head to head · open source
Ladybird vs Brave
Ladybird has 66,237 GitHub stars, 3,163 forks, 535 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Brave has 23,659 stars, 3,214 forks, 10,752 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Ladybird leads on adoption by 180% (66,237 vs 23,659 stars). Ladybird is written in C++ under BSD-2-Clause; Brave is written in various languages under MPL-2.0. Ladybird has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, Brave 14%. Ladybird was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (browser), 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
| Ladybird | Brave | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 66K | ★ 24K |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | MPL-2.0 |
| Written in | C++ | — |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.2K | ⑂ 3.2K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Ladybird if
- You weight community size — 66K stars and counting
- You want the BSD-2-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Brave if
- You want the Brave feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MPL-2.0 license terms
- You evaluated both and Brave fits your workflow better
About Ladybird
Ladybird is a truly independent web browser and browser engine, written from scratch in C++ rather than as a fork of any existing engine, and it is built for developers who want to work on a browser engine based on web standards while it remains in a pre alpha state.
read the full Ladybird overview →
About Brave
Brave is a Chromium based web browser for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS, released under the MPL 2.0 licence, and this repository is the project's public issue tracker, release channel, and developer wiki rather than the home of its source code.
read the full Brave overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Ladybird or Brave more popular?
Ladybird has 66,237 GitHub stars and Brave has 23,659. Ladybird has the larger community by that measure.
Are Ladybird and Brave free?
Both are open source. Ladybird is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and Brave under MPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Ladybird and Brave?
Ladybird is written in C++ and Brave 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, Ladybird or Brave?
Choose Ladybird if you want the larger community (66,237 stars) or its BSD-2-Clause licence terms. Choose Brave if its feature set, stack or MPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.