head to head · open source
Ladybird vs lightning-browser-extension
Ladybird has 66,240 GitHub stars, 3,162 forks, 535 open issues and last shipped yesterday. lightning-browser-extension has 584 stars, 226 forks, 237 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Ladybird leads on adoption by 11,242% (66,240 vs 584 stars). Ladybird is written in C++ under BSD-2-Clause; lightning-browser-extension is written in TypeScript under MIT. Ladybird has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, lightning-browser-extension 39%. 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 | lightning-browser-extension | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 66K | ★ 584 |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | MIT |
| Written in | C++ | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.2K | ⑂ 226 |
| 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 lightning-browser-extension if
- You want the lightning-browser-extension feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and lightning-browser-extension 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 lightning-browser-extension
The Alby lightning browser extension is an open source, MIT licensed Bitcoin Lightning browser extension that exposes a WebLN wallet interface to multiple Lightning nodes and acts as a key signer for Nostr, Liquid and onchain use, built for people who want Lightning payments and authentication to happen inside an ordinary web browser.
read the full lightning-browser-extension overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Ladybird or lightning-browser-extension more popular?
Ladybird has 66,240 GitHub stars and lightning-browser-extension has 584. Ladybird has the larger community by that measure.
Are Ladybird and lightning-browser-extension free?
Both are open source. Ladybird is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and lightning-browser-extension under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Ladybird and lightning-browser-extension?
Ladybird is written in C++ and lightning-browser-extension 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 lightning-browser-extension?
Choose Ladybird if you want the larger community (66,240 stars) or its BSD-2-Clause licence terms. Choose lightning-browser-extension if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.