head to head · open source
Godot vs waterfox
Godot has 117,369 GitHub stars, 26,777 forks, 18,870 open issues and last shipped yesterday. waterfox has 6,291 stars, 431 forks, 332 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. Godot leads on adoption by 1,766% (117,369 vs 6,291 stars). Godot is written in C++ under MIT; waterfox is written in JavaScript under a custom or non-standard licence. Godot has attracted 23% as many forks as stars, waterfox 7%. Godot 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
| Godot | waterfox | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 117K | ★ 6.3K |
| License | MIT | Custom / other |
| Written in | C++ | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-15 |
| Forks | ⑂ 27K | ⑂ 431 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Godot if
- You weight community size — 117K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick waterfox if
- You want the waterfox feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and waterfox fits your workflow better
About Godot
Godot Engine is a free, MIT licensed, cross platform 2D and 3D game engine that ships an editor, a class reference, export templates, and one click deployment to desktop, mobile, web and console targets, aimed at game developers who want to own their toolchain and their games without royalties.
read the full Godot overview →
About waterfox
Waterfox is an open source web browser built on Mozilla Firefox, with source code maintained in this repository. The project describes itself as a customisable browser based on the Mozilla Firefox codebase, and the tree contains both the upstream Mozilla platform code and the Waterfox specific product layer that sits on top of it. It lives in the JavaScript and Gecko browser ecosystem, sharing the rendering engine, build system and testing tooling that Mozilla maintains for Firefox. The browser is distributed to end users through the project's own website, while the source distribution here targets people who wan…
read the full waterfox overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Godot or waterfox more popular?
Godot has 117,369 GitHub stars and waterfox has 6,291. Godot has the larger community by that measure.
Are Godot and waterfox free?
Both are open source. Godot is licensed under MIT, and waterfox has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Godot and waterfox?
Godot is written in C++ and waterfox in JavaScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Godot or waterfox?
Choose Godot if you want the larger community (117,369 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose waterfox if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.