head to head · open source
uBlock vs Betterfox
uBlock has 67,923 GitHub stars, 4,353 forks, 15 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Betterfox has 10,862 stars, 258 forks, 5 open issues and last shipped 11 days ago. uBlock leads on adoption by 525% (67,923 vs 10,862 stars). uBlock is written in JavaScript under GPL-3.0; Betterfox is written in JavaScript under MIT. uBlock has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, Betterfox 2%. uBlock 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.
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Side by side
| uBlock | Betterfox | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 68K | ★ 11K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-07 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.4K | ⑂ 258 |
| 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 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 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 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 →
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Frequently asked questions
Is uBlock or Betterfox more popular?
uBlock has 67,923 GitHub stars and Betterfox has 10,862. uBlock has the larger community by that measure.
Are uBlock and Betterfox free?
Both are open source. uBlock is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Betterfox under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between uBlock and Betterfox?
uBlock 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, uBlock or Betterfox?
Choose uBlock if you want the larger community (67,923 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Betterfox if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.