head to head · open source
Zen Browser vs daily
Zen Browser has 44,481 GitHub stars, 1,754 forks, 689 open issues and last shipped yesterday. daily has 20,070 stars, 568 forks, 7 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. Zen Browser leads on adoption by 122% (44,481 vs 20,070 stars). Zen Browser is written in C++ under MPL-2.0; daily is written in JavaScript under AGPL-3.0. Zen Browser has attracted 4% as many forks as stars, daily 3%. 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 | daily | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 44K | ★ 20K |
| License | MPL-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | C++ | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.8K | ⑂ 568 |
| 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 daily if
- You want the daily feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and daily 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 daily
daily.dev is a free, open source personalized news feed and community for software developers. It lives in the JavaScript ecosystem and is licensed under AGPL 3.0. The project aggregates articles, tutorials, release notes, and news from more than 2,000 trusted sources across the web, then personalizes the resulting feed according to the tags a reader follows — such as webdev, ai, or devops — and according to what that reader has already engaged with. It is delivered as a new tab browser extension for Chrome and Edge, as a web app, and as mobile apps for iOS and Android, with a PWA among its listed topics. The rep…
read the full daily overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Zen Browser or daily more popular?
Zen Browser has 44,481 GitHub stars and daily has 20,070. Zen Browser has the larger community by that measure.
Are Zen Browser and daily free?
Both are open source. Zen Browser is licensed under MPL-2.0 and daily under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Zen Browser and daily?
Zen Browser is written in C++ and daily 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 daily?
Choose Zen Browser if you want the larger community (44,481 stars) or its MPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose daily if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.