head to head · open source
uBlock vs brownies
uBlock has 68,791 GitHub stars, 4,394 forks, 15 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. brownies has 2,564 stars, 61 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped yesterday. uBlock leads on adoption by 2,583% (68,791 vs 2,564 stars). uBlock is written in JavaScript under GPL-3.0; brownies is written in TypeScript under MIT. uBlock has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, brownies 2%. brownies 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 | brownies | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 69K | ★ 2.6K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-23 | 2026-10-24 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.4K | ⑂ 61 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick uBlock if
- You weight community size — 69K 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 brownies if
- You want the brownies feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and brownies fits your workflow better
About uBlock
[![Badge Commits]][Commit Rate] [![Badge Issues]][Issues] [![Badge Localization]][Crowdin] [![Badge License]][License] [![Badge NPM]][NPM] [![Badge Mozilla]][Mozilla] ![Badge Chrome] [![Badge Edge]][Edge] uBlock Origin (uBO) GitHub Releases Stable and development versions on Firefox, Chromium MV2, and Thunderbird. Must be placed manually into web browsers; the Chromium and Thunderbird versions usually won't auto update. Related: uBlock Origin Lite uBlock Origin (uBO) is a CPU and memory efficient [wide spectrum content blocker][Blocking] for Chromium and Firefox. It blocks ads, trackers, coin miners, popups…
read the full uBlock overview →
About brownies
Brownies Tastier cookies , local , session , and db storage in a tiny package: Subscribe to changes in any of the objects: You can also iterate them as expected with Object.keys() , Object.values() , etc: Getting started Install it with npm: Then import the different parts: Or use a CDN for the browser: If you just want to play, go to the JSFiddle playground . Cookies Manipulate cookies with the simple getter/setter interface: Cookies will retain the types that is set. This is possible thanks to the underlying library: Warning: Manually setting cookies with document.cookie or server side [click for details]…
read the full brownies overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is uBlock or brownies more popular?
uBlock has 68,791 GitHub stars and brownies has 2,564. uBlock has the larger community by that measure.
Are uBlock and brownies free?
Both are open source. uBlock is licensed under GPL-3.0 and brownies under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between uBlock and brownies?
uBlock is written in JavaScript and brownies 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 brownies?
Choose uBlock if you want the larger community (68,791 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose brownies if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.