head to head · open source
Ladybird vs emacs-application-framework
Ladybird has 66,807 GitHub stars, 3,194 forks, 535 open issues and last shipped yesterday. emacs-application-framework has 3,497 stars, 247 forks, 21 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. Ladybird leads on adoption by 1,810% (66,807 vs 3,497 stars). Ladybird is written in C++ under BSD-2-Clause; emacs-application-framework is written in Python under GPL-3.0. Ladybird has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, emacs-application-framework 7%. 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 | emacs-application-framework | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 67K | ★ 3.5K |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C++ | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-08-23 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.2K | ⑂ 247 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Ladybird if
- You weight community size — 67K 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 emacs-application-framework if
- You want the emacs-application-framework feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and emacs-application-framework fits your workflow better
About Ladybird
Ladybird Ladybird is a truly independent web browser, using a novel engine based on web standards. [!IMPORTANT] Ladybird is in a pre alpha state, and only suitable for use by developers Features We aim to build a complete, usable browser for the modern web. Ladybird uses a multi process architecture with a main UI process, several WebContent renderer processes, an ImageDecoder process, and a RequestServer process. Image decoding and network connections are done out of process to be more robust against malicious content. Each tab has its own renderer process, which is sandboxed from the rest of the system. At the…
read the full Ladybird overview →
About emacs-application-framework
English 简体中文 A free/libre and open source extensible framework that revolutionizes the graphical capabilities of Emacs. The key to ultimately Live in Emacs Vision Emacs, the extensible text editor , is more than 45 years old. It is older than virtually all operating systems people use today, almost as old as the first UNIX system. During the decades of development, the world's brightest hackers have contributed their intelligence and creativity. Together they've constructed the most comprehensive and richest ecosystem that you can find in any software to date. If you are a hacker who works with numerous…
read the full emacs-application-framework overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Ladybird or emacs-application-framework more popular?
Ladybird has 66,807 GitHub stars and emacs-application-framework has 3,497. Ladybird has the larger community by that measure.
Are Ladybird and emacs-application-framework free?
Both are open source. Ladybird is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and emacs-application-framework under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Ladybird and emacs-application-framework?
Ladybird is written in C++ and emacs-application-framework in Python. 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 emacs-application-framework?
Choose Ladybird if you want the larger community (66,807 stars) or its BSD-2-Clause licence terms. Choose emacs-application-framework if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.