head to head · open source
Ladybird vs qutebrowser
Ladybird has 66,237 GitHub stars, 3,163 forks, 535 open issues and last shipped yesterday. qutebrowser has 11,693 stars, 1,129 forks, 1,335 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. Ladybird leads on adoption by 466% (66,237 vs 11,693 stars). Ladybird is written in C++ under BSD-2-Clause; qutebrowser is written in Python under GPL-3.0. Ladybird has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, qutebrowser 10%. Ladybird was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (browser), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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 | qutebrowser | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 66K | ★ 12K |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C++ | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.2K | ⑂ 1.1K |
| 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 qutebrowser if
- You want the qutebrowser feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and qutebrowser 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 qutebrowser
qutebrowser is a free, GPL 3.0 licensed, keyboard driven browser with a minimal GUI, built on Python and Qt, for people who want vim style keyboard control of the web rather than a mouse.
read the full qutebrowser overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Ladybird or qutebrowser more popular?
Ladybird has 66,237 GitHub stars and qutebrowser has 11,693. Ladybird has the larger community by that measure.
Are Ladybird and qutebrowser free?
Both are open source. Ladybird is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and qutebrowser under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Ladybird and qutebrowser?
Ladybird is written in C++ and qutebrowser in Python. 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 qutebrowser?
Choose Ladybird if you want the larger community (66,237 stars) or its BSD-2-Clause licence terms. Choose qutebrowser if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.