head to head · open source
Ladybird vs serenity
Ladybird has 66,237 GitHub stars, 3,163 forks, 535 open issues and last shipped yesterday. serenity has 33,840 stars, 3,541 forks, 739 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Ladybird leads on adoption by 96% (66,237 vs 33,840 stars). Ladybird is written in C++ under BSD-2-Clause; serenity is written in C++ under BSD-2-Clause. Ladybird has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, serenity 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 | serenity | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 66K | ★ 34K |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | BSD-2-Clause |
| Written in | C++ | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.2K | ⑂ 3.5K |
| 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 serenity if
- You want the serenity feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-2-Clause license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and serenity 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 serenity
SerenityOS is a graphical Unix like operating system built for 64 bit x86, Arm, and RISC V computers. It is written in C++ and released under the BSD 2 Clause license, and it lives in the open source operating system ecosystem alongside other hobbyist and research kernels. The project describes itself as a love letter to 1990s user interfaces paired with a custom Unix like core, aiming for a marriage between the aesthetic of late 1990s productivity software and the power user accessibility of late 2000s Unix systems.
read the full serenity overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Ladybird or serenity more popular?
Ladybird has 66,237 GitHub stars and serenity has 33,840. Ladybird has the larger community by that measure.
Are Ladybird and serenity free?
Both are open source. Ladybird is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and serenity under BSD-2-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Ladybird and serenity?
Ladybird is written in C++ and serenity in C++. 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 serenity?
Choose Ladybird if you want the larger community (66,237 stars) or its BSD-2-Clause licence terms. Choose serenity if its feature set, stack or BSD-2-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.