head to head · open source
Zen Browser vs brownies
Zen Browser has 45,207 GitHub stars, 1,886 forks, 689 open issues and last shipped 3 days ago. brownies has 2,564 stars, 61 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Zen Browser leads on adoption by 1,663% (45,207 vs 2,564 stars). Zen Browser is written in C++ under MPL-2.0; brownies is written in TypeScript under MIT. Zen Browser has attracted 4% as many forks as stars, brownies 2%. brownies 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 | brownies | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 45K | ★ 2.6K |
| License | MPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | C++ | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-10-22 | 2026-10-24 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.9K | ⑂ 61 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Zen Browser if
- You weight community size — 45K 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 brownies if
- You want the brownies feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and brownies fits your workflow better
About Zen Browser
Zen Browser Zen is a firefox based browser with the aim of pushing your productivity to a new level! Download • Website • Documentation • Release Notes Firefox Versions Release Is currently built using Firefox version 155.0.1 ! Twilight Is currently built using Firefox version RC 155.0.1 ! Contributing If you'd like to report a bug, please do so on our GitHub Issues page and for feature requests, you can use GitHub Discussions. Zen is an open source project, and we welcome contributions from the community! Please take a look at the contribution guidelines before getting started! Partners Thanks to all the…
read the full Zen Browser overview →
About brownies
Brownies Tastier cookies , local , session , and db storage in a tiny package: Subscribe to changes in any of the objects: You can also iterate them as expected with Object.keys() , Object.values() , etc: Getting started Install it with npm: Then import the different parts: Or use a CDN for the browser: If you just want to play, go to the JSFiddle playground . Cookies Manipulate cookies with the simple getter/setter interface: Cookies will retain the types that is set. This is possible thanks to the underlying library: Warning: Manually setting cookies with document.cookie or server side [click for details]…
read the full brownies overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Zen Browser or brownies more popular?
Zen Browser has 45,207 GitHub stars and brownies has 2,564. Zen Browser has the larger community by that measure.
Are Zen Browser and brownies free?
Both are open source. Zen Browser is licensed under MPL-2.0 and brownies under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Zen Browser and brownies?
Zen Browser is written in C++ and brownies 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, Zen Browser or brownies?
Choose Zen Browser if you want the larger community (45,207 stars) or its MPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose brownies if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.