head to head · open source
Ladybird vs Helium
Ladybird has 66,237 GitHub stars, 3,163 forks, 535 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Helium has 20,739 stars, 579 forks, 490 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Ladybird leads on adoption by 219% (66,237 vs 20,739 stars). Ladybird is written in C++ under BSD-2-Clause; Helium is written in C++ under GPL-3.0. Ladybird has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, Helium 3%. 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 | Helium | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 66K | ★ 21K |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C++ | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.2K | ⑂ 579 |
| 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 Helium if
- You want the Helium feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and Helium 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 Helium
Helium is an open source desktop web browser built around the Chromium project. It lives in the Chromium browser ecosystem and is published as a C++ project under the GPL 3.0 license, with imported code retaining its original license. The project describes itself as private, fast, and honest, and as a privacy first browser with ad blocking and no bloat.
read the full Helium 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 Helium more popular?
Ladybird has 66,237 GitHub stars and Helium has 20,739. Ladybird has the larger community by that measure.
Are Ladybird and Helium free?
Both are open source. Ladybird is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and Helium under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Ladybird and Helium?
Ladybird is written in C++ and Helium in C++. 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 Helium?
Choose Ladybird if you want the larger community (66,237 stars) or its BSD-2-Clause licence terms. Choose Helium if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.