head to head · open source
Ladybird vs chromium
Ladybird has 66,237 GitHub stars, 3,163 forks, 535 open issues and last shipped yesterday. chromium has 24,799 stars, 9,244 forks, 28 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Ladybird leads on adoption by 167% (66,237 vs 24,799 stars). Ladybird is written in C++ under BSD-2-Clause; chromium is written in various languages under BSD-3-Clause. Ladybird has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, chromium 37%. 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 | chromium | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 66K | ★ 25K |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | BSD-3-Clause |
| Written in | C++ | — |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.2K | ⑂ 9.2K |
| 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 chromium if
- You want the chromium feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- You evaluated both and chromium 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 chromium
The official GitHub mirror of the Chromium source — read only snapshot of the codebase behind the Chromium open source browser project, aimed at developers and packagers who need to read, build, or audit browser source rather than end users looking for a browser download.
read the full chromium overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Ladybird or chromium more popular?
Ladybird has 66,237 GitHub stars and chromium has 24,799. Ladybird has the larger community by that measure.
Are Ladybird and chromium free?
Both are open source. Ladybird is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and chromium under BSD-3-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Ladybird and chromium?
Ladybird is written in C++ and chromium 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 chromium?
Choose Ladybird if you want the larger community (66,237 stars) or its BSD-2-Clause licence terms. Choose chromium if its feature set, stack or BSD-3-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.