head to head · open source
Helium vs chatGPTBox
Helium has 20,739 GitHub stars, 579 forks, 490 open issues and last shipped yesterday. chatGPTBox has 10,755 stars, 874 forks, 211 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Helium leads on adoption by 93% (20,739 vs 10,755 stars). Helium is written in C++ under GPL-3.0; chatGPTBox is written in JavaScript under MIT. Helium has attracted 3% as many forks as stars, chatGPTBox 8%. Helium 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
| Helium | chatGPTBox | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 21K | ★ 11K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | C++ | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 579 | ⑂ 874 |
| 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 chatGPTBox if
- You want the chatGPTBox feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and chatGPTBox 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 chatGPTBox
chatGPTBox is a free, MIT licensed browser extension that puts deep ChatGPT and multi model AI integration into Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari, and Android, aimed at people who want assistant features on any page rather than in a separate tab.
read the full chatGPTBox overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Helium or chatGPTBox more popular?
Helium has 20,739 GitHub stars and chatGPTBox has 10,755. Helium has the larger community by that measure.
Are Helium and chatGPTBox free?
Both are open source. Helium is licensed under GPL-3.0 and chatGPTBox under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Helium and chatGPTBox?
Helium is written in C++ and chatGPTBox 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, Helium or chatGPTBox?
Choose Helium if you want the larger community (20,739 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose chatGPTBox if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.