head to head · open source
uBlock vs search-by-image
uBlock has 69,033 GitHub stars, 4,427 forks, 15 open issues and last shipped yesterday. search-by-image has 3,806 stars, 321 forks, 77 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. uBlock leads on adoption by 1,714% (69,033 vs 3,806 stars). uBlock is written in JavaScript under GPL-3.0; search-by-image is written in JavaScript under GPL-3.0. uBlock has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, search-by-image 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 (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.
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Side by side
| uBlock | search-by-image | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 69K | ★ 3.8K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-06-27 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.4K | ⑂ 321 |
| 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 search-by-image if
- You want the search-by-image 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 search-by-image 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 search-by-image
Search by Image 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 Search by Image 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 Search by Image is a browser extension that makes effortless reverse image searches possible, and comes with support for more than 30 search engines. The extension helps journalists and researchers verify the authenticity of images, and assists in the…
read the full search-by-image overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is uBlock or search-by-image more popular?
uBlock has 69,033 GitHub stars and search-by-image has 3,806. uBlock has the larger community by that measure.
Are uBlock and search-by-image free?
Both are open source. uBlock is licensed under GPL-3.0 and search-by-image under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between uBlock and search-by-image?
uBlock is written in JavaScript and search-by-image 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 search-by-image?
Choose uBlock if you want the larger community (69,033 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose search-by-image if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.