a privacy focused, open source web browser built on Firefox’s Gecko engine. It inherits Firefox’s compatibility and extension ecosystem while introducing a streamlined interface and productivity oriented features. The project lives in the desktop browser ecosystem, targeting users who want a Firefox based experience with reduced clutter and enhanced customization.
read the full Zen Browser overview →
About feathers
Feathers is a full stack framework for creating web APIs and real time applications with TypeScript or JavaScript. It lives in the Node.js and npm ecosystem, and it is published as a set of packages, with the core available as @feathersjs/feathers . The project has existed for roughly 15 years and is maintained under the MIT license by its contributors.
read the full feathers overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Zen Browser or feathers more popular?
Zen Browser has 44,481 GitHub stars and feathers has 15,263. Zen Browser has the larger community by that measure.
Are Zen Browser and feathers free?
Both are open source. Zen Browser is licensed under MPL-2.0 and feathers under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Zen Browser and feathers?
Zen Browser is written in C++ and feathers 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, Zen Browser or feathers?
Choose Zen Browser if you want the larger community (44,481 stars) or its MPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose feathers if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.