head to head · open source
Ladybird vs mue
Ladybird has 66,240 GitHub stars, 3,162 forks, 535 open issues and last shipped yesterday. mue has 758 stars, 86 forks, 26 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. Ladybird leads on adoption by 8,639% (66,240 vs 758 stars). Ladybird is written in C++ under BSD-2-Clause; mue is written in JavaScript under BSD-3-Clause. Ladybird has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, mue 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 | mue | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 66K | ★ 758 |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | BSD-3-Clause |
| Written in | C++ | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-08-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.2K | ⑂ 86 |
| 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 mue if
- You want the mue feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and mue 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 mue
Mue is a fast, open source and free to use new tab page for modern browsers: a JavaScript web extension under the BSD 3 Clause licence that replaces the default new tab with a customisable, privacy focused start page, published for Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Whale with sideloadable builds on GitHub Releases.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Ladybird or mue more popular?
Ladybird has 66,240 GitHub stars and mue has 758. Ladybird has the larger community by that measure.
Are Ladybird and mue free?
Both are open source. Ladybird is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and mue under BSD-3-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Ladybird and mue?
Ladybird is written in C++ and mue 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 mue?
Choose Ladybird if you want the larger community (66,240 stars) or its BSD-2-Clause licence terms. Choose mue if its feature set, stack or BSD-3-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.