head to head · open source
Helium vs thorium
Helium has 20,799 GitHub stars, 587 forks, 490 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. thorium has 7,515 stars, 283 forks, 140 open issues and last shipped 28 days ago. Helium leads on adoption by 177% (20,799 vs 7,515 stars). Helium is written in C++ under GPL-3.0; thorium is written in C++ under BSD-3-Clause. Helium has attracted 3% as many forks as stars, thorium 4%. Helium 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
| Helium | thorium | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 21K | ★ 7.5K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Written in | C++ | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-08-23 |
| Forks | ⑂ 587 | ⑂ 283 |
| 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 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 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 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 Helium or thorium more popular?
Helium has 20,799 GitHub stars and thorium has 7,515. Helium has the larger community by that measure.
Are Helium and thorium free?
Both are open source. Helium is licensed under GPL-3.0 and thorium under BSD-3-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Helium and thorium?
Helium is written in C++ 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, Helium or thorium?
Choose Helium if you want the larger community (20,799 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose thorium if its feature set, stack or BSD-3-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.