head to head · open source
Zen Browser vs browserify
Zen Browser has 45,517 GitHub stars, 1,946 forks, 689 open issues and last shipped yesterday. browserify has 14,693 stars, 1,202 forks, 387 open issues and last shipped 10 days ago. Zen Browser leads on adoption by 210% (45,517 vs 14,693 stars). Zen Browser is written in C++ under MPL-2.0; browserify is written in JavaScript under MIT. Zen Browser has attracted 4% as many forks as stars, browserify 8%. 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 | browserify | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 46K | ★ 15K |
| License | MPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | C++ | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-24 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.9K | ⑂ 1.2K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Zen Browser if
- You weight community size — 46K 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 browserify if
- You want the browserify feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and browserify 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 browserify
browserify require('modules') in the browser Use a node style require() to organize your browser code and load modules installed by npm. browserify will recursively analyze all the require() calls in your app in order to build a bundle you can serve up to the browser in a single into your html! install With npm do: usage compatibility Many npm modules that don't do IO will just work after being browserified. Others take more work. Many node built in modules have been wrapped to work in the browser, but only when you explicitly require() or use their functionality. When you require() any of these modules, you…
read the full browserify overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Zen Browser or browserify more popular?
Zen Browser has 45,517 GitHub stars and browserify has 14,693. Zen Browser has the larger community by that measure.
Are Zen Browser and browserify free?
Both are open source. Zen Browser is licensed under MPL-2.0 and browserify under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Zen Browser and browserify?
Zen Browser is written in C++ and browserify 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, Zen Browser or browserify?
Choose Zen Browser if you want the larger community (45,517 stars) or its MPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose browserify if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.