head to head · open source
uBlock vs Ladybird
uBlock has 69,033 GitHub stars, 4,427 forks, 15 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Ladybird has 66,807 stars, 3,194 forks, 535 open issues and last shipped yesterday. uBlock leads on adoption by 3% (69,033 vs 66,807 stars). uBlock is written in JavaScript under GPL-3.0; Ladybird is written in C++ under BSD-2-Clause. uBlock has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, Ladybird 5%. uBlock 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
| uBlock | Ladybird | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 69K | ★ 67K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | BSD-2-Clause |
| Written in | JavaScript | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.4K | ⑂ 3.2K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick uBlock if
- You weight community size — 69K stars and counting
- You want the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Ladybird if
- You want the Ladybird 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 Ladybird fits your workflow better
About uBlock
[![Badge Commits]][Commit Rate] [![Badge Issues]][Issues] [![Badge Localization]][Crowdin] [![Badge License]][License] [![Badge NPM]][NPM] [![Badge Mozilla]][Mozilla] ![Badge Chrome] [![Badge Edge]][Edge] uBlock Origin (uBO) GitHub Releases Stable and development versions on Firefox, Chromium MV2, and Thunderbird. Must be placed manually into web browsers; the Chromium and Thunderbird versions usually won't auto update. Related: uBlock Origin Lite uBlock Origin (uBO) is a CPU and memory efficient [wide spectrum content blocker][Blocking] for Chromium and Firefox. It blocks ads, trackers, coin miners, popups…
read the full uBlock overview →
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 →
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Frequently asked questions
Is uBlock or Ladybird more popular?
uBlock has 69,033 GitHub stars and Ladybird has 66,807. uBlock has the larger community by that measure.
Are uBlock and Ladybird free?
Both are open source. uBlock is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Ladybird under BSD-2-Clause. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between uBlock and Ladybird?
uBlock is written in JavaScript and Ladybird 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, uBlock or Ladybird?
Choose uBlock if you want the larger community (69,033 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Ladybird if its feature set, stack or BSD-2-Clause licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.