head to head · open source
Ladybird vs web-ext
Ladybird has 66,807 GitHub stars, 3,194 forks, 535 open issues and last shipped yesterday. web-ext has 3,152 stars, 392 forks, 223 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Ladybird leads on adoption by 2,020% (66,807 vs 3,152 stars). Ladybird is written in C++ under BSD-2-Clause; web-ext is written in JavaScript under MPL-2.0. Ladybird has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, web-ext 12%. 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.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Ladybird | web-ext | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 67K | ★ 3.2K |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | MPL-2.0 |
| Written in | C++ | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.2K | ⑂ 392 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Ladybird if
- You weight community size — 67K 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 web-ext if
- You want the web-ext feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and web-ext fits your workflow better
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 →
About web-ext
Web ext This is a command line tool to help build, run, and test WebExtensions. Ultimately, it aims to support browser extensions in a standard, portable, cross platform way. Initially, it will provide a streamlined experience for developing Firefox Extensions. Documentation [Getting started with web ext][web ext user docs] Command reference Here are the commands you can run. Click on each one for detailed documentation or use help on the command line, such as web ext build help . run Run the extension lint Validate the extension source sign Sign the extension so it can be installed in Firefox build Create an…
read the full web-ext overview →
More in Productivity & Utilities
Related comparisons
More Browsers & Extensions projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Browsers & Extensions field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Ladybird or web-ext more popular?
Ladybird has 66,807 GitHub stars and web-ext has 3,152. Ladybird has the larger community by that measure.
Are Ladybird and web-ext free?
Both are open source. Ladybird is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and web-ext under MPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Ladybird and web-ext?
Ladybird is written in C++ and web-ext in JavaScript. 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 web-ext?
Choose Ladybird if you want the larger community (66,807 stars) or its BSD-2-Clause licence terms. Choose web-ext if its feature set, stack or MPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.