head to head · open source
Ladybird vs GhostText
Ladybird has 66,237 GitHub stars, 3,163 forks, 535 open issues and last shipped yesterday. GhostText has 3,641 stars, 133 forks, 40 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. Ladybird leads on adoption by 1,719% (66,237 vs 3,641 stars). Ladybird is written in C++ under BSD-2-Clause; GhostText is written in JavaScript under MIT. Ladybird has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, GhostText 4%. Ladybird was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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 | GhostText | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 66K | ★ 3.6K |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | MIT |
| Written in | C++ | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-05-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.2K | ⑂ 133 |
| 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 GhostText if
- You want the GhostText feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and GhostText 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 GhostText
GhostText is a JavaScript project that connects a browser text field to a local text editor. It lives in the browser extension and editor plugin ecosystem, with published versions for Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Sublime Text, Visual Studio Code, Emacs, Vim, Neovim, Helix, and another Ghost package listed in the README.
read the full GhostText overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Ladybird or GhostText more popular?
Ladybird has 66,237 GitHub stars and GhostText has 3,641. Ladybird has the larger community by that measure.
Are Ladybird and GhostText free?
Both are open source. Ladybird is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and GhostText under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Ladybird and GhostText?
Ladybird is written in C++ and GhostText in JavaScript. 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 GhostText?
Choose Ladybird if you want the larger community (66,237 stars) or its BSD-2-Clause licence terms. Choose GhostText if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.