head to head · open source
uBlock vs firefox-ios
uBlock has 69,033 GitHub stars, 4,427 forks, 15 open issues and last shipped yesterday. firefox-ios has 13,069 stars, 3,294 forks, 1,827 open issues and last shipped yesterday. uBlock leads on adoption by 428% (69,033 vs 13,069 stars). uBlock is written in JavaScript under GPL-3.0; firefox-ios is written in Swift under MPL-2.0. uBlock has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, firefox-ios 25%. 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 | firefox-ios | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 69K | ★ 13K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MPL-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Swift |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.4K | ⑂ 3.3K |
| 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 firefox-ios if
- You want the firefox-ios feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Swift
- You evaluated both and firefox-ios 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 firefox-ios
Firefox for iOS and Focus iOS Download Firefox iOS and Focus iOS on the App Store. Firefox iOS Focus iOS Building the code This is a monolithic repository, containing both the Firefox and Focus iOS projects. As this is an iOS project, it is required to have Xcode on your system, and you should check that xcode select p points to /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer (or however you've named your Xcode.app ). Automatic Installation (Recommended) Steps: Automated Project Setup with FXIOS Manual Installation 1. Clone the repo locally 1. For their related build instructions, please follow the respective project…
read the full firefox-ios overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is uBlock or firefox-ios more popular?
uBlock has 69,033 GitHub stars and firefox-ios has 13,069. uBlock has the larger community by that measure.
Are uBlock and firefox-ios free?
Both are open source. uBlock is licensed under GPL-3.0 and firefox-ios under MPL-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between uBlock and firefox-ios?
uBlock is written in JavaScript and firefox-ios in Swift. 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 firefox-ios?
Choose uBlock if you want the larger community (69,033 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose firefox-ios if its feature set, stack or MPL-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.