head to head · open source
Ladybird vs Lightning-Browser
Ladybird has 66,807 GitHub stars, 3,194 forks, 535 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Lightning-Browser has 2,452 stars, 860 forks, 354 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Ladybird leads on adoption by 2,625% (66,807 vs 2,452 stars). Ladybird is written in C++ under BSD-2-Clause; Lightning-Browser is written in Kotlin under MPL-2.0. Ladybird has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, Lightning-Browser 35%. 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 | Lightning-Browser | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 67K | ★ 2.5K |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | MPL-2.0 |
| Written in | C++ | Kotlin |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.2K | ⑂ 860 |
| 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 Lightning-Browser if
- You want the Lightning-Browser feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Kotlin
- You evaluated both and Lightning-Browser 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 Lightning-Browser
Lightning Browser Speed, Simplicity, Security Download Features Bookmarks History Multiple search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo, StartPage, DuckDuckGo, etc.) Incognito mode Unique utilization of navigation drawer or bottom drawer for tabs Customizable search suggestions Permissions Automatically granted INTERNET : necessary to access the internet. ACCESS NETWORK STATE : used by the browser to stop loading resources when network access is lost. INSTALL SHORTCUT : used to add shortcuts with the "Add to home screen" option. POST NOTIFICATIONS : used to display notifications. Requested only when needed WRITE EXTERNAL…
read the full Lightning-Browser overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Ladybird or Lightning-Browser more popular?
Ladybird has 66,807 GitHub stars and Lightning-Browser has 2,452. Ladybird has the larger community by that measure.
Are Ladybird and Lightning-Browser free?
Both are open source. Ladybird is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and Lightning-Browser under MPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Ladybird and Lightning-Browser?
Ladybird is written in C++ and Lightning-Browser in Kotlin. 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 Lightning-Browser?
Choose Ladybird if you want the larger community (66,807 stars) or its BSD-2-Clause licence terms. Choose Lightning-Browser if its feature set, stack or MPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.