head to head · open source
uBlock vs webtorrent
uBlock has 67,923 GitHub stars, 4,353 forks, 15 open issues and last shipped yesterday. webtorrent has 31,397 stars, 2,902 forks, 83 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. uBlock leads on adoption by 116% (67,923 vs 31,397 stars). uBlock is written in JavaScript under GPL-3.0; webtorrent is written in JavaScript under MIT. uBlock has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, webtorrent 9%. 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 | webtorrent | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 68K | ★ 31K |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-15 |
| Forks | ⑂ 4.4K | ⑂ 2.9K |
| 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 webtorrent if
- You want the webtorrent feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and webtorrent 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 webtorrent
WebTorrent is a streaming torrent client written entirely in JavaScript, distributed as a single npm package that runs both in node.js and in the browser. In node.js it behaves as an ordinary torrent client, using TCP and UDP to communicate with other clients. In the browser it uses WebRTC data channels for peer to peer transport, which means it works without browser plugins, extensions, or installations. The project lives in the JavaScript and node.js ecosystem, is licensed under MIT, and has been developed for roughly thirteen years.
read the full webtorrent overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is uBlock or webtorrent more popular?
uBlock has 67,923 GitHub stars and webtorrent has 31,397. uBlock has the larger community by that measure.
Are uBlock and webtorrent free?
Both are open source. uBlock is licensed under GPL-3.0 and webtorrent under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between uBlock and webtorrent?
uBlock is written in JavaScript and webtorrent 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 webtorrent?
Choose uBlock if you want the larger community (67,923 stars) or its GPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose webtorrent if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.