head to head · open source
SingleFile vs Betterfox
SingleFile has 22,411 GitHub stars, 1,410 forks, 101 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Betterfox has 10,862 stars, 258 forks, 5 open issues and last shipped 11 days ago. SingleFile leads on adoption by 106% (22,411 vs 10,862 stars). SingleFile is written in JavaScript under AGPL-3.0; Betterfox is written in JavaScript under MIT. SingleFile has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, Betterfox 2%. SingleFile was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (firefox), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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 8884 open source comparisons
Side by side
| SingleFile | Betterfox | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 22K | ★ 11K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-07 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.4K | ⑂ 258 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick SingleFile if
- You weight community size — 22K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Betterfox if
- You want the Betterfox feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and Betterfox fits your workflow better
About SingleFile
SingleFile is a web extension, and also a command line tool, that saves a complete web page into a single HTML file. It is written in JavaScript and released under the AGPL 3.0 license, and it lives in the browser extension ecosystem, with builds published for Chrome, Firefox (desktop and mobile), Microsoft Edge, Safari, Vivaldi, Brave, Waterfox, Yandex browser, and Opera. The project has been developed for roughly sixteen years and is distributed through the extension stores of Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Microsoft Edge, as well as through manual installation from the project archive.
read the full SingleFile overview →
About Betterfox
Betterfox is an MIT licensed user.js preference file that makes Mozilla Firefox more private, secure, and fast without adding third party code, and it targets everyday Firefox users who want hardened defaults without site breakage.
read the full Betterfox 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 SingleFile or Betterfox more popular?
SingleFile has 22,411 GitHub stars and Betterfox has 10,862. SingleFile has the larger community by that measure.
Are SingleFile and Betterfox free?
Both are open source. SingleFile is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Betterfox under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between SingleFile and Betterfox?
SingleFile is written in JavaScript and Betterfox 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, SingleFile or Betterfox?
Choose SingleFile if you want the larger community (22,411 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Betterfox if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.