head to head · open source
Ladybird vs plasmo
Ladybird has 66,237 GitHub stars, 3,163 forks, 535 open issues and last shipped yesterday. plasmo has 13,151 stars, 460 forks, 371 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Ladybird leads on adoption by 404% (66,237 vs 13,151 stars). Ladybird is written in C++ under BSD-2-Clause; plasmo is written in TypeScript under MIT. Ladybird has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, plasmo 3%. 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 | plasmo | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 66K | ★ 13K |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | MIT |
| Written in | C++ | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.2K | ⑂ 460 |
| 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 plasmo if
- You want the plasmo feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and plasmo 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 plasmo
Plasmo is an MIT licensed, TypeScript based browser extension framework that packages the build toolchain, manifest generation, and runtime APIs for Chrome, Edge, and Firefox add ons into a single SDK for React and TypeScript developers.
read the full plasmo overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Ladybird or plasmo more popular?
Ladybird has 66,237 GitHub stars and plasmo has 13,151. Ladybird has the larger community by that measure.
Are Ladybird and plasmo free?
Both are open source. Ladybird is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and plasmo under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Ladybird and plasmo?
Ladybird is written in C++ and plasmo 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 plasmo?
Choose Ladybird if you want the larger community (66,237 stars) or its BSD-2-Clause licence terms. Choose plasmo if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.