head to head · open source
uBlock vs qutebrowser
uBlock has 67,985 GitHub stars, 4,356 forks, 15 open issues and last shipped yesterday. qutebrowser has 11,699 stars, 1,130 forks, 1,335 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. uBlock leads on adoption by 481% (67,985 vs 11,699 stars). uBlock is written in JavaScript under GPL-3.0; qutebrowser is written in Python under GPL-3.0. uBlock has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, qutebrowser 10%. 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 | qutebrowser | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 68K | ★ 12K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Python |
| Last push | 2026-09-19 | 2026-09-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.4K | ⑂ 1.1K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick uBlock if
- You weight community size — 68K 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 qutebrowser if
- You want the qutebrowser feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and qutebrowser fits your workflow better
About uBlock
uBlock Origin is a CPU and memory efficient, wide spectrum content blocker for Chromium and Firefox, aimed at anyone who wants ads, trackers, coin miners, popups, anti blockers and malware sites neutralised by default without hand tuning anything.
read the full uBlock overview →
About qutebrowser
qutebrowser is a free, GPL 3.0 licensed, keyboard driven browser with a minimal GUI, built on Python and Qt, for people who want vim style keyboard control of the web rather than a mouse.
read the full qutebrowser overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is uBlock or qutebrowser more popular?
uBlock has 67,985 GitHub stars and qutebrowser has 11,699. uBlock has the larger community by that measure.
Are uBlock and qutebrowser free?
Both are open source. uBlock is licensed under GPL-3.0 and qutebrowser under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between uBlock and qutebrowser?
uBlock is written in JavaScript and qutebrowser in Python. 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 qutebrowser?
Choose uBlock if you want the larger community (67,985 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose qutebrowser if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.