head to head · open source
Zen Browser vs jose
Zen Browser has 44,486 GitHub stars, 1,755 forks, 689 open issues and last shipped yesterday. jose has 7,795 stars, 378 forks, 0 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. Zen Browser leads on adoption by 471% (44,486 vs 7,795 stars). Zen Browser is written in C++ under MPL-2.0; jose is written in TypeScript under MIT. Zen Browser has attracted 4% as many forks as stars, jose 5%. 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 | jose | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 44K | ★ 7.8K |
| License | MPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | C++ | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.8K | ⑂ 378 |
| 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 jose if
- You want the jose feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and jose 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 jose
jose is an MIT licensed TypeScript module for JSON Object Signing and Encryption — JSON Web Tokens (JWT), JSON Web Signature (JWS), JSON Web Encryption (JWE), JSON Web Key (JWK) and JSON Web Key Set (JWKS) — that runs on Node.js, browsers, Cloudflare Workers, Deno, Bun and other Web interoperable runtimes.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Zen Browser or jose more popular?
Zen Browser has 44,486 GitHub stars and jose has 7,795. Zen Browser has the larger community by that measure.
Are Zen Browser and jose free?
Both are open source. Zen Browser is licensed under MPL-2.0 and jose under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Zen Browser and jose?
Zen Browser is written in C++ and jose 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 jose?
Choose Zen Browser if you want the larger community (44,486 stars) or its MPL-2.0 licence terms. Choose jose if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.