head to head · open source
Ladybird vs reynard-browser
Ladybird has 66,237 GitHub stars, 3,163 forks, 535 open issues and last shipped yesterday. reynard-browser has 1,673 stars, 128 forks, 10 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Ladybird leads on adoption by 3,859% (66,237 vs 1,673 stars). Ladybird is written in C++ under BSD-2-Clause; reynard-browser is written in Swift under GPL-3.0. Ladybird has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, reynard-browser 8%. 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 | reynard-browser | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 66K | ★ 1.7K |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C++ | Swift |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.2K | ⑂ 128 |
| 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 reynard-browser if
- You want the reynard-browser feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Swift
- You evaluated both and reynard-browser 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 reynard-browser
Reynard Browser is an experimental Gecko based web browser for iOS 13 and later, written in Swift under GPL 3.0. It lives in the iOS browser ecosystem, where Safari and other App Store browsers must use Apple's WebKit engine. Reynard instead uses Gecko, the engine that powers Firefox on desktop and Android, giving iOS users a different browser stack.
read the full reynard-browser overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Ladybird or reynard-browser more popular?
Ladybird has 66,237 GitHub stars and reynard-browser has 1,673. Ladybird has the larger community by that measure.
Are Ladybird and reynard-browser free?
Both are open source. Ladybird is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and reynard-browser under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Ladybird and reynard-browser?
Ladybird is written in C++ and reynard-browser in Swift. 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 reynard-browser?
Choose Ladybird if you want the larger community (66,237 stars) or its BSD-2-Clause licence terms. Choose reynard-browser if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.