head to head · open source
Ladybird vs hermes-browser-extension
Ladybird has 66,807 GitHub stars, 3,194 forks, 535 open issues and last shipped yesterday. hermes-browser-extension has 1,768 stars, 169 forks, 15 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Ladybird leads on adoption by 3,679% (66,807 vs 1,768 stars). Ladybird is written in C++ under BSD-2-Clause; hermes-browser-extension is written in JavaScript under MIT. Ladybird has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, hermes-browser-extension 10%. 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 | hermes-browser-extension | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 67K | ★ 1.8K |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | MIT |
| Written in | C++ | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.2K | ⑂ 169 |
| 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 hermes-browser-extension if
- You want the hermes-browser-extension feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and hermes-browser-extension 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 hermes-browser-extension
Hermes Browser Extension Browser native side panel for Hermes Agent — connect active web context through a local gateway, Hermes Cloud, or a self hosted remote gateway. Created by Jon Komet ( @abundantbeing ). Community extension for Hermes Agent by Nous Research. Public v0.3.2 · Load unpacked · Local / Hermes Cloud / Remote · Full Hermes runtime tools Not on the Chrome Web Store yet. What it is Hermes Browser Extension is not a browser chatbot. It is a Chrome/Edge/Chromium side panel for the real Hermes Agent runtime. Choose a local gateway, attach to a signed in Hermes Cloud agent tab, or connect to a self…
read the full hermes-browser-extension overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Ladybird or hermes-browser-extension more popular?
Ladybird has 66,807 GitHub stars and hermes-browser-extension has 1,768. Ladybird has the larger community by that measure.
Are Ladybird and hermes-browser-extension free?
Both are open source. Ladybird is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and hermes-browser-extension under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Ladybird and hermes-browser-extension?
Ladybird is written in C++ and hermes-browser-extension 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 hermes-browser-extension?
Choose Ladybird if you want the larger community (66,807 stars) or its BSD-2-Clause licence terms. Choose hermes-browser-extension if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.