head to head · open source
uBlock vs happy-dom
uBlock has 69,033 GitHub stars, 4,427 forks, 15 open issues and last shipped yesterday. happy-dom has 4,732 stars, 373 forks, 444 open issues and last shipped yesterday. uBlock leads on adoption by 1,359% (69,033 vs 4,732 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 8%. 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 | ★ 69K | ★ 4.7K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.4K | ⑂ 373 |
| 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 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
[![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 happy-dom
A JavaScript implementation of a web browser without its graphical user interface. Documentation Getting started Setup as Test Environment DOM Features Custom Elements (Web Components) Declarative Shadow DOM Mutation Observer Tree Walker Fetch API And much more.. Works With Vitest Bun Jest Testing Library Google LitElement Vue React Svelte Angular Sponsors Sponsors Contributing See Contributing Guide. License MIT License © 2019 Present David Ortner
read the full happy-dom overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is uBlock or happy-dom more popular?
uBlock has 69,033 GitHub stars and happy-dom has 4,732. 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 (69,033 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.