head to head · open source
Zen Browser vs badssl.com
Zen Browser has 44,486 GitHub stars, 1,755 forks, 689 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. badssl.com has 3,047 stars, 204 forks, 210 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. Zen Browser leads on adoption by 1,360% (44,486 vs 3,047 stars). Zen Browser is written in C++ under MPL-2.0; badssl.com is written in HTML under Apache-2.0. Zen Browser has attracted 4% as many forks as stars, badssl.com 7%. Zen Browser was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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
| Zen Browser | badssl.com | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 44K | ★ 3.0K |
| License | MPL-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | C++ | HTML |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-06-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.8K | ⑂ 204 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Zen Browser if
- You weight community size — 44K stars and counting
- You want the MPL-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick badssl.com if
- You want the badssl.com feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches HTML
- You evaluated both and badssl.com fits your workflow better
About Zen Browser
Zen Browser is a privacy focused, open source web browser built on Firefox’s Gecko engine. It inherits Firefox’s compatibility and extension ecosystem while introducing a streamlined interface and productivity oriented features. The project lives in the desktop browser ecosystem, targeting users who want a Firefox based experience with reduced clutter and enhanced customization.
read the full Zen Browser overview →
About badssl.com
badssl.com is an openly licensed, community maintained collection of deliberately misconfigured TLS endpoints — served at https://badssl.com and developed in the chromium/badssl.com repository — for developers, security engineers, and browser or HTTP client authors who need to verify how their software reacts to expired, self signed, mixed content, and otherwise invalid certificates.
read the full badssl.com overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Zen Browser or badssl.com more popular?
Zen Browser has 44,486 GitHub stars and badssl.com has 3,047. Zen Browser has the larger community by that measure.
Are Zen Browser and badssl.com free?
Both are open source. Zen Browser is licensed under MPL-2.0 and badssl.com under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Zen Browser and badssl.com?
Zen Browser is written in C++ and badssl.com in HTML. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Zen Browser or badssl.com?
Choose Zen Browser if you want the larger community (44,486 stars) or its MPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose badssl.com if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.