head to head · open source
Zen Browser vs chrome-remote-interface
Zen Browser has 45,517 GitHub stars, 1,946 forks, 689 open issues and last shipped yesterday. chrome-remote-interface has 4,558 stars, 324 forks, 12 open issues and last shipped 9 months ago. Zen Browser leads on adoption by 899% (45,517 vs 4,558 stars). Zen Browser is written in C++ under MPL-2.0; chrome-remote-interface is written in JavaScript under MIT. Zen Browser has attracted 4% as many forks as stars, chrome-remote-interface 7%. Zen Browser was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (firefox), 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
| Zen Browser | chrome-remote-interface | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 46K | ★ 4.6K |
| License | MPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | C++ | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-02-09 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.9K | ⑂ 324 |
| 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 chrome-remote-interface if
- You want the chrome-remote-interface feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and chrome-remote-interface 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 chrome-remote-interface
chrome remote interface [Chrome Debugging Protocol] interface that helps to instrument Chrome (or any other suitable implementation) by providing a simple abstraction of commands and notifications using a straightforward JavaScript API. Sample API usage The following snippet loads and dumps every request made: Find more examples in the [wiki]. You may also want to take a look at the [FAQ]. [wiki]: [async await example]: [FAQ]: Installation npm install chrome remote interface Install globally ( g ) to just use the bundled client. Implementations This module should work with every application implementing the…
read the full chrome-remote-interface overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Zen Browser or chrome-remote-interface more popular?
Zen Browser has 45,517 GitHub stars and chrome-remote-interface has 4,558. Zen Browser has the larger community by that measure.
Are Zen Browser and chrome-remote-interface free?
Both are open source. Zen Browser is licensed under MPL-2.0 and chrome-remote-interface under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Zen Browser and chrome-remote-interface?
Zen Browser is written in C++ and chrome-remote-interface 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 chrome-remote-interface?
Choose Zen Browser if you want the larger community (45,517 stars) or its MPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose chrome-remote-interface if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.