head to head · open source
uBlock vs buster
uBlock has 69,033 GitHub stars, 4,427 forks, 15 open issues and last shipped yesterday. buster has 9,359 stars, 697 forks, 50 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. uBlock leads on adoption by 638% (69,033 vs 9,359 stars). uBlock is written in JavaScript under GPL-3.0; buster is written in JavaScript under GPL-3.0. uBlock has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, buster 7%. uBlock was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (browser-extension), 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 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| uBlock | buster | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 69K | ★ 9.4K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-06-27 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.4K | ⑂ 697 |
| 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 buster if
- You want the buster feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and buster 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 buster
Buster: Captcha Solver for Humans Sponsors Lenso.ai Explore billions of images from all around the web. Search for places, people, duplicates, and more. Supporting the Project The continued development of Buster is made possible thanks to the support of awesome backers. If you'd like to join them, please consider contributing with Patreon, PayPal or Bitcoin. Description Buster is a browser extension which helps you to solve difficult CAPTCHAs by completing reCAPTCHA audio challenges using speech recognition. Challenges are solved by clicking on the extension button at the bottom of the reCAPTCHA widget…
read the full buster 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 uBlock or buster more popular?
uBlock has 69,033 GitHub stars and buster has 9,359. uBlock has the larger community by that measure.
Are uBlock and buster free?
Both are open source. uBlock is licensed under GPL-3.0 and buster under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between uBlock and buster?
uBlock is written in JavaScript and buster 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 buster?
Choose uBlock if you want the larger community (69,033 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose buster if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.