head to head · open source
Ladybird vs luakit
Ladybird has 66,237 GitHub stars, 3,163 forks, 535 open issues and last shipped yesterday. luakit has 2,315 stars, 254 forks, 253 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. Ladybird leads on adoption by 2,761% (66,237 vs 2,315 stars). Ladybird is written in C++ under BSD-2-Clause; luakit is written in Lua under GPL-3.0. Ladybird has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, luakit 11%. 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 | luakit | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 66K | ★ 2.3K |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C++ | Lua |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-06-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.2K | ⑂ 254 |
| 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 luakit if
- You want the luakit feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Lua
- You evaluated both and luakit 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 luakit
Luakit is a fast, small, and simple micro browser framework built around the WebKit web content engine and the GTK+ toolkit. It is extensible by Lua, so browser behavior and user workflows can be shaped through Lua configuration files instead of only through fixed settings screens.
read the full luakit overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Ladybird or luakit more popular?
Ladybird has 66,237 GitHub stars and luakit has 2,315. Ladybird has the larger community by that measure.
Are Ladybird and luakit free?
Both are open source. Ladybird is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and luakit under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Ladybird and luakit?
Ladybird is written in C++ and luakit in Lua. 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 luakit?
Choose Ladybird if you want the larger community (66,237 stars) or its BSD-2-Clause licence terms. Choose luakit if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.