head to head · open source
Ladybird vs SmartProxy
Ladybird has 66,237 GitHub stars, 3,163 forks, 535 open issues and last shipped yesterday. SmartProxy has 2,741 stars, 162 forks, 27 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Ladybird leads on adoption by 2,317% (66,237 vs 2,741 stars). Ladybird is written in C++ under BSD-2-Clause; SmartProxy is written in TypeScript under GPL-3.0. Ladybird has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, SmartProxy 6%. 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 | SmartProxy | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 66K | ★ 2.7K |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C++ | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.2K | ⑂ 162 |
| 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 SmartProxy if
- You want the SmartProxy feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and SmartProxy 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 SmartProxy
SmartProxy is a browser extension for Firefox, Chrome, and Edge, built with the WebExtensions and Chrome Extensions APIs. It lives in the browser extension ecosystem for productivity and utilities, and it focuses on proxy switching during normal web browsing. The project is written in TypeScript and distributed under the GPL 3.0 license.
read the full SmartProxy overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Ladybird or SmartProxy more popular?
Ladybird has 66,237 GitHub stars and SmartProxy has 2,741. Ladybird has the larger community by that measure.
Are Ladybird and SmartProxy free?
Both are open source. Ladybird is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and SmartProxy under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Ladybird and SmartProxy?
Ladybird is written in C++ and SmartProxy 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 SmartProxy?
Choose Ladybird if you want the larger community (66,237 stars) or its BSD-2-Clause licence terms. Choose SmartProxy if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.