head to head · open source
Helium vs Thorium-Android
Helium has 22,337 GitHub stars, 683 forks, 490 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. Thorium-Android has 802 stars, 14 forks, 13 open issues and last shipped 25 days ago. Helium leads on adoption by 2,685% (22,337 vs 802 stars). Helium is written in C++ under GPL-3.0; Thorium-Android is written in various languages under BSD-3-Clause. Helium has attracted 3% as many forks as stars, Thorium-Android 2%. 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-Android | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 22K | ★ 802 |
| License | GPL-3.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Written in | C++ | — |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-11 |
| Forks | ⑂ 683 | ⑂ 14 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Helium if
- You weight community size — 22K 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-Android if
- You want the Thorium-Android feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- You evaluated both and Thorium-Android fits your workflow better
About Helium
Helium The Chromium based web browser made for people, with love. Privacy first with unbiased ad blocking. No bloat and no noise. helium.computer Downloads [!NOTE] Helium is currently in beta, so unexpected issues may occur. Please report them if they haven't already been reported. The easiest way to download Helium is helium.computer. It'll pick a compatible binary for your platform automatically. The same releases can also be downloaded from source on GitHub: Latest macOS release Latest Linux release Latest Windows release Helium repos All Helium packaging, tooling, services, and components are open source and…
read the full Helium overview →
About Thorium-Android
Thorium Browser for Android – Simply a seperate repo to serve builds of Thorium for Android. Both arm32 and arm64 are supported. The main repo (and Linux builds) are located at Thanks for using Thorium!
read the full Thorium-Android overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Helium or Thorium-Android more popular?
Helium has 22,337 GitHub stars and Thorium-Android has 802. Helium has the larger community by that measure.
Are Helium and Thorium-Android free?
Both are open source. Helium is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Thorium-Android under BSD-3-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Helium and Thorium-Android?
Helium is written in C++ and Thorium-Android in various languages. 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-Android?
Choose Helium if you want the larger community (22,337 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Thorium-Android if its feature set, stack or BSD-3-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.