head to head · open source
Ladybird vs happy-dom
Ladybird has 66,240 GitHub stars, 3,162 forks, 535 open issues and last shipped today. happy-dom has 4,654 stars, 323 forks, 444 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. Ladybird leads on adoption by 1,323% (66,240 vs 4,654 stars). Ladybird is written in C++ under BSD-2-Clause; happy-dom is written in TypeScript under MIT. Ladybird has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, happy-dom 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.
← all 8884 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Ladybird | happy-dom | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 66K | ★ 4.7K |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | MIT |
| Written in | C++ | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-12 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.2K | ⑂ 323 |
| 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 happy-dom if
- You want the happy-dom feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and happy-dom 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 happy-dom
happy dom is a JavaScript implementation of a web browser without its graphical user interface, written in TypeScript, MIT licensed, and built for developers who need a browser like DOM inside Node.js or Bun instead of inside an actual browser window.
read the full happy-dom overview →
More in Productivity & Utilities
Related comparisons
More Browsers & Extensions projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Browsers & Extensions field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Ladybird or happy-dom more popular?
Ladybird has 66,240 GitHub stars and happy-dom has 4,654. Ladybird has the larger community by that measure.
Are Ladybird and happy-dom free?
Both are open source. Ladybird is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and happy-dom under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Ladybird and happy-dom?
Ladybird is written in C++ and happy-dom in TypeScript. 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 happy-dom?
Choose Ladybird if you want the larger community (66,240 stars) or its BSD-2-Clause licence terms. Choose happy-dom if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.