head to head · open source
Ladybird vs Thorium-Android
Ladybird has 66,237 GitHub stars, 3,163 forks, 535 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Thorium-Android has 785 stars, 12 forks, 13 open issues and last shipped 26 days ago. Ladybird leads on adoption by 8,338% (66,237 vs 785 stars). Ladybird is written in C++ under BSD-2-Clause; Thorium-Android is written in various languages under BSD-3-Clause. Ladybird has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, Thorium-Android 2%. 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 | Thorium-Android | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 66K | ★ 785 |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | BSD-3-Clause |
| Written in | C++ | — |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-08-23 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.2K | ⑂ 12 |
| 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 Thorium-Android if
- You want the Thorium-Android feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the BSD-3-Clause license terms
- You evaluated both and Thorium-Android 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 Thorium-Android
Thorium Android is a repository that serves builds of Thorium for Android. It supports both arm32 and arm64 architectures, and the README describes it as a separate repository for Android builds. The project lives in the Android and Chromium ecosystem, because Thorium is a browser, the repository is categorized under Browsers & Extensions, and the topic list includes chromium.
read the full Thorium-Android overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Ladybird or Thorium-Android more popular?
Ladybird has 66,237 GitHub stars and Thorium-Android has 785. Ladybird has the larger community by that measure.
Are Ladybird and Thorium-Android free?
Both are open source. Ladybird is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and Thorium-Android under BSD-3-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Ladybird and Thorium-Android?
Ladybird is written in C++ and Thorium-Android in various languages. 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 Thorium-Android?
Choose Ladybird if you want the larger community (66,237 stars) or its BSD-2-Clause licence terms. Choose Thorium-Android if its feature set, stack or BSD-3-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.