head to head · open source
uBlock vs slate
uBlock has 67,923 GitHub stars, 4,353 forks, 15 open issues and last shipped yesterday. slate has 31,748 stars, 3,302 forks, 653 open issues and last shipped 5 days ago. uBlock leads on adoption by 114% (67,923 vs 31,748 stars). uBlock is written in JavaScript under GPL-3.0; slate is written in TypeScript under MIT. uBlock has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, slate 10%. uBlock was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (javascript), 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.
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Side by side
| uBlock | slate | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 68K | ★ 32K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.4K | ⑂ 3.3K |
| 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 slate if
- You want the slate feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and slate 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 slate
Slate is a completely customizable framework for building rich text editors, written in TypeScript and released under the MIT licence, for JavaScript and React developers who need an editor that goes well past what a fixed schema can offer.
read the full slate overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is uBlock or slate more popular?
uBlock has 67,923 GitHub stars and slate has 31,748. uBlock has the larger community by that measure.
Are uBlock and slate free?
Both are open source. uBlock is licensed under GPL-3.0 and slate under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between uBlock and slate?
uBlock is written in JavaScript and slate in TypeScript. 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 slate?
Choose uBlock if you want the larger community (67,923 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose slate if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.