head to head · open source
Ladybird vs qutebrowser
Ladybird has 66,807 GitHub stars, 3,194 forks, 535 open issues and last shipped yesterday. qutebrowser has 11,735 stars, 1,139 forks, 1,335 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Ladybird leads on adoption by 469% (66,807 vs 11,735 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Ladybird | qutebrowser | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 67K | ★ 12K |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C++ | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.2K | ⑂ 1.1K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Ladybird if
- You weight community size — 67K 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 Ladybird is a truly independent web browser, using a novel engine based on web standards. [!IMPORTANT] Ladybird is in a pre alpha state, and only suitable for use by developers Features We aim to build a complete, usable browser for the modern web. Ladybird uses a multi process architecture with a main UI process, several WebContent renderer processes, an ImageDecoder process, and a RequestServer process. Image decoding and network connections are done out of process to be more robust against malicious content. Each tab has its own renderer process, which is sandboxed from the rest of the system. At the…
read the full Ladybird overview →
About qutebrowser
// SPDX License Identifier: GPL 3.0 or later // If you are reading this in plaintext or on PyPi: // // A rendered version is available at: // qutebrowser =========== // QUTE WEB HIDE image:qutebrowser/icons/qutebrowser 64x64.png[qutebrowser logo] A keyboard driven, vim like browser based on Python and Qt. image: Status", link=" image: badge",link=" link: link: link: // QUTE WEB HIDE END qutebrowser is a keyboard focused browser with a minimal GUI. It's based on Python and Qt and free software, licensed under the GPL. It was inspired by other browsers/addons like dwb and Vimperator/Pentadactyl. // QUTE WEB HIDE…
read the full qutebrowser overview →
More in Productivity & Utilities
Related comparisons
More Browsers & Extensions projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Browsers & Extensions field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Ladybird or qutebrowser more popular?
Ladybird has 66,807 GitHub stars and qutebrowser has 11,735. 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 (66,807 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.