head to head · open source
uBlock vs happy-dom
uBlock has 67,937 GitHub stars, 4,354 forks, 15 open issues and last shipped yesterday. happy-dom has 4,654 stars, 323 forks, 444 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. uBlock leads on adoption by 1,360% (67,937 vs 4,654 stars). uBlock is written in JavaScript under GPL-3.0; happy-dom is written in TypeScript under MIT. uBlock has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, happy-dom 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 (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 | happy-dom | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 68K | ★ 4.7K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-12 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.4K | ⑂ 323 |
| 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 happy-dom if
- You want the happy-dom feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and happy-dom 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 happy-dom
happy dom is a JavaScript implementation of a web browser without its graphical user interface, written in TypeScript, MIT licensed, and built for developers who need a browser like DOM inside Node.js or Bun instead of inside an actual browser window.
read the full happy-dom overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is uBlock or happy-dom more popular?
uBlock has 67,937 GitHub stars and happy-dom has 4,654. uBlock has the larger community by that measure.
Are uBlock and happy-dom free?
Both are open source. uBlock is licensed under GPL-3.0 and happy-dom under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between uBlock and happy-dom?
uBlock is written in JavaScript and happy-dom 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 happy-dom?
Choose uBlock if you want the larger community (67,937 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose happy-dom if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.