head to head · open source
Zen Browser vs buster
Zen Browser has 45,517 GitHub stars, 1,946 forks, 689 open issues and last shipped yesterday. buster has 9,359 stars, 697 forks, 50 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. Zen Browser leads on adoption by 386% (45,517 vs 9,359 stars). Zen Browser is written in C++ under MPL-2.0; buster is written in JavaScript under GPL-3.0. Zen Browser has attracted 4% as many forks as stars, buster 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 | buster | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 46K | ★ 9.4K |
| License | MPL-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C++ | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-06-27 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.9K | ⑂ 697 |
| 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 buster if
- You want the buster 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 buster 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 buster
Buster: Captcha Solver for Humans 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 Buster 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 Buster is a browser extension which helps you to solve difficult CAPTCHAs by completing reCAPTCHA audio challenges using speech recognition. Challenges are solved by clicking on the extension button at the bottom of the reCAPTCHA widget…
read the full buster overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Zen Browser or buster more popular?
Zen Browser has 45,517 GitHub stars and buster has 9,359. Zen Browser has the larger community by that measure.
Are Zen Browser and buster free?
Both are open source. Zen Browser is licensed under MPL-2.0 and buster under GPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Zen Browser and buster?
Zen Browser is written in C++ and buster 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 buster?
Choose Zen Browser if you want the larger community (45,517 stars) or its MPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose buster if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.