head to head · open source
Helium vs BrowserOS
Helium has 20,799 GitHub stars, 587 forks, 490 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. BrowserOS has 13,718 stars, 1,459 forks, 82 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Helium leads on adoption by 52% (20,799 vs 13,718 stars). Helium is written in C++ under GPL-3.0; BrowserOS is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. Helium has attracted 3% as many forks as stars, BrowserOS 11%. BrowserOS 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
| Helium | BrowserOS | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 21K | ★ 14K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C++ | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 587 | ⑂ 1.5K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Helium if
- You weight community size — 21K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- 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 Helium
Helium is an open source desktop web browser built around the Chromium project. It lives in the Chromium browser ecosystem and is published as a C++ project under the GPL 3.0 license, with imported code retaining its original license. The project describes itself as private, fast, and honest, and as a privacy first browser with ad blocking and no bloat.
read the full Helium overview →
About BrowserOS
BrowserOS is an open source agentic browser, written in TypeScript under AGPL 3.0, that puts AI agents inside a real Chromium browser on the user's own machine so they can work with real logged in accounts, and it is aimed at people who already use an agent harness such as Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, or any MCP agent and want that agent to handle web tasks instead of a sandbox.
read the full BrowserOS overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Helium or BrowserOS more popular?
Helium has 20,799 GitHub stars and BrowserOS has 13,718. Helium has the larger community by that measure.
Are Helium and BrowserOS free?
Both are open source. Helium is licensed under GPL-3.0 and BrowserOS under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Helium and BrowserOS?
Helium is written in C++ 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, Helium or BrowserOS?
Choose Helium if you want the larger community (20,799 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose BrowserOS if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.