head to head · open source
Ladybird vs Linguist
Ladybird has 66,237 GitHub stars, 3,163 forks, 535 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Linguist has 1,060 stars, 49 forks, 267 open issues and last shipped 10 days ago. Ladybird leads on adoption by 6,149% (66,237 vs 1,060 stars). Ladybird is written in C++ under BSD-2-Clause; Linguist is written in TypeScript under BSD-3-Clause. Ladybird has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, Linguist 5%. 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 | Linguist | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 66K | ★ 1.1K |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | BSD-3-Clause |
| Written in | C++ | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-08 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.2K | ⑂ 49 |
| 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 Linguist if
- You want the Linguist feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Linguist 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 Linguist
Linguist is an open source browser extension, written in TypeScript and released under the BSD 3 Clause licence, that translates web pages, highlighted text, subtitles, and text inputs directly inside the browser. It lives in the browser extension ecosystem, with builds for Firefox, Chrome, and other browsers that support extensions, and it positions itself as a standalone translation system rather than a thin wrapper around a commercial translation widget. The project declares support for 130 languages and publishes its documentation and downloads through linguister.io and its GitHub releases page.…
read the full Linguist overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Ladybird or Linguist more popular?
Ladybird has 66,237 GitHub stars and Linguist has 1,060. Ladybird has the larger community by that measure.
Are Ladybird and Linguist free?
Both are open source. Ladybird is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and Linguist under BSD-3-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Ladybird and Linguist?
Ladybird is written in C++ and Linguist 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 Linguist?
Choose Ladybird if you want the larger community (66,237 stars) or its BSD-2-Clause licence terms. Choose Linguist if its feature set, stack or BSD-3-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.